Going Places

• Deborah Cavanagh was appointed national sales manager at the Clearwater Beach Marriott Suites on Sand Key. Previously, Cavanagh served as the director of group sales at the Millennium Hotel St. Louis. The 13-year hospitality veteran will be responsible for the association market nationwide and all corporate group markets outside Florida… The Westin Beach Resort, Fort Lauderdale, set to open in early 2009, appointed four new positions: Joanie Bowden as director of spa, Adam Elmrabti as director of food and beverage, Nyki Tevini as group sales manager and Tina Smith as sales account director. Bowden was previously at Spa St. Regis at the St. Regis Resort in Fort Lauderdale, where she directed the opening and day-to-day operations. Prior to that position she was the opening director of spa for the Atlantic Hotel and assistant director of spa for the Diplomat Country Club, both in Fort Lauderdale. Elmrabti brings more than 12 years of experience in food and beverage, including his most recent position as assistant director of food and beverage at Orlando’s Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin hotels. With past experience ranging from the Hyatt Regency, Coral Gables and Fairmont Turnberry Isle, Tevini will focus on generating group business from the Mid-Atlantic States and the West Coast, as well as the Florida State Association market for the hotels. Smith joins the complex from Starwood’s New York global sales office, where she worked for the past nine years.

Georgia

• Niles Harris was named general manager of the Sheraton Atlanta Hotel. Harris most recently was president of his own company, the Hotel Concierge, which develops and licenses Web-based software for hotels, luxury residential complexes and office buildings. Prior to that, he served as area director of operations of the southeast for Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, and was based in Atlanta.

• The Umstead Hotel and Spa, in Cary, hired Carrie Cassidy as director of catering and conference services. Prior to that, she served as the director of catering and conference services at the Sea Island Resorts properties, The Cloister and The Lodge, in Sea Island, Ga.

Puerto Rico

• Tom Casademont was appointed senior vice president of sales for the Puerto Rico Convention Bureau. Casademont worked for nearly a decade with Hyatt Regency in Hilton Head before relocating to Puerto Rico to join the pre-opening team at the former Westin Rio Mar Resort, now the Rio Mar Beach & Golf Club, a Wyndham Resort. Most recently, Casademont worked with Omni Hotels and the Omni Orlando Resort at Champions Gate.

Tennessee

• The national sales office of Gaylord Hotels added Russell D. Porter to its northeast region team as director of national accounts. Prior to joining Gaylord Hotels, he was the assistant director of sales, financial/insurance at the Hilton New York in New York City.

Texas

• Shawn Gracey was appointed general manager of Hotel Icon, located in downtown Houston. Previously, he was the general manager and served on the pre-opening team of Shorebreak Hotel, a Joie de Vivre Hospitality property anchoring The Strand mixed-use development, which overlooks the Huntington Beach Pier and the Pacific Ocean in Huntington Beach, Calif. Before that, Gracey was the general manager of the Graciela Burbank Hotel, since renamed Hotel Amarano, in Burbank, Calif.