GENEVA—Kempinski Hotels’ has announced, as part of its long-term succession planning for the management board, Markus Semer has been promoted to Deputy CEO, effective October 29.
The dupervisory board of Kempinski AG and the board of directors of Kempinski Hotels SA have unanimously agreed to nominate Semer to this role. As deputy CEO, Semer continues in his responsibilities for group development through portfolio and associated business growth, the group’s major growth areas. He will complement Alejandro Bernabe, CEO, and his fellow management board members in implementing company strategy and change management as part of a smooth transition process; overseeing the related structural and process changes under his corporate affairs mandate.
Michael D. Selby, chairman of the supervisory board of Kempinski AG, said that he “recognised Markus Semer’s talent for strategic and structural planning early on, and appointed him to the management board back in 2008. We have consistently groomed him with new challenges, which he handled with an entrepreneurial approach each time.”
Semer was successively given responsibility for strategic planning and corporate affairs, and since 2013, he oversees the group’s development. Since Semer restructured development, the group is now represented in each region as well as at a corporate level, ensuring a continuous pipeline of new projects, with 10 deals signed to date in 2014. He is also responsible for new business concept creation, another major growth area for the group, and conceived NUO and Resense Spa S.A. Semer brings an innovative approach to Kempinski’s corporate social responsibility activities and was a driving force behind the creation of BE Health Association.
