|
22 June 2009
When you have served some of the world’s leaders including His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama, the Queen of England, Prince Charles & Diana, Princess of Wales, Albert II Sovereign Prince of Monaco, 42nd President of the United States of America Bill Clinton, Chancellor Dr Helmut Kohl, as well as corporate identities such as Sir Richard Branson, Bill Gates and Michael Schumacher, what would be your next challenge?
The answer is, heading to one of the
Middle East
’s newest and largest convention and exhibition venues, the Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC).
QNCC’s General Manager, Mr Paul D’Arcy has confirmed the appointment of some of the convention industry’s most experienced and talented individuals to head up their operations and catering teams. Mr Detlef Haupt as Director of Kitchens, Ms Cathy Neagle as Director of Operations and Mr Jeremy Hagenbach as Director of Food & Beverage will join the QNCC’s Executive team in the coming months.
“The progressive nature of Qatar and the country’s vision to become a world leader in science, education and research is not only gaining interest from organisers of large scale conventions, exhibitions and events, it is also attracting industry professionals such as Detlef, Cathy and Jeremy who want to be part of this growth,” added D’Arcy.
QNCC’s Director of Kitchens, Detlef Haupt has previously worked in the Middle East,
Taiwan
,
Hong Kong
,
Japan
and
Australia
. Detlef cannot wait to immerse himself into the Qatari culture, source local produce and create new supplier channels.
“Once you have catered for 13,500 like we did for Amway China, or prepared a 7 course vegetarian menu (without garlic or onion) for 3,200 monks as we did for the opening of the NanTien Temple, the opportunity to be part of the amazing development in Qatar was an opportunity I did not want to miss,” remarked Haupt.
On accepting the position of QNCC’s Director of Operations, Cathy Neagle said that it is incredibly exciting to be part of the pre-opening team and working on such a large project in this emerging and dynamic region.
“We will develop a benchmark for Centre operations that will position QNCC as a market leader in the region and become a destination of choice,” added Ms Neagle.
Cathy’s career highlights include executive management roles in some of
Sydney
’s most iconic tourism venues and precincts. Her history spans seven years as Director of Operations at the Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre (SCEC), extensive involvement in the USD45million SCEC extension and venue negotiations for the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Most recently Cathy was Director of Clubhouse and Deputy General Manager of the Royal Sydney Golf Club.
The third appointment, QNCC’s Director of Food & Beverage, Jeremy Hagenbach said the reason he was attracted to
Doha
was his passion to work with people from culturally diverse backgrounds.
“My primary focus will be to establish a strong operations team and develop a service culture to match the world-class venue and food excellence. I love working with young, enthusiastic teams who have one goal in mind. That goal is to create a truly memorable experience for our guests,“ Hagenbach said.
Boasting an extensive background in project, strategic, financial and operational management, Jeremy has held senior management positions in convention centres, international hotels and contract catering in both the
United Kingdom
and
Australia
. In
London
, Jeremy worked with corporate clients such as Business Design Centre, the BBC, British Gas, European Bank, BP Oil and HSBC. His most recent position was Director of Food & Beverage for the Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre including the opening of Convention Centre South and the strategic planning for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.
When the Centre opens in 2011, it will become one of
Qatar
’s largest employers in the hospitality sector with a core contingent of 250 employees.
|
