Download Russell Stevens is the Chairman and Chief Executive of Three Cities

2013
Russell Stevens is the Chairman and
Chief Executive of Three Cities
Investments Ltd, the holding
company of the Three Cities Group.
He has more than 30 years experience
in the hotel industry, and is and has
been a director of numerous private
and public South African and
international companies.
He was a director of the TongaatHulett Group Limited and certain of
its subsidiaries, and is a director of
Compass Group, South Africa (which
is a subsidiary of Compass
International, one of the largest food
service companies in the world), a
director of Tsogo Sun KZN (owner
of The Suncoast Casino, Durban).
He acted as the Executive Director of
Durban Hotels Ltd (The Royal Hotel,
Durban) for over 30 years.
Deryk de Marigny is Deputy
Chairman of Three Cities
Investments Ltd. Deryk qualified as
a chartered accountant in 1967. He
was partner in a large Durban audit
practice for 20 years, and joined
Three Cities Group in 1988 as
Financial Director.
He has extensive experience and
exposure to the hospitality industry
through his involvement in various
hotels financial affairs, including the
Marine Park, Gaming and Wildlife
lodging industry.
He is a director of various
investment companies and trusts,
past Chairman of the Ubuntu
Community Chest (Durban) and
Executive Director of the company
which managed Ushaka Marine
World.
Michael Lambert attended the
University of Natal where he
obtained a law degree as well as
Honours in Labour Relations. He
served three years at Engen where he
was put in a fast track management
development programme before he
resigned to pursue a passion of his –
hospitality. He purchased his first
restaurant at the age of 24 and went
on to own a chain of franchised
restaurants and beverage outlets. In
addition, he founded an IT company
which he sold two years later with 17
branches established after web
enabling 2500 South African
companies.
Michael joined the Three Cities
Group in 2003 after they, as part of
a consortium were awarded the
contract for the R1,2 billion uShaka
Marine World, responsible for
opening one of the largest Marine
and Entertainment destinations in
the Southern Hemisphere, as C.O.O.
2013
John Creighton
Murray Jacklin
Marius Earle
As Managing Director of the Three
Cities Hotel Division, John Creighton
has a diverse, entrepreneurial and
strong operations background gleaned
from a 27 year-long career within the
hospitality industry. His extremely
diverse experience began when he
joined the Protea Hotel Group in
1986. Extending his experience
beyond the Southern African borders,
John furthered his experience in
Europe, the USA and Australia.
John eventually managed 8 Hotels in
various Cities across South Africa and
went on to receive a number of
awards within the Protea Hotels
Group, culminating in receiving their
top ‘General Manager of the Year’
award in 2003. A stint at Cornell
University in New York followed as
well as his promotion to Regional
General Manager for Protea Hotels
Group responsible for the operations
of 32 hotels.
Murray Jacklin is the Chief Financial
Officer of Three Cities. He studied a
BCom degree through the University
of Natal and obtained his Honours
degree whilst serving articles with
Deloitte and Touche.
Marius bring in excess of 15 years
operational and development
experience in various aspects of
hotel and casino management,
working his way up the ranks in the
Southern Sun Group which included
being part of the development teams
for various large projects including
the Sandton Convention Centre,
Monte Casino, Suncoast Casino and
numerous other prestigious hotel
and casino developments across
Southern Africa.
Managing Director - Hotel Division
John left Protea Hotels in 2006 to
join an old colleague in the newly
formed Capsicum Culinary Studio.
He honed his considerable
entrepreneurial skills to help grow this
from two schools in Johannesburg
and Cape Town to the largest private
hospitality training school in South
Africa with additional campuses in
Pretoria, Boksburg, Durban and Port
Elizabeth. Capsicum was voted ninth
out of South Africa’s 100 Fastest
Growing Companies in 2010. After a
short stint owning and running a
number of restaurants in the Western
Cape, John joined the Three Cities
Group in mid 2012.
Chief Financial Officer of the Group
Murray qualified as a Chartered
Accountant in 1995 and after
completing his traineeship traveled
extensively, working professionally
both in the USA and the UK. He
gained experience in the UK
investment banking industry with
companies including Merrill Lynch,
Morgan Stanley and UBS Warburg.
Upon his return to South Africa in
2002 Murray gained vast commercial
experience before joining Three
Cities as Commercial Director. He
was promoted to Group Chief
Financial Officer in early 2009.
Operations Director - Hotel Division
From an operational perspective,
Marius had the opportunity to gain
management experience in a number
of units across the country, ranging
from smaller units to the largest
hotel in Africa with 546 bedrooms.
During this period Marius studied
through Wits in Gauteng. Employed
by Three Cities as the Chief
Operating Officer of the R1.2 billion
uShaka Marine World, Marius was
appointed as Operations Director
for the Three Cities Group in 2009.
2013
Lauren Bonhomme
Heather Wynne
Kirsty Fonzari
Lauren spent most of her more
recent career with the Singita
Management Group who run top
end hospitality products of unique
quality.
Heather completed her National
Diploma in Food Service Management at Wits and spent the first eight
years of her hospitality career in
hotel operations including front of
house, reservations, accounts and
running many food and beverage
outlets, in a number of guest houses,
lodges and hotels.
Kristy has extensive experience
working with various brand
management strategies and has been
responsible for a number of
well-known operations in the United
Kingdom. Kirsty also worked as an
Operations Manager in the
hospitality industry for various
brands, including Fuller Smith and
Turner and Leon Restaurants, for a
number of years.
Group Human Resources Manager
After completing an undergraduate
and Honours degree at the
University of Natal in the 1990’s, she
interrupted her business career for a
short period in 2007 to complete a
Masters of Commerce at the
University of Cape Town,
specialising in Organisational
Psychology.
Her commercial experience includes
banking, shipping, training and
development and in the hospitality is
through the ranks of Human
Resources after having had direct
unit operational exposure in one of
Singita’s prime products, based in
Mpumalanga
Group Revenue Manager
Heather possesses a Hotel Revenue
Management qualification from
Cornell University, USA and has
extensive revenue management
experience via positions held at a
number of hotels.
Heather is responsible for Central
Reservations as well as the revenue
management / rates function of the
Group. She has created a strong
department and will be refining the
rates and revenue management
strategy of the Group into the
future.
Group Marketing Manager
Kirsty is responsible for creating a
clearly defined brand platform, and
framework for implementation, for
the Three Cities brand and its
sub-brands, with a clear view of
bringing it above the line.
2013
Three Cities manages a portfolio of
four brand classifications incorporating
the
finest
urban
hotel
environments within the City Hotels
brand; scenic pastoral activity and
family friendly Resorts and private
wildlife and luxurious sanctuaries
within the Exceptional Safaris brand
and our Exceptional Collection, a
collection of significant offerings.
Each
Erica Gardner
establishment
owns
and
maintains its individual identity and
Group Sales Manager
personality whilst being marketed
Erica joins the Three Cities Group
following a 15-year period at Thompsons Africa where she held various
positions including General Manager.
During her tenure with Thompsons she
expertly project managed Durban’s 2011
COP17 conference which saw 17,000
delegates from around the globe visit
the city over a two-week period. A
seasoned hospitality professional, Erica’s
expertise includes team management,
product development, sales and
marketing, pricing, negotiations and
contracting, maximizing profit margins
and competitive advantage and online
booking systems.
worldwide under the Three Cities
Erica has a Diploma in travel & tourism
and an IATA / UFTAA Advanced
Diploma. The Three Cities Group is a
leading marketing, management and
training group within the tourism and
hospitality industry, offering a collection
of three, four and five-star establishments throughout Southern Africa,
Zimbabwe and Zambia with a strong
network of sales and marketing
specialists in Johannesburg, Durban,
Cape Town and internationally.
Group brand, all bonded to each
other with international standards
of service excellence, quality accommodation, premium conferencing
and team building, tailor-made
wedding packages and fine restaurants.
Three Cities is also partnered with
Plettenberg Equestrian Academy,
giving students a solid equine education in a fun environment; Rovos
Rail, a luxurious experience for the
discerning traveler; The International Hotel School, offering a range
of hospitality training in Cape
Town,
Durban,
Sandton;
and
uShaka Marine World, the jewel of
Durban’s waterfront, offering a
variety of marine experiences.