Patrick Stapleton,Hilton Northern Ireland
For some managers, promoting their business involves getting on the phone and hiring a good PR. Others, like the winner of the 2003 Manager of the Year, are a little more adventurous. This Catey recipient was once put in a straitjacket, dunked in a canal at the end of a burning rope, then persuaded to abseil down the front of a hotel.
At the time he was director and general manager of the Hilton Dublin. Since then he has moved on to become area general manager for Hilton, Northern Ireland, but the passionate commitment to the job and individuality that the stunt demonstrated says much about Patrick Stapleton's leadership. "It's very hard in a corporation like Hilton to break the identity mould, and I like the idea of him abseiling down a building," commented judge Lesley Reynolds.
Since he moved last summer to Northern Ireland, where he has overall responsibility for the company's two hotels in the Belfast area (the five-star Hilton Belfast and the four-star Hilton Templepatrick Hotel & Country Club), Stapleton has continued to involve himself in things above and beyond the call of duty.
His enthusiasm for the industry shines through, from forging links with local education establishments like Portrush Hotel & Catering College and the Dublin Institute of Technology, and getting involved with the Irish Hotel and Catering Institute (of which he was elected president in 2001), to driving forward a state-of-the-art golf academy for Ireland at Templepatrick. "He's the flavour of the community, he's good at localising his own business," remarked one judge. On top of all of this he has even signed up to do a masters degree in business and administration in his spare time.
But it's not just these extras that singled him out as a worthy Catey winner. This particular accolade demands that whoever wins should demonstrate success in managing and developing their team, as well as having a good financial track record.
On both counts, Stapleton caught the judges' attention. He has consistently achieved his financial targets at Hilton, in Dublin and now in Northern Ireland, and is operating at a profit at both Belfast and Templepatrick. As one judge pointed out, Northern Ireland is still not the easiest market.
And to develop his team, Stapleton has initiated mentoring schemes, devised inter-hotel competitions, coached senior managers to achieve awards, set up annual "funday" workshops to promote staff confidence and created training rooms for staff to use for open learning projects and tutorials.
As judge Frank Whittaker concluded: "There's a lot of substance in Patrick's nomination. He meets the criteria for the award on all accounts."
Judges
KAREN EARP General manager, Four Seasons Hotel Canary Wharf
ZOE JENKINS Food and beverage manager, the Dorchester
DAVID MICHELS Chief executive, Hilton Group
LESLEY REYNOLDS Chief executive, Portfolio International
JONATHAN SLATER Managing director, the Chester Grosvenor
FRANK WHITTAKER Sales and marketing director, Compass Group UK & Ireland
Presvious winners:
2002 Jonathan Slater
2001 Laurence Beere
2000 Elaine Clarke
1999 Zoe Jenkins
1998 John Toner
1997 Julie Baugh
1996 Elena Salvoni
1995 Margaret Wells
1994 Julian Small
1993 John Coomb
1992 David Irving
Sponsored by: Dudson
Sponsor message:
Once again, The Dudson Group are proud to sponsor the Catey award for Manager of the Year.
The company was founded by Richard Dudson in 1800, in Hanley, Stoke on Trent and in the beginning produced a wide variety of domestic ceramic products, including Staffordshire Figures and Dudson Jasper Ware.
Since 1891 however, the company has produced ware for the travel and hospitality industry only, and as one of the world’s leading manufacturers and distributors of hotel tableware, they export over 60% of production to over 80 countries worldwide.
This privately owned, family business is only too aware of the importance of the right person in the right job. Dudson look forward, each year, to awarding the Manager of the Year award to another worthy winner who can show success, not only by increasing revenue, but in man management skills and in the desire to achieve.
With an on-going programme of investment and development, The Dudson Group continues to set the standards in design, production and innovation for today’s hotel tableware.
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