Board of Directors

Winston V Zahra was co founder of the Group and occupied the post of Managing Director up until the 31 July 2009. Prior to 1987, he was the co-founder of one of the leading tourism-orientated companies in Malta. Winston V. Zahra was one of the first to build and operate an ‘aparthotel’. In 1986 he relinquished all his holdings in the business and formed a partnership with Mr Nazzareno Vassallo. Winston V. Zahra was responsible for the development of the group throughout its initial twenty two years. He has served on various boards and committees related to the tourism industry, including the National Tourism Organisation and later the Malta Tourism Authority. He was president of the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association and chairman of the Marketing Board of the Malta Tourism Authority. He was also a Board member of the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development and a director of a number of companies outside the Group. Mr Zahra is also a director of Caritas, a member of the Council of the University of Malta and Chairman of Volksbank, Malta. In December 2008, the Government of Malta honoured Winston V. Zahra by bestowing upon him the National Order of Merit for his contribution to the tourism industry over the past forty years.

Winston J. Zahra graduated with a First Class Bachelors of Arts honours degree in Hotel and Catering Management from Portsmouth University in 1991 following which he joined the Group. He was instrumental in the setting up of Island Caterers Limited as well as the Coastline Hotel, Radisson Blu Resort, St Julians and Radisson Blu Resort & Spa, Golden Sands. After having effectively managed all areas of the Group, in June 2001 Mr Zahra was appointed Director of Operations, Sales and Marketing and appointed CEO in August 2009. He was the youngest ever President of the Malta Hotels & Restaurants Association serving from 2002-2004 at a time when Malta’s entry into the European Union was high on the national agenda. Winston J. Zahra has also served on the boards of the National Commission for the Promotion of Equality and the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development. Over the years he has also occupied various posts on national and private boards including the HCEB, the main board of the Malta Tourism Association, Malta International Airport p.l.c., the Malta Transport Authority and the Airport Charges regulatory Board. He was recognised as the “Young Hotelier of the World” for 1999 by the International Hotels and Restaurants Association and HOTELS Magazine after a recommendation from the President and CEO of the Rezidor Hotel chain.

John Bonello qualified as a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales in 1971. In 1972 he returned to Malta from London and joined Coopers&Lybrand, one of the legacy firms of PricewaterhouseCoopers. He was involved in the leadership and management of PricewaterhouseCoopers since his early days as a partner, in 1976, and was effectively the firm’s leader for the last 20 years. He formally became the Chairman and Senior Partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers in Malta on 1 July 1998, a position he held until just before his recent retirement on 31 December 2009 having reached the firm’s statutory retirement age. Apart from being centrally involved in the growth and development of PwC in Malta, John Bonello was also involved in the development of Malta as an international finance centre – something in which he always believed strongly - and was the first President of the Association of Nominee Companies (now the Institute of Financial Services Practitioners). From 1992 until the end of 1996 John Bonello was the non-executive Chairman of the Malta External Trade Corporation, at the time the national trade promotion organization in the form of a partnership between the Government of Malta, the Federation of Industry and the Chamber of Commerce. He is a member of the Joint Disciplinary Board of the Accountancy Board and the Malta Institute of Accountants and the contact member in Malta for the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.

William Hancock is today the Managing Partner of Resolute Asset Management LLP. Prior to setting up this company he was a senior Director at JER a private equity firm based in the US. William was a member on the European Investment Committee of the company and was directly responsible for acquisitions in Italy, Turkey, Greece, Benelux and Scandinavia. Before joining JER, William was a Director in the Real Estate Investment Banking team at Credit Suisse First Boston for 11 years with primary responsibility for in corporate finance and capital raising activities Continental Europe. Prior to Credit Suisse he worked for the State Bank of South Australia Group as a distressed debt specialist. Bill has a Bachelor of Economics from Adelaide and an MBA from Bocconi Universtiy (Milan). He is an Australian national.

Gary Alexander Neville is a partner in a mechanical and electrical design company and holds the position of directorship of Signature Developments, a sports and property management company. He has been on the Professional Footballers Association management committee for the past ten years and has been a strong supporter of the PFA initiatives. Gary is perhaps best know for his footballing achievements. He joined Manchester United as an apprentice in 1991 and was part of Sir Alex Ferguson’s famous 1992 youth team along with Beckham, Giggs, Butt and Scholes. He has made more than 560 appearances for the club and was appointed club captain in 2005. Gary has also played for the English National football team 85 times and captained the side on two occasions.

Trevor E. Zahra joined the Island Hotels Group in 1988 at the Bugibba Holiday Complex (BHC). In 1992 he was appointed Front Office Manager of BHC and in 1994 he was appointed Front Office Manager for the Coastline Hotel. In 1997 he was appointed General Manager of the Bugibba Holiday Complex and in 2004, he was appointed Director of Sales for the leisure market for the Group. This role incorporated the overall strategy for attracting sales from leisure guests through sales channels with predominance on tour operators. Trevor resigned from the executive team of the Group in November 2009 in order to set up his own business focusing on travel management, cultural and entertainment events.

Michael C Bonello served as Governor of the Central Bank of Malta from October 1999 to June 2011. During his tenure, Mr Bonello was a member of the Governing and General Councils of the European Central Bank (ECB) and of the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB) as well as of the Board of Governors of the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA). Previous to his appointment as Governor, Mr Bonello was a senior official of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in Geneva. After obtaining a degree in languages and economics from the University of Malta in 1965, Mr Bonello pursued his studies as a Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford, where he was awarded an honours degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics in 1969 and an MA in 1973. Mr Bonello has also served as President of the Malta Branch of the Chartered Institute of Bankers, now the Institute of Financial services, and on the Councils of the Chamber of Commerce and the Federation of Industry. Mr. Bonello is a Fellow of the Institute of Financial Services and a member of the WTO List of Panellists.

Kenneth Abela is a member of the Malta Institute of Accountants. He joined the group in 1992 and has since occupied a number of senior level positions within different subsidiaries across the group. In September 2009 Kenneth assumed the responsibilities of Chief financial Officer. His current role sees him overseeing all company accounting practices including the management of the accounting departments, budgetary control preparation and monitoring, and coordination of tax and audit functions. Kenneth also directs the group’s financial strategy, planning and forecasts and supervises investment appraisal and the raising of funds for business. In addition to the role of CFO, Kenneth is also the Company Secretary of all the companies within the group.