Montage Beverly Hills Leadership

"I am honored to have a hotelier of Ali Kasikci's caliber at the helm of our new Montage Beverly Hills," said Alan J. Fuerstman, founder and CEO of Montage Hotels & Resorts. "I have known Ali for a long time and have always admired his great success at caring for guests and contributing energetic leadership to his community. With his legendary passion for perfection and his belief in highly personalized service, he shares the Montage philosophy that true luxury is serving guests graciously and attentively."

Simply put, Ali Kasikci is an innovative leader with impeccable style. Kasikci helmed The Peninsula Beverly Hills for the previous 16 years, prior to joining Montage in September, 2007 Under his management, the hotel achieved some of the highest consistent ratings in the industry, including the prestigious Mobil Five Star and the AAA Five Diamond awards - making The Peninsula Beverly Hills the only hotel in Southern California to earn both awards for fourteen consecutive years and earning Kasikci HOTELS Magazine's 2004 Hotelier of the Year award, one of numerous recognitions he has received.

"I am especially excited that the next phase of my career is opening and managing Montage Beverly Hills," said Kasikci. "I am honored that Alan Fuerstman selected me for this great opportunity. Most importantly, this world-class property will be a vital addition to a community I treasure and that has had my heart since 1992."

Committed to "giving back" and mentoring future hoteliers, Kasikci spends a significant amount of his spare time teaching a variety of senior Hospitality Management courses as the Deans Distinguished Lecturer at Cornell University School of Hotel Management.

A 30 - year veteran of the hospitality industry, he is considered to be one of the industry's foremost pioneers. "Ali Kasikci is remarkable," states Professor Cathy Enz, Executive Director of The Center for Hospitality Research at Cornell's Hotel School, "He's one of the most creative thinkers I know," she continues. Since introducing revolutionary concepts such as the "24 hour Check-In / Check-Out" and the "Personalized Guest Services Program," Kasikci has changed the way luxury hotels are operated and managed today. According to Kasikci, "Good service is memorable service. You have five senses. Good service is the sixth. You can't describe it, but you know when you experience it."

A graduate of the Hotel and Catering College in Tegernsee, Germany, Ali Kasikci holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Claremont Graduate University Peter F. Drucker Graduate Management School in Claremont, California. Following his apprenticeship at Hotel Bayerischer Hof in Munich, Germany, he held several senior management positions with leading hotels in Germany and with casino resorts in South Africa.

Accomplished at a young age, Kasikci moved to the United States where he spent five years managing the Four Seasons Hotel in Newport Beach, California before joining The Peninsula Beverly Hills.

A Certified Hotel Administrator (CHA) and a member of the Cornell Hotel Society, Kasikci is an active community leader and has served as Chairman of the Beverly Hills Visitors Bureau, President of the Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce, a member of the Mayor's Economic Advisory Committee and is on the Board of Directors of the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts. Acknowledging his continued support of the Beverly Hills community and leadership in the local economy, the City of Beverly Hills appointed him "Executive of the Year 1998."

Ali Kasikci resides in Los Angeles with his wife Donanne.

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.

He began his hotel career with Four Seasons in 1995 after a stint as an investment banker left him unfulfilled, holding a variety of positions at The Ritz-Carlton Hotel (Four Seasons) in Chicago until 2001, when he traveled to Egypt to serve as opening manager for the new Four Seasons Cairo. He returned to the U.S. with the Four Seasons Newport Beach, joining Montage Laguna Beach as front office manager prior to the resort's opening in 2003.

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