Christian Pirodon returns to Enderun Colleges as Guest Lecturer
Mr. Christian Pirodon, General manager of InterContinental Hotels Group Philippines, is a graduate of hotel management of Place Bellecourt in Lyon and has a business administration advance program degree from the University of Hawaii.
Mr. Christian Pirodon, General Manager of InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) Philippines returns to Enderun Colleges as a guest speaker for its regular Guest Lecture Series.
A returning General Manager of InterContinental Manila, Mr. Pirodon was GM of InterContinental Hanoi Westlake in Vietnam from March 2008 to February 2010. Under his stewardship the hotel was named Best City Hotel, Hanoi/Ho Chi Minh City for two straight years by TTG Asia.
Mr. Pirodon was GM of InterContinental Hanoi Westlake in Vietnam from March 2008 to February 2010. Under his stewardship the hotel was named Best City Hotel, Hanoi/Ho Chi Minh City for two straight years by TTG Asia.
This is Mr. Pirodon’s second term as GM of InterContinental Manila, having assumed the same position from 2004 to 2008. He brings with him a wealth of experience derived from 40 years in the hotel industry, 19 years of which with the InterContinental Hotels Group. He is a graduate of hotel management of Place Bellecourt in Lyon and has a business administration advance program degree from the University of Hawaii.
His lecture is about the skills needed to be a business leader, emphasizing on the steering wheel philosophy used by the IHG. The values revolve around bringing importance to four key areas any business head should focus on; your people, guest experience, responsible business, and financial returns.
Mr. Pirodon continues to share that the important skills needed by a chief executive today are the ability to inspire people with a clear vision, people management skills, and a good financial acumen.
Mr. Pirodon during his guest lecture in the class of Enderun Colleges lead founder, Jack Tuason (left)
The InterContinental Hotels Group is currently the largest hotel brand in the world with its Holiday Inn & Holiday Inn Express brand declared in 2013 based on property size as the number 1 by the MKG Group, a European based company, headquartered in Paris, France. The group operates various divisions within the tourism, hotel and hospitality sector namely monitoring global trends in supply, demand and pipeline growth, including the worldwide chain hotel brand and chain hotel group rankings. Currently, Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express has 424,612 rooms in its 3,392 hotels all over the world.
IHG is one of Enderun Colleges’ over 250 industry partners in 24 countries. The group frequently launches its Management Trainee Program wherein qualified alumni from different colleges all over the world are given positions in various departments of the hotel and eventually would be the future leaders of the different IHG properties across the globe. Mr. Pirodon was proud to say that for the several times they have launched this program, Enderun’s very own Mathea De Leon was the only successful candidate they’ve had from the Philippines. “We have run this program for several times and Mathea was our only success story from the Philippines. She is from this (Enderun) school, so maybe that says a lot about the management curriculum of Enderun” says Mr. Pirodon.
Mathea De Leon currently serves as the Business Development Executive for InterContinental Manila and Holiday Inn & Suites Makati. She graduated with a degree in International Hospitality Management with a specialization in Hotel Administration in 2011.
