Executive Team

Mr. Hoffman was formerly the Director of Rooms at Montage Beverly Hills, a position he held since the hotel opened in November, 2008. He started with the company in 2003 as Front Office Manager at Montage Laguna Beach and was promoted to Director of Rooms in 2004.

With over 15 years of experience, Hoffman began his hotel career with Four Seasons. He has held a variety of positions at The Ritz-Carlton Hotel (Four Seasons) in Chicago, Four Seasons Cairo, and Four Seasons Newport Beach, now The Island Hotel Newport Beach.

A native of Buffalo, New York, Mr. Hoffman spent his formative years in Chicago, Illinois, prior to relocating to Southern California. He graduated from Marquette University with a degree in Business Marketing.

Prior to joining Montage Beverly Hills, MacKillop served as the Director of Sales & Marketing at The Peninsula Beverly Hills. From 1999-2007, she was responsible for creating customer retention programs that generated record-breaking measurements of repeat guest visitation and guest loyalty. Previously, MacKillop worked with several boutique hotel companies in the Northwest, including Kimpton Hotel Group and The Sorrento Hotel.

Born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, she attended Punahou School, followed by four years at Washington State University’s Edward R. Murrow School of Communications.

"Originally trained as an actor," Ruskell says, "I turned to the culinary arts when 'I grew weary of being a starving artist.'" I wanted to cultivate my artistic bent, and pastry-making fulfilled that need." These days his specialty is not "Macbeth," but "The Montage," a sinful chocolate and caramel dome filled with luscious liquid caramel.

Previously a baking instructor and chef at the New England Culinary Institute, Ruskell was also the owner/operator of Pastry Maxine, a pastry shop in Scottsdale, AZ. During his tenure in Phoenix, he spent 8 years at The Phoenician as its chef patissier, accruing numerous awards and accolades.

His career as a patissier officially began at the Hotel Gray d'Albion in Cannes, France where he worked in the pastry kitchen of Le Royal Gray Restaurant. Other pastry positions have taken him to New York City, Maine and Vermont.

Ruskell has been featured on The Food Network many times, including most recently for the "Disney Celebration" and "Cirque du Soleil" cake challenges where he came in first place in October and March 2008 respectively. Ruskell has appeared in Pastry Art & Design, Chocolatier, Bon Appétit, Food Arts, Gourmet, Travel & Leisure, Orange Coast, Phoenix and Phoenix Home & Garden magazines. His recipes have been included in The Orange County Register (2007), onbaking: a textbook of baking and pastry fundamentals (2005) and The Good Cookie (2003).

Ruskell's team won first prize for his colorful "beehive" sugar showpiece at the 2005 National Pastry Competition. His award-winning line-up also includes: a crunch cake featured in Grand Finales: The Art of The Plated Dessert; and two other creations in Grand Finales: A Modernist View. In addition, he has earned silver and gold medals in the Patisfrance U.S. Pastry Competition. He has been a guest artist chef at Manele Bay Hotel in Lana'i and at The Epcot International Food and Wine Festival, as well as a guest instructor at The Stratford Chefs School in Ontario. Ruskell was also the first guest pastry chef to be a guest artist aboard the Silverseas Cruise line in the fall of 2006.

Ruskell holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from Western Illinois University in Macomb, Illinois, and is a graduate of The French Culinary Institute, New York City.

Victorio Gonzalez brings over twenty years of industry experience to Montage Beverly Hills. Most recently, Gonzalez served as Director of Food and Beverage at Montage Laguna Beach, a position he held since December, 2008. Previously he served as Director of Restaurants at Montage Laguna Beach since 2003.

Prior to joining Montage, Gonzalez was the managing member of Executive Dining Consultants LLC, and managing partner of Restaurant Stone Ashley, in Tucson, Arizona. Other notable appointments include: general manager for three Mobil Five-Star Award winning restaurants: Renoir at The Mirage, Picasso at Bellagio, Las Vegas, and Mary Elaine's at The Phoenician in Scottsdale. He was also general manager of the AAA Five Diamond Award winning Ventana Room at Loews Ventana Canyon Resort in Tucson, Arizona.

Gonzalez is a graduate of Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico in Mexico City, and attended the University of Arizona. He has received advanced certification from the Culinary Institute of America (NY) and Cornell University.

Her prior experience includes a stint at the Ciragan Palace Kempinski, Istanbul for a short time, after which Unal moved to United States. In 2000, she joined The Peninsula Beverly Hills, where she held various positions for seven years. Most recently prior to joining Montage Beverly Hills, she was Director of Sales.

Originally from Istanbul, Turkey, Unal graduated from Bosphorus University, Istanbul with a degree in Business Administration.

Manca began his career with Carnival Cruise Lines, spending seven years as the First Officer of Engineering. After making Los Angeles his permanent residence, Manca spent the past 17 years as Director of Engineering at The Peninsula Beverly Hills.

A graduate of Istituto Tecnico Nautico S. Giorgio in Genova, Italy, Manca holds a degree in nautical engineering

He began in London at a small seven-room inn and worked his way up to the position of Assistant General Manager at the Connaught. He then crossed the Atlantic to establish himself for more than 19 years as one of Manhattan's most respected general managers. He spent four years as Manager at the Mayfair Regent, five years at the famed Carlyle, five more at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel and then returned for another five years back at the Carlyle.

In 2003, Bowling left New York to become international Ambassador for The Peninsula Beverly Hills. In 2008, Bowling joined Montage Beverly Hills, where he delights guests with his charismatic personality and professional style.