City Developments Ltd (CDL) has announced the appointment of Clarence Tan as the Group Chief Executive Officer for Millennium & Copthorne Hotels Ltd (M&C) – the group’s wholly-owned hospitality subsidiary – with effect from 2 April 2020.
As the first CEO for the privatised M&C, Tan will spearhead a turnaround in the performance of M&C’s global hotel portfolio which encompasses 150 hotels and 43,500 rooms worldwide, many in key gateway cities.
Reporting to CDL and M&C Executive Chairman Kwek Leng Beng, he will work closely with the CDL leadership team to deliver sustainable hotel performance by focusing on achieving synergies, cost efficiencies and driving profitability.
Tan’s timely appointment will offer stability to M&C and comes at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected the global hospitality industry.
Tan has over 20 years of global hospitality experience, with a track record in hotel development and management, financial management, merger and acquisitions, integration, partnerships and joint ventures, as well as people development. He has deep experience in international hotel chain management, having headed several regions as CEO or Chief Operating Officer.
He was most recently the Managing Director for South East Asia and Korea with InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) where he was responsible for the growth, financial and operational performance of about 100 hotels in South East Asia and Korea. Under his stewardship, the business delivered US$1.2bn in hotel revenue to the London-listed IHG at a healthy margin and added to their system size and pipeline.
During his 16-year career with IHG, he held various leadership roles in finance, business development and hotel operations across mid-scale, upscale and luxury hotel segments in many regions. From his initial appointment as Chief Financial Officer of Asia Pacific, he undertook regional operations roles in Asia and Australasia, Japan and Korea, South East Asia and Middle East.
Tan holds a Bachelor of Accountancy from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, and commenced his career as a Public Accountant in Price Waterhouse (now PricewaterhouseCoopers). He then moved into hospitality with Raffles International Ltd, where he held the position of Financial Controller for two years, and was the Raffles Grand Hotel d’Angkor Hotel Manager prior to joining IHG.
Kwek Leng Beng said, “On behalf of the Board, I am delighted to welcome Clarence to the CDL Group. As a veteran hotelier with a wealth of international experience in hotel operations, management and finance, his leadership will be critical in navigating M&C through near-term global and macroeconomic challenges, as well as driving portfolio performance enhancements through significant cost-efficiency initiatives and building brand equity.
'With his extensive and distinguished career in the hospitality industry, and strong business, financial management and business recovery capabilities, I am confident that Clarence will play a key role in this integration and transformational process, elevating M&C into a formidable global hospitality group.”
Tan said, “The evolving COVID-19 outbreak continues to greatly impact the hospitality industry globally. Amidst the operating challenges and uncertainty, I see a significant opportunity to reshape M&C’s strategies and reposition the business.
'M&C has a distinctive asset portfolio with latent value to be unlocked. I look forward to working with Chairman Kwek and the Board, together with my M&C colleagues around the world.
'With teamwork and the right strategies, I believe that we will be able to overcome this difficult period and set a firm foundation to further grow our hospitality business.”
