Hawks Cay Appoints DOS&M and DOS

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. October 14, 2008

FEBRUARY 11, 2008. Hawks Cay, the ultimate water-based resort, re-emerging from a $35 million transformation in February 2008, has announced the appointment of two veteran industry executives: Ms. Signe Bjorndal as its new director of sales & marketing, and Ms. Joni Barkley as director of sales, according to managing director Stephen Bello.

Formerly sales & marketing director at Cheeca Lodge, Bjorndal brings over 15 years of highly accomplished marketing and sales experience to Hawks Cay, with a multi-faceted background that covers residential resorts, condo-hotels and residential vacation properties. In her new role, she is responsible for the strategic planning and implementation of all related sales & marketing disciplines - leisure and group sales, advertising and promotion, public relations, e-commerce and direct marketing, and creative services. At this critical juncture in Hawks Cay's evolution, Bjorndal is focused on successfully positioning the resort destination as the premier getaway in the Florida Keys to its prospective guests; meeting, incentive and event planners; and key influencers.

According to Bello, "Signe's experience and astute understanding of the marketplace will play an important role in driving future business, while solidifying our highly distinctive positioning within the luxury travel segment. With her leadership of our sales team and marketing partners, we are extremely confident that we will reach the right customers - discerning groups and the domestic and international transient markets -- and compel them to experience our completely renewed destination," continued Bello.

At Cheeca Lodge & Spa in Islamorada, Florida, Bjorndal helped make it the market leader in rate and occupancy, and shaped the resort's focus on the affluent customer while creating a strong group rooms base. Her notable achievements throughout her career were driving revenue growth and client demand sustained through innovative direct marketing campaigns and loyalty programs. Previously, Signe was marketing and communications officer with Resorts of the World, based in Coral Gables, Florida, where she planned and implemented marketing and sales plans for residential resort developments.

Joining Signe Bjorndal is Ms. Joni Dooley Barkley, the newly appointed director of sales for Hawks Cay, who has direct responsibility for all day-to-day sales operations, including managing a team of five sales managers, associates and representation firms who are charged with uncovering group and leisure business for the resort.

Barkley will help lead a sales force whose members are each assigned target geographic regions and industries for group business, and who focus on key influencers in the travel trade. "Whether building relationships with top-tier travel agents or meeting, event or incentive planners, Joni will help us penetrate the marketplace with a pro-active, highly targeted sales program," said Bjorndal. "Through her mentorship and training, and the fulfillment of her own personal sales goals, Joni and our executive sales force will be a productive generator of revenue for the entire resort."

Prior to Hawks Cay, Barkley spent eight years as Director of Sales & Marketing for the Casa Monica Hotel, a Preferred AAA rated four diamond hotel located in the heart of historic St. Augustine, Florida. Her diverse accomplishments included growing the sales division to a team of 11 sales associates and fulfilling aggressive benchmarks for business growth that she personally established; a tripling of group room revenue during the course of her tenure; and the creation of a team of dedicated wedding sales professionals.