Art Series Hotel CEO to Contest Finals for Entrepreneur of the Year

Will Deague, CEO, Art Series Hotel Group is participating in the finals of the 2012 Australian Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year award.

Judging is being held in Sydney today (1 November), with the winners announced at a national awards ceremony on 29 November.

Deague is the CEO of Asian Pacific Group, the parent company of the Art Series Hotels. He will go up against the best in Australia for the Emerging Category open to entrepreneurs under the age of 35 or those running emerging businesses. The overall national winner (selected from among all the national category winners) will then travel on to Monaco to represent Australia at the World Entrepreneur Of The Year awards.

Deague makes his way to the finals after winning against stiff competition from Victoria and Tasmania in the Southern region awards in Melbourne earlier this year.

The judges said, “Will is a great example of a young entrepreneur running a diversified business very responsibly. He is energetic and enthusiastic with a maturity beyond his years. Through innovation, Will was able to put a modern twist on a heritage legacy business, completely changing the business model and transforming the corporate governance of the business.”

The Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year is considered one of the world’s most prestigious business awards, with entrepreneurs participating from more than 140 cities and 50 countries.

Previous Australian winners include Michael Malone, iiNet and John Spence, The Karma Royal Group. Deague was one of seventeen outstanding individuals selected from the Victoria and Tasmania regions.

Under Deague’s guidance, the Art Series Hotel Group has taken the Australian marketplace by storm winning numerous awards and boasting strong and steadily growing occupancy since launching in the marketplace in 2009.

The group, which includes The Cullen, The Olsen and The Blackman, has enjoyed stellar success turning over $75 million with an average occupancy rate of 85 – 95% across all properties, a figure that continues to grow year on year. The developments have also been a stunning property success story with their combined market values exceeding $250 million.

The group continues to expand around Australia with its next development, The Watson in Adelaide, currently under construction due to open early 2014, and The Larwill in Melbourne due to open in December 2014.

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