Kurt Ritter - President & CEO of Rezidor SAS - celebrate 30 years with the group, out of which 17 years as the President & CEO, steering the company through a dramatic growth period, which now sees Rezidor SAS as a global operator of multiple hotel brands.

Born in Switzerland in 1947, Mr. Ritter had an early start in the hospitality industry as a child growing up in his parents' hotel, learning the meaning of providing guests with attentive service at a very early age. After completing his formal education at the Ecole Supérieure de Commerce du Canton de Vaud, Mr. Ritter graduated from the prestigious Hotel Management College in Lausanne and took up his first position in the Hotel Bellevue Palace in Bern as assistant manager in 1970.

For the next six years, Mr. Ritter worked with Ramada Hotels in Paris, London, Cologne, Frankfurt and also in Sweden before joining SAS International Hotels (SIH) as GM of SAS Hotel in Lulea in Sweden.

In 1979, Mr. Ritter moved to the Middle East to take up a similar position at the SAS Kuwait Hotel. Within five years he had progressed to be promoted to Vice President Middle East for SAS International Hotels, moving to Singapore for this post. In spring 1988, Mr. Ritter became Vice President & COO and returned to Europe, where he was appointed President & CEO of SIH in 1989 deciding to relocate the corporate office from Oslo to the strategically better placed Brussels, providing the company with an optimum starting position for global expansion.

Under Mr. Ritter's direction, in 1994, SAS International Hotels closed an agreement with Carlson Hotels Worldwide for the Radisson brand, which represented the basis for Radisson SAS growth from 29 to the current 185 hotels in 47 countries. Since this time, Ritter has also held the position of President & CEO of Radisson SAS Hotels & Resorts.