De Vere marketing director to leave company

Graham White, the marketing director at De Vere, is to leave the hotel group next month, marking the latest in a series of high-profile departures from the company, Caterersearch can reveal.

White, who only joined De Vere six months ago, will leave at the end of July, citing family reasons. He has not lined up another position yet.

"It was a hard decision to make but it was a case of getting my work-life balance right," White told Caterersearch. "Everyone has been very understanding about my decision."

Brian McCarthy, chief operating officer of De Vere, insisted that said there was "nothing unusual" in White's decision to leave the company after such a short period of time. "Graham is leaving for purely personal reasons, he doesn't like all the travelling involved in the position," he said.

Malmaison and Hotel du Vin chief executive Robert Cook, who works for De Vere in a consultancy role, will take on White's marketing responsibilities.

In January, Niels Sherry quit as chief operating officer of the De Vere Deluxe brand. Jeremy Rata, general manager of De Vere's flagship hotel, the Grand in Brighton, departed in March, and Andrew Coney, general manager of Slaley Hall, in Northumberland, left a week later.

March also saw Colin Bailey, who worked at De Vere Group for 22 years and Stephen Littlefair, finance director at De Vere's sister brand, Village Hotels, both poached by luxury operator Von Essen. In addition, parent company Alternative Hotel Group announced "a number of redundancies" in head-office operations.

De Vere restructures its team as senior managers move on >>

General manager quits role at Brighton landmark The Grand >>

Alternative Hotel Group closes De Vere HQ >>

Von Essen management shake-up brings in the men from De Vere >>

By Gemma Sharkey

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