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Corporate and Leadership Team

Corporate and Leadership Team

Arun Kumar
Arun Kumar
General Manager, Hospitality Division

Arun Kumar is the General Manager of the Hospitality Division at Al Khoory Hotels. He started his career in 1991 as a Food and Beverage Manager for Taj Group of Hotels, India, and has since been a vital part of various hotel groups in Dubai, including Flora Group of Hotels (as Cluster General Manager), Safeer Group of Hotels (as General Manager of the Hotel Division), and Al Bustan Centre & Residence (as Resident Manager). His comprehensive experience in the industry has enhanced his core competencies of pre-opening operations, sales and marketing strategies, project coordination, and operational excellence. Arun has a Bachelor’s degree in Hotel Management from the Institute of Hotel Management (IHM), Mumbai (1991) and is fluent in English, Hindi, Bengali, and Malayalam. Driven to excel by taking up new challenges in marketing properties through diverse channels and emerging markets, Arun has developed a holistic engagement with Hospitality.

Ivo Tzvetkov
Ivo Tzvetkov
General Manager, Operations and Quality Assurance

Ivo Tzvetkov is the General Manager of Operations and Quality Assurance at Al Khoory Hotels. With more than 30 years of experience in the hospitality industry, Ivo has worked with both international and locally evolving hotel groups. Having spent 14 years with Marriott International, in UK and China (ascending to the role of Director of Operations), he made a focused transition aimed at learning to “build from the ground up” and joined the privately owned ultra luxury Zhongmao Haiyue Hotel and Hebei Grand Hotel Executive Apartments, China (as Resident Manager), following this he moved to Dubai with Flora Group of Hotels (as Cluster Director of Operations), before joining Al Khoory Hotels in his current role. Driven by his desire to excel beyond his comfort zone, Ivo consistently hones his numerous core competencies, to achieve results for all stakeholders and he finds great pride in developing and seeing people grow. Ivo graduated in Hotel Management with Honours from the College of Tourism, Cyprus, and the American Hotel & Motel Association in 1996. A dedicated and fast learner, he is fluent in Bulgarian and English, with a working professional proficiency in Russian.

Ivo Tzvetkov
Arvind Singh
Head of Sales

Arvind Singh, who takes up the position of Head of Sales for the Hospitality group. A graduate from Mumbai University and MBA in Hospitality and Tourism Management from the Swiss Business School, he has over 14 years of hospitality experience in senior sales positions, having established numerous successful strategies for series of hospitality brands in the UAE and internationally.  His career includes senior management positions within Millennium Hotels & Resorts, Accor, The H Dubai. Most recently he was Director of Sales and Marketing for Revier Hotel Business Bay Dubai.

Brayant Tagle
Brayant Tagle
Corporate Revenue Manager

Having started his career in 2008 in Revenue Department for the Hilton Hotels in the UAE, Brayant Tagle went on to gain more management experience in numerous hotels and resorts in the U.A.E, bringing over 15 years of expertise in leadership in the international hospitality industry. With previous managerial roles worked for all classes of hotels such as leading Ultra luxury, Luxury, Five Stars, and Middle-Class hotels including Hilton Hotels & Resorts, Rotana Hotels, Oberoi Hotels & Resorts, Rixos Hotels, Accor Hotels & Carlton Hotels & Suites. He has bachelor’s degree in management and completed his Revenue management certificate in Cornell University his mark as a dynamic hotelier, working the ranks from Reservations & Revenue Agent to Corporate Revenue Manager in Hilton, Oberoi, Rixos & Accor Hotels. His last stint position prior of joining Al Khoory Hotels as Corporate Revenue Manager for Carlton Hotels & Suite handling 4 properties in Dubai.

Naji Moukhachen
Naji Moukhachen
Head of Sales

Naji Moukhachen, who takes up the position of Head of Sales for the Hospitality group. A graduate of Cornell University and an MBA from the Swiss Business School, he has over 12 years of hospitality experience in senior sales positions, having established numerous successful strategies for a series of hospitality brands in the UAE and internationally. His career includes senior management positions within Rotana Hotels and Hilton, where he was most recently Commercial Manager for Hilton DoubleTree Al Jadaf.

Rohit Rattan
Rohit Rattan
Marketing Manager

An experienced leader in with a demonstrated history and high degree of commercial awareness and business acumen within the Hospitality Industry predominantly in Sales & Marketing , Rohit Rattan brings in experience of 20+ years to his credibility working with International brands such as Starwood , Jumeirah Group, GHM Hotels, Taj Hotels & Resorts, Six Senses Spas, Rixos Hotels & Resorts along with reputed home-grown brands working towards re-branding, repositioning, and pre-opening projects within UAE. His past 14 years have reflected senior managerial positions such as Director of Sales and Director of Sales & Marketing combining experience and expertise in applying strategic expansion plans for expanding the business base and overall achieve brand goals.

Moustafa Moussa
Moustafa Moussa
Corporate Chef

Moustafa Moussa is the Corporate Chef at Al Khoory Hotels. A talented, creative and accomplished Chef with over 25 years of comprehensive experience in hospitality industry managing lifestyle restaurants, bars, conferences and events’ facilities of medium and large size luxury resorts and city hotels. Chef Moustafa’s previous experience includes working with International Hotel Groups across different countries such as InterContinental Phoenicia Beirut and Crowne Plaza Beirut in Lebanon; Kempinski Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten Minchin and Grand Kempinski Hotel Helligendam in Germany; Kempinski Kovalam Beach Kerala in India; DoubleTree by Hilton Dhahran in Saudi Arabia; Royal Tulip Al-Rasheed Hotel Baghdad in Iraq; InterContinental Hotel Abu Dhabi, Emirates Palace Hotel Abu Dhabi, Raffles Hotel Dubai and Rocco Forte Hotel Abu Dhabi in UAE. He has been featured on Abu Dhabi TV for 2 months live cooking on Kif Al Soha Show. A graduate of Decoani College Lebanon in 1999, Chef Moustafa holds a degree in Hotel Management with specialization in Culinary. He is adept at strictly monitoring kitchen activities and meeting health code standards with strong organizational, leadership and management skills.

Uday Shetty
Uday Shetty
Financial Controller

Uday Shetty is the Financial Controller at Al Khoory Hotels. He brings with him 14 years of post-qualification work experience, with 10 years in Finance and 4 years in Group Internal Audit. Starting out as an Accounts Manager at Mahavir Decorative Products Limited, India, he moved on to become Finance Manager at Princess Hotel, Ramee Royal Hotel and Regal Plaza Hotel in Dubai. He has also been the Senior Manager – Finance and Internal Audit for Ramee Group of Hotels & Resorts in the UAE, Bahrain and Oman. Through his skills in system development and implementation, taxation, financial planning/analysis and reporting, and corporate treasury management, he enables management team efficiency, high economic value addition and superior organizational performance. A chartered accountant from The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (1999), Uday graduated from CPA Australia in 2010. He is fluent in English, Hindi, Marathi, Kannada and Tulu.

Sujith Narayanan
Sujith Narayanan
IT Manager

Sujith Narayanan is the IT Manager at Al Khoory Hotels. His professional experience of more than 12 years in System Development and Maintenance includes working on 4 pre-opening projects with 2 hypermarkets, 1 hotel apartment and 1 hotel. Before joining Al Khoory, Sujith has worked as a Business System Engineer for the EMKE Group (UAE), and as IT Manager and Cluster IT Manager for Hospitality Management Holdings (UAE). Self-motivated and always excited by new challenges, he has a keen engagement with his core competencies, which he pursues with dedication and responsibility. Sujith completed his Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, graduating with a first class in 1990 from Bharathiar University, Tamil Nadu. He also has an Advanced Diploma in Client Server Technology. He is proficient in English and Malayalam and has a basic understanding of Arabic and Hindi.

Wasim Raja
Wasim Raja
Chief Human Resources Officer

Wasim is a certified HR professional with in-depth organizational development knowledge with certification courses from IIM-Bangalore and JAS-ANZ (Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand) with progressive experience over a period of 10 years in the HR domain with commended performance and proven results. He currently leads the HR Functions at Al Khoory Hotels, having worked with various reputed companies in UAE and India. Wasim has an Extensive background in HR generalist affairs, hotel pre-opening, employee recruitment, conflict resolution, performance appraisal, compensations and benefits and the development of HR policies. In addition, he is also adept at handling general HR-related workplace issues. A passionate and result-oriented professional, he is an effective facilitator, process coach and leader. He has a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Kashmir (2007) and holds an MBA in Human Resources and Marketing from the Indian Institute of Planning and Management (2011). Fluent in English, Urdu, Hindi and Kashmiri, Wasim is skilled at initiating, managing and optimizing a range of HR functions across hierarchies, while also resolving performance management issues.

Firas Al Alami
Firas Al Alami
General Manager

Firas Al Alami is the General Manager of Al Khoory Sky Garden Hotel – he started his hospitality career back 2004 as a telephone operator at Four Seasons Hotel Amman – Jordan, and he climbed the career ladder until he moved as Front Office Manager with Rotana Hotels and Resorts back 2007 in Abu Dhabi – UAE, then he moved within Rotana to several hotels in different locations such as Abu Dhabi, Al Ain, Dubai and Erbil on the capacity of Executive Assistant Manager, before he joined Al Khoory Hotels in 2022 as a General Manager of the flagship hotel of the company. His comprehensive experience in the industry has enhanced his core competencies of pre-opening experience for 5 hotels in his career, especially Rooms department since it was the starting of his career path, then moving forward to build his experience overall departments within the hospitality industry with an excellence in planning and developing hotels operations aside from the commercial part as well.

Gopinath Gopalan
Gopinath Gopalan
Cluster Hotel Manager

Seasoned Hotel General Manager Gopinath Gopalan will utilize nearly 30 years of rich hospitality experience to lead the recently launched Al Khoory Courtyard Hotel, where the focus will be on showcasing quality accommodation, facilities and amenities twinned with exceptional value, and the Urban Al Khoory Hotel where he will underscore the innovative, vibrant and modern credentials. An Indian national, Gopinath has vast experience with luxury and lifestyle global hotel brands and has held numerous senior management positions. He has opened hotels for Hyatt, Hilton and Radisson hotel groups.

Graham Jeff Isaacs
Graham Jeff Isaacs
Hotel Manager

Graham Jeff Isaacs is the Cluster Hotel Manager at Urban Al Khoory and Al Khoory Courtyard Hotel. Having started his hospitality career in 2000 as a Duty Manager at JAIC Hilton Colombo, Sri Lanka, Jeff went on to work with Coral Deira Hotel (formerly Safir Deira Hotel), Dubai, in 2002. He then joined the pre-opening team of Al Khoory Hotel Apartments in 2008 as an Assistant Front Office Manager and progressed to his current role by being one of the successful pioneers and pre-opening team members of Al Khoory Hotel Apartments in the same year. His wide range of experience in the hospitality industry has honed his extensive skills in hotel operations, revenue management and running pre-opening projects. Jeff has a Diploma in Tourism and Hospitality from CTH (the Confederation of Tourism and Hospitality), UK. An astute strategist and manager, he is highly committed and result-oriented, with a strong passion for his field of work.

Leslie James
Leslie James
Cluster Hotel Manager

Leslie James is the Cluster Hotel Manager of Al Khoory Executive Hotel. Skilled in negotiation, budgeting, hotel management, and sales management, Leslie has worked with world-class hotels in Dubai, including Imperial Group of Hotels (as Senior Sales and Marketing Manager), London Crown Hotel and Apartments (as Assistant Director of Sales and Marketing), Sea View Hotel and Royal Ascot Hotel (as Director Of Sales Marketing at Khamas Hospitality), and Omega Hotel (as Director of Business Development). With over 18 years of experience in sales and marketing, he has negotiated high-profile RFPs and government contracts. Leslie has also worked with travel trade partners for European and Asian markets, participating in trade shows and exhibitions in collaboration with the Dubai Tourism Board. Leslie completed his BSc in 1994 from Christ College, Bangalore, and is fluent in English, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, and Telugu.

Vinod Suhag
Vinod Suhag
Operations Manager

Vinod is a highly accomplished professional with a passion for the hospitality industry. He graduated from Hotel Management in 2009 and quickly embarked on a remarkable career journey with prestigious luxury hotel chain, Oberoi Hotels, where he honed his skills and gained invaluable experience. Throughout his career, Vinod had the privilege of working with renowned establishments such as Taj, Dusit, Marriott, and Gloria hotels in the Middle East, holding senior management positions. His expertise lies in managing complex operations with a focus on delivering outstanding results. Vinod had successfully overseen hotels ranging from 200 to 2000 keys and had been involved in the pre-opening of seven hotels. Beyond his impressive professional achievements, he is a proactive collaborator within the hospitality, Education, Humanitarian Ambassador & Sustainability platforms such as Alpha Sights, Dynamic World Education Community, GGA UAE & personal initiative of planting over 2000 trees since 2003.
With his extensive experience, valuable insights, and multifaceted involvement, Vinod is an invaluable asset to the core team. His diverse skill set, coupled with his unwavering dedication to excellence, ensures that he is well-equipped to tackle any challenge and contribute significantly to the success of ventures in the hospitality industry and beyond.