HTNG Appoints Senior Hotel IT Executives to Key Leadership Roles

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. May 14, 2013

CHICAGO - May 14, 2013 - Hotel Technology Next Generation (HTNG), the membership association that unites the world's hospitality companies and technology innovators to solve industry challenges, today announced several changes to its Board of Governors. HTNG's Board drives the organization to address the most pressing technology problems facing hotels, and the presence of senior technology executives from almost all major hotel companies ensures the industry relevance of our activities for all hotel managers, owners and franchisors.

The board's new officers are:

• President: Jeremy Ward, Senior VP of Information Technology, Kempinski Hotels. Jeremy moves to HTNG's top leadership role after having served as its Vice President for two years.
• Vice President: Monika Nerger, CIO, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group. Monika has been a very active member of the association since its founding in 2002, continuing her company's leadership legacy
• Secretary: Mark Rupert Read, Group IT Manager, Firmdale Hotels. Mark joined the Board in 2012 to get more involved with HTNG after presenting some of his ground-breaking IT implementations at the association's European conference in 2010.
• Treasurer: Mike Blake, CIO, Commune Hotels & Resorts. Mike has been a member of the board for several years, and continues in this role after having moved from Hyatt to his new employer, Commune. "As an information technology and hospitality industry executive, I'm keenly aware of the challenges and opportunities that are presented to our industry by the ever-evolving technology landscape," said Jeremy Ward, Senior VP of Information Technology at Kempinski Hotels and new President of HTNG. "HTNG has been instrumental in facilitating the collaboration that enables our industry to use technology to solve problems, improve guest satisfaction and operate more effectively through more efficient technology planning and deployment."

These officers, like all board members, volunteer their time to provide direction to HTNG. Ward succeeds Marriott's Jim Peterson, who left the Board following a change in his responsibilities at Marriott International. Peterson has been involved with HTNG for nearly 10 years, and will remain engaged as an Executive Advisor to the Board. “Jim Peterson has provided exemplary leadership and counsel to HTNG as both its President and an HTNG member over a 10-year period in which information technology has undergone significant change,” said Doug Rice, Executive Vice President and CEO of HTNG. “We owe a great debt of gratitude to Jim for his service and we look forward to his continuing contributions.”

Hank A. Weigle, Senior Vice President of Global Information Resources, IT Delivery at Marriott, was elected to fill the vacancy created by Peterson's departure. Also elected was Jeff Bzdawka, VP of Global Property Systems Portfolio. Former Hyatt CIO Mike Blake, now CIO at Commune Hotels and Resorts, retains his board seat.

Other new members who have joined the board over recent months include:
• Carson Booth, General Manager, Starwood International Licensing Company Sàrl & VP, Global Property Technology, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc.
• Peter Engel, CTO, Marcus Hotels & Resorts
• Daniel Kornick, SVP & CIO, Wyndham Hotel Group
• Anand Rao, CIO, Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts

Continuing on HTNG's board, a group which manages technology for more than 2.4 million guest rooms worldwide, are:
• Floor Bleeker, VP of Information Technology, Jumeirah Group
• Scot Campbell, VP & CIO, Pinnacle Entertainment
• Scott Gibson, CIO and SVP of Distribution & Strategic Services, Best Western International
• Vineet Gupta, EVP & CIO, Fairmont Raffles Hotels International
• Kevin Quinlivan, CIO, Delaware North Companies
• Gustaaf Schrils, VP, Global Technology, InterContinental Hotels Group
• Richard Tudgay, VP Information Technology, Omni Hotels

To ensure vendor neutrality, HTNG's Board of Governors consists exclusively of hotel IT executives. Senior executives from the vendor community participate in HTNG's Vendor Advisory Council, which advises the board and ensures that the vendor community and the board are aligned on key issues of mutual interest.

To learn more about the HTNG Board of Governors or Vendor Advisory Council, visit http://www.htng.org/leadership.

About Hotel Technology Next Generation
The premier technology solutions association in the hospitality industry, HTNG is a self-funded, nonprofit organization with members from hotel and hospitality companies, technology vendors to hospitality, and other industry members including consultants, media and academic experts. HTNG's members participate in focused workgroups to bring to market open solution sets addressing specific business problems. HTNG fosters the selection and adoption of existing open standards. Where necessary, it also develops new open standards to meet the needs of the global hospitality industry.

Membership in HTNG is open to hotel and hospitality companies, technology vendors to hospitality, consultants, academics, press and others. Currently more than 400 corporate and individual members from across this spectrum, including most of the world's leading hotel companies and technology vendors, are active HTNG participants. HTNG's Board of Governors, consisting of 17 top IT leaders from hotel companies around the world, itself has responsibility for about 2.4 million guest rooms. HTNG publishes workgroup proceedings, drafts and specifications for all HTNG members as soon as they are created, encouraging rapid and broad adoption. Specifications are released to the public domain as they are ratified by the workgroups. For more information, visit www.htng.org.

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