Sue Whitehead, director of marketing, Regal Hotel Group.
Education: nine O’ levels and an LLC business studies diploma.
Training: she completed various training courses at the Chartered Institute ofMarketing.
First Travel Job: worked as a banqueting assistant for Warnes Hotel, Worthing from 1977 to 1978.
Career path: After working at Warnes Hotel, Sue moved to London to take the position of personal secretary at the Foreign and Commonwealth office. After two years there she stayed in London and became the assistant to the deputy general manager at the White House Hotel. In 1982 she was appointed marketing assistant of Holiday Inn Hotels. After another short stint there, she then moved to become market development manager at Venice Simplon-Orient-Express Ltd where she stayed for ten years. She is keen to add that she spent 1993, in Singapore launching the Eastern Oriental Express train and she felt that this was a vital part of her career. In 1994 she moved to the Thistle Hotel Group plc in London as marketing director. She took up her current position in 1997.
Advice for people wishing to develop a career in: “People wishing to enter a career similar to mine should always be willing to broaden their horizons. You should also do your best to work with the best people in the best places, ambition is vital. I would also say that it is important to build up a number of contacts as in this industry that is equally as important.”