Welcome to the 10th Edition of Leader!

First of all to wish you all, our valued clients, candidates, contacts and friends a very happy Festive Season and great success in 2012!

So, how has 2011 been for you? Much better than many of us could possibly have dreamed of, I hope, particularly in the premium end of the hospitality industry in which we are privileged to work.

Our constant dialogue with hotels all around the world also allows us a unique opportunity to reflect on the financial performance in this sector and the general view seems to be that in the global ‘gateway cities’ in particular, occupancy rates, revenue from rooms and F&B spend is well up.

There also appears to be an interesting trend: the ‘best hotels’ in these cities are becoming increasingly desirable to the leisure traveller. This, in turn, has made the skills of professionals with real flair and ability to make a difference -- whether generalist senior management or specialists such as marketers, chefs, spa operators or HR professionals -- even more valued.  Furthermore, in recent months we have also seen a huge surge in demand for Revenue Management and ‘Front Office’ experts.

In this issue, once more we have a number of stories which we hope you will find relevant and newsworthy. Derek Picot relates Jumeirah’s quest for global expansion, Philippe Requin talks about his role as CEO of Grace Hotel Group and what sharpens this shark’s tooth (‘requin’ is French for shark), and Simon Boulding of Britannia Corporate Events makes us all feel like we should be ruling the waves.

There’s a great piece on entrepreneurship by David Molian of Cranfield University. Profile and Cranfield’s’ ‘special relationship’ goes back at least ten years, when I attended their excellent BGP course and David was my tutor in marketing. It’s great to see him once more, this time in the pages of Leader. The ‘world’s most-travelling businesswoman’ (her description!), Mary Gostelow, is relaxed and ‘at ease’, and industry institution Sara Jayne Stanes OBE, Chief Executive of the Academy of Culinary Arts, brings us up to speed with what the Academy is up to. Leader also had the good fortune to watch our very own Liz Hartstone in full flow as the recruitment expert on a leadership panel at this year’s World Travel Market, which included no less than our great friend Peter Lederer and other leaders of similar wattage.

Overall, 2011 has proved to be a very robust year for us too with a particularly strong 2nd half to the year. I am delighted that our Paris office, now under the leadership of Pascal Guillory continues to perform well , with Pascal now firmly in his stride. In Asia, where I have just returned from visiting our Shanghai and Hong Kong offices and a trip to Xian, the pace of development remains remarkable. It’s recently been announced that China’s economic policy will be to move away from cheap manufacturing to the production of high quality goods. This, together with a bullish service sector, including banking and finance, combined with a more sophisticated agricultural policy all spells ‘ambitious growth plans’, and the luxury hotel sector is not being left behind. It must be seen to be believed, and we will be reporting on this in detail in Leader 11.

Finally, to introduce some new faces: Norman Bellone, a well-known name to Profile for more than 25 years, and who made a fortune developing and selling Hayley Conference Centres, has joined us as an investment partner, together with Sally-Ann Johnson who is assisting us with the development of the Profile brand. We are also delighted to have appointed Corinne Winter-Rousset as VP Business Development. Corinne joins us from another specialist recruiter but with a Profile DNA having been a successful Profile introduction herself, when she was worked in France with Citadines & Ascott.  A very experienced, respected and most welcome addition to the team, although based in London, Corinne will have a global remit and will be eager for your business (if we have not got the message over already!).

If you think you have a great story you’d like to share, I know our Editor, Gina McAdam, would be delighted to hear it. As many of you already know, you can contact Gina at gina@stratemarco.com.

It remains for me, on behalf of all our team, once more to send our very best wishes. We look forward to being in contact again during 2012.

Best wishes,

Mark Norris, Chief Executive