Gerry Chase, president and COO of New Castle Hotels & Resorts, has announced John Wilson has been promoted to general manager of the Westin Nova Scotian in Halifax. Wilson previously served as regional controller responsible for the company’s six Canadian hotels, a position he will continue to hold.
Hired as an assistant controller in 1996, John Wilson holds the distinction of being the hotel’s first employee. In the ensuing 20 years, Wilson’s career with New Castle took him to Racine WI, as the controller of the company’s Marriott property there and to Liscomb Mills, Nova Scotia where he was the general manager of the province’s Liscombe Lodge Resort & Conference Center, which New Castle manages. A native of New Brunswick and graduate of St. Mary’s University in Halifax, Wilson began his hospitality career as a night auditor with Centennial Hotels.
“John was here when we opened the Westin Nova Scotian as the brand’s first franchise hotel and there is no one better prepared for and more deserving of the opportunity to shape its future,” said Chase. “John has both the detailed, financial skills and the big picture hospitality frame of reference needed to operate a high profile, historic hotel in the province’s capital city.”
“The success of the Westin Nova Scotian is due to its incredible team of long-term associates, many of whom started with me back in 1996,” said Wilson. “As we move into our third decade of service in the Halifax community, I have every confidence that we will rise to the challenges with the same enthusiasm and can-do spirit that allowed us to turn a shuttered old hotel into an historic showplace.
