The Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center announces Area Vice President Pascal Duchauffour as certified speaker of the brand

Diana Oreck, Vice President of Global Learning at The Leadership Center, said:

"For more than a decade, we have been fielding requests from top corporations and government institutions to learn more about the renowned Ritz-Carlton service quality processes and how they can be applied to their own organizations. As our core consulting team is relatively small, we looked to other established leaders in our company who can effectively communicate and share our Gold Standards to other companies around the world seeking to elevate their own customer experience, and to strengthen employee and customer loyalty."

First on the list in the Middle East to be certified as a Ritz-Carlton speaker is Area Vice President Pascal Duchauffour.; a 17-year veteran with The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, Mr. Duchauffour started his hospitality career as a car valet at The Ritz-Carlton, San Francisco. Although he neither spoke nor understood hardly any English at the time, Mr. Duchauffour learned the language quickly and rose through several operational positions in the rooms division in diverse locations such as Sydney, Australia; Seoul, South Korea; Shanghai, China; Singapore and Bahrain, the last of which saw him don the role as a general manager for the first time.

Mr. Duchauffour is currently in charge of the upcoming hotel at Dubai International Financial Center. This new responsibility is on top of his current role as vice president of the region, in which he oversees the operations of hotels in Bahrain, Doha, Dubai and Sharm El Sheikh, working closely with all property general managers.

A passionate advocate of the leadership principles of The Ritz-Carlton, Mr. Duchauffour participated in the first of the two successful Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award applications, as well as the Singapore Quality Award in 2001. An engaging bilingual communicator with a wealth of motivating anecdotes at the ready, Mr. Duchauffour is poised to share the success of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company; through the two-hour program "Legendary Service at The Ritz-Carlton," Mr. Duchauffour presents the hotel company's philosophy and values, and how they translate into the creation of memorable customer experiences for any business or non-profit organization.

Mr. Duchauffour, says:

"It is an honour to be a certified speaker for The Ritz-Carlton, especially during this year which happens to be the 25th anniversary of the company. It is also especially timely as the book 'The New Gold Standards' by Dr. Joseph Michelli has just gone into its third printing in the United States, and we are getting more requests around the world for speaking engagements as a direct result of this event."

Other newly-minted speakers in the region for the brand include General Manager Hossein Vetry and Director of Public Relations Evelyn Yo of Sharq Village & Spa in Doha; General Manager Spencer Wadama of The Ritz-Carlton, Sharm El Sheikh; Director of Sales & Marketing Dilip Mukundan of The Ritz-Carlton, Bahrain Hotel & Spa; Director of Human Resources Corinna Saffhill of The Ritz-Carlton, Dubai; and Regional Director of Public Relations Vivienne Gan.

The 'Legendary Service at The Ritz-Carlton' program is two hours, and the certified speakers are available for presentations at company locations or other venues.

Ranked in the top 10 of Training magazine's 'Top 100; training organizations six years in a row, The Leadership Center has hosted thousands of senior executives and managers interested in benchmarking the business practices that earned The Ritz-Carlton two Malcolm Baldrige National Quality awards. This valuable training and consulting resource for organizations in all industries offers actionable strategies for creating sustainable change, outperforming the competition and strengthening employee and customer loyalty.