Unternehmen im Überblick

Andrea Kracht ist in sechster Generation Mitglied der Hoteliersfamilie, der das Zürcher Leading Hotel Baur au Lac gehört. Seit 1990 leitet er als Teil des Vorstands dessen Geschicke.Nach Abschluss seiner akademischen Ausbildung begann Kracht seine Laufbahn in der Hotellerie, in der er verschiedene Positionen in unterschiedlichen Hotels bekleidete, wie Badrutt’s P1999 wurde Kracht in den Vorstand von The Leading Hotels of the World gewählt. Im Jahr darauf erfolgte seine Wahl zum Vice Chairman. Im November 2010 wurde Kracht auf der jährlichen Mitgliederkonferenz zum Chairman von The Leading Hotels of the World gewählt. Zu seinen Aufgaben gehören Funktionen im Vergütungs- und im Rechnungsprüfungs-ausschuss. Zudem ist Kracht Mitglied im Gremium für Qualitätsmanagement der Leading Quality Assurance.Nach Abschluss seiner akademischen Ausbildung begann Kracht seine Laufbahn in der Hotellerie, in der er verschiedene Positionen in unterschiedlichen Hotels bekleidete, wie Badrutt’s PAndrea Kracht wurde in Zürich geboren. Er absolvierte die renommierte International School Le Rosey in Rolle und Gstaad, wo er 1977 mit dem französischen Baccalauréat abschloss. 1981 beendete er seine Ausbildung an der École Hôtelière in Lausanne. 1986 durchlief Kracht ein Management-Programm an der Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.

Nach Abschluss seiner akademischen Ausbildung begann Kracht seine Laufbahn in der Hotellerie, in der er verschiedene Positionen in unterschiedlichen Hotels bekleidete, wie Badrutt’s Palace, St. Moritz, Hotel Hermitage, Monte-Carlo, Clardige’s London, Hotel Ritz, Paris, The Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas sowie in den New Yorker Hotels Plaza Athénée und Grand Bay Hotel.

For more than five years, Ms. Knapp has been a driver of innovation and change at the company. In August 2013, Ms. Knapp was appointed senior vice president and chief marketing officer of The Leading Hotels of the World, Ltd. Her commitment has been unwavering to create a breakthrough brand and data-driven marketing strategy, transform the customer experience, and accelerate brand loyalty for the more than 90-year-old company.

Ms. Knapp is a results-driven leader with more than 20 years of experience. She is responsible for aligning business goals with marketing strategies and providing an expertise that accelerates business performance and generates results.

As senior vice president and chief marketing officer of The Leading Hotels of the World, Ltd., Ms. Knapp oversaw the various marketing divisions and was responsible for the redesign and 2018 relaunch of Leading Hotels’ loyalty ecosystem, Leaders Club, a program that has been recognized by Condé Nast Traveler as “offering a boutique alternative to mega-chain hotels with a bevy of benefits.” Additionally, during this time, she built the marketing analytics and customer insights organization to drive a paradigm shift in the use of data to inform marketing strategy, resulting in an increase of marketing efficiency and millions of dollars in incremental revenue.

Prior to joining The Leading Hotels of the World, Ltd., Ms. Knapp spent 15 years at American Express, most recently serving as vice president of marketing for American Express Travel. In this role, she was responsible for leading U.S. customer acquisition and loyalty marketing, branding and public relations strategies, with global oversight of communications and compliance programs for the multi-billion-dollar global travel organization. She transformed the marketing approach to accelerate lead generation for all distribution channels, delivering an increase in acquisition of new customers. She also led the strategic marketing program which supported over 40 luxury travel partners.

Previously, she was the director of premium cardmember marketing, where she led the development of program marketing and customer experience strategies for Centurion and Platinum Card member travel programs, including Fine Hotels & Resorts, as well as cruise, tour and villa programming. During this engagement she managed strategic partnerships with over 700 luxury travel partners to optimize economics and maximize value for Card members and travel partners.

Ms. Knapp received her Bachelor of Arts in international relations from Colgate University where she studied abroad for a semester in Geneva, Switzerland.

Als Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer überwacht Daniel Neumann seit Dezember 2008 alle Bereiche der Buchhaltung, Bürobetriebe, Unternehmensführung und Geschäftsentwicklung von The Leading Hotels of the World, Ltd. Er ist seit Oktober 1998 im Unternehmen beschäftigt und wurde im September 2002 zum Senior Vice President ernannt.

Den Einstieg in die internationale Luxushotellerie machte Daniel Neumann als Corporate Controller des Lowell Hotels, New York und L’Eremitage, Beverly Hills. In dieser Position beaufsichtigte er unter anderem die 40-Millionen-US-Dollar umfassende Renovierung des Anwesens in Beverly Hills und leitete alle finanziellen Bereiche beider Hotels.

Daniel Neumann startete seine Karriere bei Pannell Kerr Forster, einer internationalen Wirtschaftsprüfungs-, Steuerberatungs- und Beratungsfirma, die er 1994 als Senior Manager verließ. An der Universität von Villanova machte er seinen Bachelor of Science und im November 1987 seinen Wirtschaftsprüfer.

Jon Londeen übernahm 2007 den Posten als Senior Vice President, Distribution and Reservations Management, nachdem er bereits seit 2001 Vice President of Reservations Management war. Er ist für das Buchungstagesgeschäft bei The Leading Hotels of the World, Ltd. und für die Kontaktpflege mit den wichtigsten Lieferanten und Geschäftspartnern in den Bereichen Buchung und Kommunikation verantwortlich. Darüber hinaus arbeitet er eng mit der Vertriebs- und Marketingabteilung sowie den regionalen Niederlassungen zusammen, um die Abläufe über das Buchungssystem des Unternehmens zu optimieren.

Vor seiner Zeit bei The Leading Hotels of the World, Ltd. war Jon Londeen Director of Reservations and Global Distribution of the Americas für Forte und Le Meridien Hotels.

Deniz Omurgonulsen wurde im April 2010 zum Vice President of Membership bei The Leading Hotels of the World, Ltd. (LHW) ernannt. In dieser Position ist sie zuständig für die Portfolio-Entwicklung von The Leading Hotels of the World, die LHW-Qualitätsinitiative und die Unternehmensergebnisse aller Mitgliedshotels.

Omurgonulsen stieß im März 2005 als Strategic Planning Manager zum Unternehmen. 2006 übernahm sie die Position des Director of Membership Development, in der sie seither die Mitgliederaufnahme und -bindung leitet. Außerdem war sie ein zentrales Mitglied des Qualitätskomitees, das kontinuierlich die von allen Mitgliedshotels verlangten hohen Qualitätsstandards überprüft.

Vor ihrer Zeit bei The Leading Hotels of the World, Ltd. arbeitete Deniz Omurgonulsen für Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts mit damaligem Sitz im Hotel The Pierre, New York. Über Ihre Aufgaben für das Hotel selbst hinaus führte sie unternehmensweit viele erfolgreiche Schulungs- und Qualitätsinitiativen durch, darunter Voreröffnungsschulungen und die Einrichtung einer weltweiten E-Learning-Plattform.

Sie machte ihren Abschluss mit Auszeichnung an der School of Hotel Administration der renommierten Cornell University.

Phil Koserowski was appointed vice president digital product development and marketing for the organization in September 2011. He is responsible for the development of LHW’s customer facing digital touchpoints including LHW.com and supporting language sites, LHW’s mobile initiatives, online customer acquisition and engagement via email, display, search, social media and emerging channels. Additionally, Mr. Koserowski oversees the digital product and marketing solutions LHW provides to member hotels to maximize their customer acquisition and engagement efforts. In this role, Mr. Koserowski has spearheaded recent initiatives incorporating new capabilities into LHW’s digital ecosystem including Artificial Intelligence, Natural Language Search and Predictive Intelligence.

Mr. Koserowski brings more than 23 years of experience in digital to his current role. Prior to joining LHW, he served as a partner and interactive marketing director with Ogilvy & Mather. He was also vice president interactive marketing at Sotheby’s International Realty where he was responsible for building the interactive marketing department for the global luxury real estate franchise network.

He received his Bachelors Degree in both marketing and computer applications from the University of Notre Dame.

Chris Walker brings more than 20 years of hospitality, sales and marketing expertise to The Leading Hotels of the World, Ltd. He was appointed to the position of Senior Vice President, Global Sales in July 2019, previously serving as Senior Vice President of Sales - Americas at Leading Hotels from 2014 to 2018.

As Senior Vice President, Global Sales, Mr. Walker is responsible for leading the global sales organization and strategy across the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East, and Africa. He is focused on ensuring alignment across the more than 20 sales locations throughout the world to drive maximum impact for Leading Hotels’ members and the company’s global client base.

In the position of Senior Vice President, Sales-Americas, Mr. Walker streamlined sales efforts while driving double digit annual hotel revenue growth within some of the company’s largest offices. He oversaw technology implementations to increase sales efficiency and process redesign to enhance relationships with hoteliers and critical sales accounts.

Mr. Walker started his career at Hyatt in 1998. There he held various positions within the organization, including Director of Partner Marketing and Vice President of Brand Experience for four of Hyatt’s brands. He was responsible for the brand development and management of Hyatt Place and Hyatt House, two of Hyatt Hotels' fastest growing brands worldwide as well as the launch of all-inclusive brands Hyatt Ziva and Hyatt Zilara. Mr. Walker also held positions at American Express in their Service Delivery Network and Consumer Travel Network leading Fine Hotels & Resorts, American Express' Luxury Hotel program for Premium Card members.

 Mr. Walker earned his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.S. degree in Geomatics Engineering from the University of Calgary.

Susan Ziluca was appointed Vice President and General Counsel for The Leading Hotels of the World, Ltd. in December 2013. Mrs. Ziluca joined the company in July 2007 as general counsel. She is responsible for overseeing all legal matters, including all contract work, of the organization.

Ms. Ziluca has more than 25 years of legal experience. She has worked both in private practice and as an in-house attorney with extensive experience in transactional work, general contract and corporate matters.

She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor of arts degree and a masters degree, magna cum laude and suma cum laude, respectively and received her JD degree with honors from Rutgers School of Law, Newark.

Michael Lederman was appointed to the position of Vice President, Information Technology for The Leading Hotels of the World, Ltd. in July 2018. A forward-thinking technology strategist and business partner, he is responsible for aligning the organization’s global technology strategy and directing operational implementation of systems and applications to improve effectiveness, service quality, and business development. Mr. Lederman joined the company in February 2017 as Senior Director, Information Technology.

Prior to joining The Leading Hotels of the World, Ltd. he held IT leadership positions at Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation, Massey Knakal Realty Services and most recently Cushman & Wakefield, where he was responsible for IT strategy and managed part of a global technology solutions team. He worked on consolidating over 1000 global business applications during multiple corporate mergers to increase efficiency and reduce cost. He also established a global innovation strategy to foster innovation and better service clients and oversaw the redesign of a custom enterprise CRM, property data, and operations platform for the NY Capital Markets business.

Mr. Lederman received his MBA from Columbia Business School and Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from Rutgers University.