The TradeWinds Island Resorts – the Island Grand Resort and RumFish Beach Resort – located along 40 acres of sugary white beach on the island of St. Pete Beach, Florida, has announced Avi Yesawich as Managing Director. In this position, Yesawich oversees all aspects of the TradeWinds operations, including strategic vision and direction, sales, marketing, finance, revenue, human resources, and all hotel food and beverage operations.
The leader of the resort’s executive team, Yesawich will play a key role in upcoming capital improvements at TradeWinds, including a $500 million, 20-year expansion project recently approved by the City of St. Pete Beach.
Yesawich has extensive experience with Highgate Hotels, which manages TradeWinds Island Resorts. He was most recently Area Managing Director for Highgate’s Luxury & Lifestyle hotel division in Miami, where he oversaw operations for three diverse properties, totaling more than 1,000 rooms. Yesawich also spent several years working in New York City’s fast-paced hospitality industry at a variety of large, complex branded and independent hotels with the firm, serving in key leadership positions. He also spent time with IHG Hotels as Resident Manager of the InterContinental David Tel Aviv in Israel, significantly elevating all the properties’ key financial and operational metrics during his time there.
Yesawich has a bachelor’s degree in Hotel Administration from Cornell University, as well as a master’s degree from Tel Aviv University in Conflict Resolution, Mediation and Negotiation. A mixed native of Florida, New York, and Israel, Yesawich resides in St. Petersburg with his family.
