Marriott International (NYSE:MAR) has announced two management changes in its Hong Kong Global Sales Office:

Bernadette Dennis, vice president -global sales, Asia has assumed expanded responsibilities that now include Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific. Her new title is vice president-global sales, Asia-Pacific. The move was precipitated by the promotion of Dominic Sherry, formerly vice president-global sales, in Australia to an area marketing position with Marriott. A director will be named shortly to lead Marriott’s Sydney office, reporting to Ms. Dennis.

Denny Ma, director-sales for Asia-Pacific, has been promoted to area director-sales, Asia.

Both will continue to be based in Hong Kong.

“We are very fortunate to have someone of the calibre of Bernadette Dennis on our staff. She has done an outstanding job in aligning our global sales efforts in Hong Kong. At the same time, with her incredible experience and knowledge of the Australian market, it was logical to place our Sydney office under our Hong Kong operation while appointing a director, based in Sydney, to manage the day-to-day responsibilities there,” said Fred Miller, vice president-global sales, in making the announcement.

Speaking of Mr. Ma, Mr. Miller said, “Denny has been an invaluable resource for Marriott as our sales organization in Asia has evolved and grown.”

Ms. Dennis joined Marriott in 1984 as a sales manager at the Ft. Lauderdale Marina Marriott Hotel in the U.S., Previously, she had served as director of sales for a resort in the Ft. Lauderdale area and as director of catering for her family’s institutional catering company in Melbourne, Australia, and as an assistant catering manager for a catering company in London..
She was soon promoted to assistant director of sales at the Marriott property in Ft. Lauderdale. She then served in a number of sales and marketing positions in Florida and Kentucky before moving to Michigan in 1987 as director of marketing for The Dearborn Inn, A Marriott Hotel. On returning to Australia at the end of 1989, Ms. Dennis held a number of positions including marketing manager at the World Congress Centre in Melbourne. She rejoined Marriott in 1991 and opened Marriott’s worldwide sales offices and reservations centers in Sydney and Hong Kong. When Marriott acquired the Renaissance Hotel Group in 1997, she relocated to Hong Kong as director of sales and marketing, Asia-Pacific. Among her achievements since then were the successful integration of the Renaissance/New World sales team into the Marriott sales organization and the opening of satellite sales offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Singapore.

Mr. Ma joined Marriott in 1995 in Marriott’s Hong Kong sales office as director of sales for Asia-Pacific. He began his hospitality industry career in 1986 as a management trainee with New World Hotels International in Hong Kong.

In 2001, Marriott’s Asia-Pacific Global Sales Office in Hong Kong reported a 12.7 percent sales increase over 2000. Systemwide, Marriott International reported $20 billion in sales in 2001.

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