Provenance Hotels President Bashar Wali has decided to leave his position on May 29, 2020, and Katherine Durant, current chairman and CEO, will assume the role of president upon Wali’s departure. Founder Gordon Sondland will assume the role of chairman. Wali, who has been with Provenance Hotels for nearly 15 years, will remain involved with Provenance as a senior advisor to the company and in his capacity as a shareholder.
Provenance Hotels also announced that Ernest Glidden has joined the company as chief financial officer. Glidden previously served as an SVP of operations finance for Caesars Entertainment Corporation, and as a regional VP of finance for Starwood Hotels & Resorts. Ralph Aruzza, former EVP and chief sales and marketing officer at Belmond and VP for sales and marketing at Rosewood Hotels, has also joined the company as chief marketing officer. In addition, the company promoted Klaudio Simic to SVP of operations. Simic joined Provenance in 2000.
Mark Woodworth has established a consulting and advisory practice, R. M. Woodworth & Associates, to assist a broad array of capital market participants in optimizing opportunities in the lodging industry. Woodworth’s work will be supported by data and insights from Kalibri Labs, a hospitality big data and analytics firm that has built a digital platform to evaluate and predict revenue performance. Woodworth will be supported by a team at Kalibri Labs. Prior to establishing his affiliation with Kalibri Labs, Woodworth, along with Cornell University’s Jack Corgel, founded PKF Hospitality Research in 1999 (subsequently acquired by CBRE in 2014).
Blue Diamond Resorts added Jürgen Stütz as SVP of sales, marketing, and distribution. With more than 29 years of focus in the luxury hospitality industry, combined with a sales and marketing background, Stütz is positioned to generate maximum revenue for Blue Diamond Resorts by growing digital sales, implementing distribution from Latin America, and streamlining all sales, revenue, and marketing efforts across Blue Diamond’s portfolio.
