Cavaliere Giovanni Viterale of The Fullerton Heritage awarded Executive of the Year - Hospitality & Leisure at the SBR Management Excellence Awards 2018

A leader with passion and conviction, veteran hotelier Cavaliere Giovanni Viterale led The Fullerton Heritage into a new era of growth and expansion.

Under Cavaliere Giovanni’s leadership, The Fullerton Heritage have received numerous international awards for service excellence and heritage preservation. The Fullerton Heritage is a waterfront development that comprises The Fullerton Hotel Singapore, The Fullerton Bay Hotel Singapore and five other historic and modern landmarks. Because of this, Cavaliere Giovanni was bestowed the Executive of the Year for Hospitality & Leisure at the SBR Management Excellence Awards 2018 for Hospitality and Leisure. 

Hailing from Salerno on Italy’s Amalfi coast, Cavaliere Giovanni, General Manager of The Fullerton Heritage, first arrived in Asia in 1994. Cavaliere Giovanni, formerly the resident manager of the Conrad Hotel Hong Kong is a hospitality industry veteran whose career spanned 15 years in Hong Kong prior to relocating to Singapore in 2010.

Under his stewardship, The Fullerton Bay Hotel Singapore was recognised as one of the world’s top new hotels in the Condé Nast Traveler Hot List and Travel + Leisure It List in 2011 shortly after its launch in July 2010. The Fullerton Bay Hotel Singapore is also one of the few hotels in Singapore to achieve the coveted Forbes Travel Guide Five Star Rating for six consecutive years from 2013 to 2018. Most recently, The Fullerton Bay Hotel Singapore was named one of the ‘World’s Most Luxurious Hotels’ in the inaugural Forbes Verified Lists 2018. The Fullerton Hotel Singapore has also been conferred a string of accolades including the Condé Nast Traveler’s Readers’ Choice Awards for “Top Ten Hotels in Singapore” in 2017 and 2018, as well as Business Traveller Asia-Pacific, Best Business Hotel in Singapore for three consecutive years from 2016 to 2018. During the year of Singapore’s Golden Jubilee, The Fullerton Hotel Singapore was gazetted as Singapore’s 71st National Monument which is the highest form of recognition given to a building for its national significance.

Despite his time away from Hong Kong, Cavaliere Giovanni’s ties remain. Since July 2014, Giovanni was appointed as the executive director of Sino Hotels (Holdings) Limited which is the hospitality management arm of Sino Group and an affiliate of Sino Land Company Limited. In this capacity, Giovanni also oversees the Group’s six hotels in Hong Kong: City Garden Hotel, Hong Kong Gold Coast Hotel, Island Pacific Hotel, The Royal Pacific Hotel & Towers, The Pottinger Hong Kong, and The Olympian Hong Kong.

Moreover, Cavaliere Giovanni was knighted in 2016 with the Order of the Star of Italy or Ordine della Stella D’Italia. Bestowed with the honour by the President of the Italian Republic, Cavaliere Giovanni joins a distinguished group of fellow Italians worldwide who have been recognised for their efforts in facilitating the promotion of friendship and cooperation between Italy and Asia. Instituted in February 2011, the Order of the Star of Italy represents a special declaration in recognition of outstanding individuals who may be either Italians or foreigners. Its original post-war connotation recognised those who had contributed to the reconstruction of Italy. Today, its criteria takes into consideration the preservation of the Italian spirit and the promotion of Italy abroad through the Italian language, scientific and technological research, pastoral missions, commercial enterprises and employment opportunities for fellow nationals worldwide.

The Singapore Business Review Management Excellence Awards honours the country's most outstanding business leaders, including trailblazing individuals and teams whose initiatives have brought tangible business gains for their company's operations.

The 2018 nominees were judged by a panel consisting of Henry Tan, Managing Director at NEXIA TS; David Chew, Executive Director, Risk Advisory Deloitte Southeast Asia, Lim Wei Wei, Partner, Practice Leader, Governance, and Risk at Baker Tilly TFW; Pardeep Singh Khosa, Director of Dispute Resolution at Drew & Napier; and Yang Eu Jin, Partner and Co Head of Capital Markets Practice at RHTLaw Taylor Wessing LLP.

If you would like to join the 2019 awards and be awarded as one of the most outstanding management executives of Singapore, please email julie@charltonmediamail.com.