From left: Jonathan Worsley, chairman Bench Events, Angelos Loizou, chairman ISHC, Roderick Micallef, acting general manager and director of finance, Corinthia Hotel Lisbon.
March 2010. The International Hotel Investment Forum (IHIF) Young Leader award, co-sponsored by IHIF and the International Society of Hospitality Consultants (ISHC), was presented to Roderick Micallef, acting general manager and director of finance of the Corinthia Hotel Lisbon in Portugal.
The award was presented by Jonathan Worsley, chairman Bench Events, co-organizers of the Forum, and ISHC chairman Angelos Loizou, during a special plenary session of the 13th annual IHIF conference held in Berlin, Germany on 8-10 March 2010.
Now in its second year, the Young Leader Award was created by ISHC, in collaboration with IHIF, to celebrate the excellence of young emerging leaders in the hospitality industry and to reward an outstanding individual with the title of IHIF Young Leader of the Year. The IHIF Young Leader must be under 35 years of age, currently work in a hospitality-related field, have completed a significant project for his or her hotel or organization and be recognized by leaders of his or her own hotel or organization as an emerging leader. Candidates must also be based in a European country. The judging panel for the Young Leader Award 2010 included several prominent industry leaders.
An elated Roderick thanked both the IHIF and ISHC for the unexpected very special recognition. “ I feel honoured to be following in the steps of last year’s award winner, Leslie McGibbon, senior vice president of corporate affairs for InterContinental Hotels Group. Corinthia Hotels, for whom I work and without whom I would not be here, is of course a much smaller organisation, but no less concerned with the development of its young people. So I’d like to dedicate this award to all the young people who work in the seven Corinthia hotels, and in the wider family of hotels which are managed by CHI Hotels & Resorts. It’s often said that young people are the life-blood of an industry. Corinthia turns this saying into a reality, but with respect for the contribution that all its team members bring. “