Team Biographies
Our people are among the most talented in the industry. It would be our pleasure to put our extensive experience to work for you.
Steve Underwood - Managing Director
Steve Underwood is described by his peers as gregarious and optimistic, a natural leader who has delivered better than expected results to the companies he has worked for or consulted to. He is an adaptable, influencing self starter who asks who and when. He has good instincts and a unique knowledge and depth of experience that make him deliver outstanding results in the businesses he operates in. His personal values are open, honest and forthright coupled with a strong ethos of delivering value. He has an exceptional instinct that delivers results.
- Operational Management experience 35 years with demonstratable profit results.
- Managing Director 10 years A La Carte Hospitality Services.
- Resort Management Specialist
- Restaurant and Convention Specialist
- Kitchen Food and Beverage cost management
- McAlpines Group, Trust House Forte, SPHC, Intercontinental Hotels and Resorts, Duxton Hotel Group, Voyages Hotels and Resorts, Shipfield Hotels and Resorts, Best Western Hotels and Resorts, AIH Group and Petrac Property Group, as well as independent hotels, restaurants and development properties.
- Experienced with receivership or distressed properties in the Whitsundays, Cairns and the Sunshine Coast
- Strategic level in the development of hotel style aged care product, the management of clubs and the development of brand systems, policies and procedures and their roll out into independent hotels, resorts and restaurant groups .
- Management and consulting experience in Asia, Japan, Pacific, Sydney, Adelaide, Perth, Tasmania, Sunshine Coast and Cairns where his unique skill set in Strategic and Market Management, Systems and Procedures saw significant bottom line improvements in the businesses he worked with.
Rodger Powell - Executive Associate Consultant
Commentators describe Rodger Powell as an energetic, marketing-driven, entrepreneurial leader who consistently delivers excellent results. With thirteen years experience as CEO/MD, preceded by twelve years in senior management and marketing roles in Australia and internationally, he is a strong communicator and proven change agent with turnaround capability. Working in major corporations, franchises and associations, with exceptional teams of people,
Rodger's key skills are.
- Strategy
- Brand management
- Human resources.
- Building fast moving teams
- corperate govenance
- tecnology adoption
- Business building multi unit and global companies
- Mergers and acquisitions, private equity and international transactions.
- Thirty years of company directorships and chairman roles have developed additional leadership capability.
Experienced in Services, Gaming, Information Technology, Tourism and Brand Management sectors. Living and working in the USA, UK, Australia, NZ, Indonesia, China and Hong Kong as well as conducting business in most European and East Asian countries has given him a unique perspective. Personal values of openness, honesty and persistence together with a quietly spoken communication style have earned him respect as both a collaborative marketeer and a strategy focussed business leader. He is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management and a Fellow (Advanced Diploma) of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
His opportunities have extended to brands such as Best Western, SPHC (now Intercontinental), Whitsundays, Hilton, Lion Nathan, Bally and BIG4. He is currently engaged in building a brand for Sydney. Current roles include:
Brand Management Consultant – Global Brand Sydney
Chairman – BIG4 Holiday Parks Australia
Director Strategic Relationships – AIH Group
Director Business Events Sydney
Prior roles have included:
CEO Best Western Australia
CEO Tourism Whitsundays
Senior Management roles with SPHC (Intercontinental Hotel Group)
Senior Management roles with Lion Nathan, Hilton, Bally and Systems Resource Group.
Murray Worthington – Senior Consultant
- Murray has over thirty years extensive senior hospitality experience in hotel and resort operations, including marketing and human resources, throughout Australia, Papua New Guinea and New Zealand.
- He has experience in operating fully managed, franchised and strata tile properties in the three, four and five star markets and managed Australia’s first five star International Strata Title resort .
- Specialist in a strata title operating environment with multiple body corporate identities.
- Specialist in identification of operational cost savings, the implementation of profit strategies and the reorganisation of hotel operating systems to maximise profit outcomes.
- In the strata title environment his exceptional communication skills have enabled him to manage owner, body corporate and developer issues.
- This experience has been gained working with Southern Pacific Hotels, Intercontinental Hotels and Resorts, Accor, Outrigger and MFS Group.
- Murray holds a Bachelor of Business majoring in Hospitality and a Restricted Unit Managers Licence.
Michael Kerr - Senior Consultant
Michael has a broad executive management and business coaching background, with over 20 years experience in all aspects of leading and developing a successful enterprise including operations, finance, sales and marketing. He has worked with businesses across a number of industries such as Tourism, Hospitality, Mining Services, Hardware, Retail, Manufacturing, Finance, Real Estate and Development.
Much of his experience has been in hotel management with Australian Icon products that achieved 70% consumer awareness or held the number one most recalled brand in category status, including Best Western Australia, Couran Cove Island Resort, the Whitsunday Islands and Great Barrier Reef and Fraser Island. Michael’s success has been a result of taking a strategic ‘whole of organisation’ approach to achieving outcomes. He has excellent communication skills, builds strong relationships, and has a working knowledge of corporate governance, relevant government legislation and has had company secretary experience. Direct reporting responsibilities have been to various boards of directors comprised of business, community and industry leaders.
His business studies majored in marketing, and in conjunction with Michael’s extensive professional business coaching experience, has given him a strong theoretical and practical understanding of sales and marketing. Branding and positioning is one of his key strengths. He has been responsible for a number of successful re-branding and re-positioning projects working alongside some of Australia’s top advertising agencies. Market audit and strategic planning, including budgeting have been a direct responsibility of his and he has been able to achieve double digit growth rates for several products.
Bachelor of Business - Marketing University of Southern Queensland 2006
Company Directors Course Diploma, Australian Institute of Company Directors 2004
Risk Management Course, Institute of Chartered Secretaries 2005, Priority Manager Program, Priority Management 1997, Aussie Host.
MEMBERSHIPS:
SKAL International, Australian Institute of Company Directors
Bob Masters Senior Financial Consultant
Bob has held positions of Financial Controller for hotels in and has acted as a consultatant for 20years.
He has worked in various locations including Cairns, Gold Coast, Alice Springs Darwin, USA and Hong Kong.
Bob has practical experience with many software systems that are currently in use in Australia and has managed systems in group, stand alone operations,and in a trust account environment.
Bob has exceptional analytical skills and a clear understanding of the relationship between operating costs and revenues. He has managed systems that include strategic budgeting, business planning as well as daily, weekly and monthly reporting, HR, cash flow, accounting systems and tax issues.
His strength is being able to build and manage a systems that produce the information that statutory complies for owners, senior management and operational teams require to make informed and balanced decisions. Bob can give your business the ability to plan effective for the short mid and long term.
Bob is based in Cairns and is available for short to mid term consultancies or can provide advice and ongoing support to management teams and owners support for management agreements.
Chefs and Kitchen Design
We also have a selection of Advisors available that specilise in Kitchen Management and design.Please contact us for details
Executive Recruitment
For Executive Recruitment needs we recommend ,Help Recruitment.
