At Hong Kong-based Swire Hotels, managing director Brian Williams has been made deputy chairman and replacing him as managing director is Toby Smith, who returns to the group after serving as general manager of sales and distribution at Cathay Pacific.
Smith joined Swire back in 1991 as management trainee before moving on to positions within the group’s shipping and aviation sectors, which took him to countries as diverse as Papua New Guinea, Vietnam, Australia, Turkey, Sri Lanka, France, Singapore and Hong Kong.
Swire has also promoted Dean Winter to group director of operations overseeing all hotel and restaurant operations in Hong Kong, China and Miami.
Winter joined Swire in October 2006 and was responsible for managing the operations and pre-opening of The Opposite House in Beijing, and The Upper House and EAST in Hong Kong, prior to opening The Upper House as general manager in 2009. He has taken on various roles since, such as overseeing the opening The Temple House and soon, The Middle House in Shanghai.
