TWO executives from Gold Coast based hospitality heavyweight Wyndham Vacation Resorts Asia Pacific (WVRAP) have been named finalists in the prestigious CEO Magazine Executive of the Year Awards, which will be held at Crown Melbourne on November 26.
President and Managing Director Barry Robinson will go head to head with executives from Accor and KFC in the Hospitality and Tourism Executive of the Year category while Chief Financial Officer Liam Crawley will be up against his counterparts from Swisse Wellness, Clarke Energy and Sirtex Medical in the CFO of the Year category.
The Executive of the Year Awards is Australia’s most prestigious awards night for the corporate sector, recognising the individual excellence of high-level executives nationwide.
The awards focus on the success of individuals who make their corporations tick and the contributions they have made to their companies.
From his base on the Gold Coast, Mr Robinson leads WVRAP, the South Pacific’s largest timeshare company with 26 resorts in Australia, New Zealand and Fiji, and more than 50,000 vacation club owners.
On January 1, 2015, he also took on the added responsibility of Wyndham Hotel Group South East Asia and Pacific Rim (WHGSEAPR), which comprises more than 80 hotels across 15 countries and five hotel brands.
Mr Crawley’s financial stewardship covers WHGSEAPR hotels, as well as WVRAP’s 50,000 vacation club owners and a consumer financing portfolio in excess of A$340 million and 18,000 customers.
In 2014, he prepared for the creation of a new regional division, WHGSEAPR, while also overseeing the establishment of Wyndham’s first Asian vacation club, CLUB WYNDHAM ASIA ®. Both launched in early 2015.
“It is an honour for Liam and I to be recognised among a field of this calibre in the Executive of the Year Awards,” Mr Robinson said. “As leaders in the hospitality and tourism industry, we are always striving to grow, while maintaining a culture of service excellence.”
Based on the Gold Coast, Wyndham has grown to be one of the city’s largest private employers with more than 1,000 Gold Coast staff based at the Wyndham Corporate Centre in Bundall and across three Gold Coast resorts.
