John Johnston appointed as Fairmont’s Executive Vice President of Europe/Africa/Middle East

Fairmont Hotels & Resorts has appointed John Johnston to the position of Executive Vice President of Europe, Africa & the Middle East. In this newly formed post, Johnston will directly oversee the brand’s current and future development opportunities within the region and also be responsible for the day-to-day operations of Fairmont Hotels & Resorts in the area.

“This is a natural evolution for our brand,” states William Fatt, Fairmont’s CEO. “With a number of existing projects ongoing in the region and many of our key strategic partners located in the Gulf, is was only a matter of time before Fairmont established a full-time corporate presence overseas.”

The creation of an overseas office and the promotion of John Johnston follow recent announcements that Fairmont will manage three new resort and city centre developments including The Fairmont Cairo, Nile City, The Fairmont Palm Hotel & Resort in Dubai and The Fairmont Abu Dhabi Resort & Villas, all scheduled to open in 2006.

With an extensive hospitality background, including a number of executive and management level positions with major brands such as Four Seasons, Loews Hotels and Delta Hotels & Resorts, Johnston most recently served Fairmont’s Executive Vice President, Development. Johnston holds a degree in Hotel Administration from the University of Birmingham in England.

The company has also appointed Tom Storey to the position of Executive Vice President, Development. Based out of Fairmont’s Toronto headquarters, Storey will be responsible for defining and executing the company’s mission to expand, while also overseeing the company’s business development and vacation ownership groups.

Prior to this appointment, Storey served as Fairmont’s Executive Vice President Business Development and Strategy. With a Master’s of Business Administration degree from Cornell University and a Bachelor’s degree in economics from Bates College, Storey held various senior hospitality-management roles before joining Fairmont, including posts with Marriott, Doubletree, Radisson and Promus Hotels, where he was involved in the extension of the respective brands.