He is a person who has a deep understanding of the diverse cuisines of Italy, France, England, Brazil, South Africa, Malaysia, Moroccan, Greek, Central European, Spanish, Caribbean, Chinese, Japan, the Philippines, India, South Korea and Vietnam. His personal culinary style is a subtle combination of Moroccan, Spanish and Thai. He is currently writing his career book titled “Before Recipes There were Cooks.”
Mr. Sam Nguyen has earned his Master degree from the UK. He used to work at JW Marriott and Sheraton.
Born in Vietnam, Tracy holds a Bachelor degree with Honors in Hospitality & Tourism Management and a second major in Business Administration. Her degrees were earned during four years in Switzerland, where she studied and refined her hospitality management skills, her English language literacy, and her understanding of international business and tourism. These experiences included international travels through various countries across Europe.
Upon her return from Switzerland, Tracey made her first step into the hospitality industry as a Club Lounge Supervisor at Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi Hotel. She would eventually move on to join the Sales & Marketing team of Sheraton Hanoi Hotel where she had the opportunity to act as a Sheraton brand representative, working with and fulfilling the needs of corporate customers. Tracey has also worked in a sales capacity for the stunning Fusion Maia Danang Resort, A la Carte Danang Hotel and Alma Resort in Hoi An. In 2015, Tracey joined CitySmart Hospitality Education as a lecturer to share her experiences and knowledge relating to the Hospitality Industry with students of the industry.
Tracey lives in Hanoi with her husband and newborn son. She enjoyed international travel
Daniel Davyduke is a Canadian born chef. His career truly began in 2009 with a formal education studying culinary arts at Vancouver Community College in Canada. Daniel is the recipient of the Culinary Red Seal and Level 1 Food Safe Certificate.
After graduation, he accepted an offer as an apprentice at Terminal City Club working under Ben Pernosky and his brigade. Daniel also worked as a First Cook at The Perfect Bite Catering where he acted as en event organizer, bartender, server, porter and chef. Two years later, while continuing his role at The Perfect Bite, he would accept a second role at Tableau Bar and Bistro as a Chef De Partie. Due to his success at Tableau Bar and Bistro, Daniel was asked to become the Culinary Manager at Famoso Neopolitan Pizza. His role would include organizing and running the entire property as well as creating systems and procedures that would result in a 10% cut in costs. He was also tasked with training, hiring and developing his staff.
Daniel was privileged to have the opportunity to work and travel with both Junior Culinary Team Canada and Culinary Team Canada alongside his mentor JC Felicella. Daniel helped out with their social media pages, administrative duties, being the team chef and whatever else he could to aide in the successes of the team. He has also been fortunate enough to compete on an international level, winning gold medal and other awards.
Cathleen LeCompte comes to CHM from the beautiful area of Redondo Beach, California in the United States. Originally from Wisconsin, Cathleen brings with her 25 years of experience in the Hospitality Industry, primarily as both a General Director and training consultant for numerous highly regarded boutique hotels found across the United States.
Cathleen began her Hospitality career as a Sales , Marketing, and Catering Manager for the Intercontinental Hotel Group , where she was instrumental in developing a hotel culture that would earn her hotel an international five-star “Torch Bearer Award,” to acknowledge her hotels exceptional professional environment.
Due to her success with the Intercontinental Group, she took a position as a Training Contractor for Hospitality Industry in the United States and Canada. Her responsibilities included developing courses and training content for contracted establishments (including hotels such as Hilton Hotels, Intercontinental Hotel Groups, and multiple large-scale casinos) to train staff to operate and provide services of 5-star quality. Cathy continued this line of work, trainings thousands of personnel and earning numerous national awards, for 14 years.
After her 14 year career as a training specialist, Cathy became the General Manager of the Laguna Cliffs Inn in California, USA. Under her management, Laguna Cliffs quickly became ranked #1 across the entire company in Guest Services Survey Scores and became a top 5 destination in the highly competitive Laguna Beach area on Trip Advisor.
Cathy lives in Hanoi with her husband Michael and their two dogs. Cathy enjoys international travel, exploring foreign cities, and catching up with her three adult children.
Mr. Willem Bult from the Netherlands has 22 years of experience in the hospitality, tourism and hotel business.
His native language is Dutch and he is also fluent in English and Spanish, with a solid grasp of German & Italian. Educated in the Netherlands, he has a degree from MAVO in Administration and Accountancy as well as Hotel & Tourism from MHS.
For more than 20 years Willem has been travelling, working and studying around the globe. His experience spans across 2-star to 5 star hotels and resorts, from leisure, business and famous VIP guests, as well as sporting and events organization on an international level, entertainment organization and performance, exhibitions and Cruise liners.
Devoted to his continual personal development, his accolades also include courses and seminars in Business administration and marketing, Environmental teacher, Hotel director, HACCP, Quality Control Hotel ISO, Psychology for managers, Total Quality ISO and Tourism and innovation.
Nguyen Quang Minh is an 18 year veteran of pastry. He holds both a Masters in Commercial tourism and Certificate of Professionals of Cookery. He has worked in two of the largest and most successful hotels in Hanoi to date.
His career began in 1997 at the Hanoi Press Club as a 1st Commis Pastry Chef. Nguyen prepared fresh pastries daily for the 70 seat restaurant. In 1998 he was hired at the Hanoi Hilton, working as a Commis Pastry Chef, providing pastries for the 269 rooms in the hotel as well as the 500 attendee events. He was soon promoted to Pastry Chef, taking on more of the responsibility of the pastry kitchen at the iconic hotel. After nine years, he made a move to the Sofitel Plaza as the Pastry Chef for the 305 room hotel, and providing service for banquets with over 1,000 attendants. He was tasked with organizing personnel, daily supplies, and events as well as interacting with customers as a representative of Sofitel.
Richard Nguyen is a native of Hanoi and it is in Hanoi that he received his Certificate of Hospitality Operations (Cookery) from the Hanoi Tourist association. He would begin his first job in 1996 at the 5-star Daewoo hotel as a demi chef, assisting the executives chefs in the kitchen and honing his skills alongside veterans of the trade. After four years, he began working at the Hanoi Opera Hotel as a demi chef, again assisting the executive chefs in the operations of the kitchen. Working his way through the culinary ranks, he began his first job as a chef at the China Palest Restaurant at Ennepatal.
After five years of hard work and a few job changes, Richard ended up at the 5-star Crowne Plaza Hotel, but unlike his first time working in a 5-star environment, this time he would take the position as a Senior Sous Chef, leading the kitchen as an experienced 19-year culinary veteran.
Richard is currently one of CHM’s culinary arts lecturers leading students in both theoretical and practical training, helping guide them to be successful leaders in the field.
A native of Hanoi, Vietnam, Jason has over 10 years of experience in the Hospitality Industry gaining knowledge through varies managerial positions. Jason received his Bachelor’s of Tourism in 2004 from Hanoi University. His desire to further develop his knowledge of the hospitality field led him to the Masters program in Singapore, where he graduated with a degree in Hospitality and Tourism Business.
With two degrees in-hand, Jason became a serial restaurateur, starting and opening successful restaurants around the world, from Singapore to Switzerland. His years of experience allowed him the opportunity to be asked to be a trainer and operator of the Bobby Chinn Restaurant. In 2010, he began his work at the Crowne Plaza as a restaurant manager as well as teaching courses at Hanoi Tourism College. His years of experience running restaurants would eventually payoff, landing him an opportunity to open six outlets of the Calidas Royal Resident, Keangnam Tower, managing all food and beverage operations. Jason joined CHM in 2015 as a Hospitality Lecturer, sharing his experiences and knowledge gathered over the last 10 years his students.
Jason lives in Hanoi with his wife children. International travel is a passion for Jason, and he has had the opportunity to travel extensively though Southeast Asia and Europe.
David Vanhove is a native of France, born in a city 20 miles outside of Paris. He received his Bachelor degree in F&B/Hotel Management after completing a work study program, during which he worked at EuroDisney as an apprentice while attending class at UTEC in Paris. His native country of France is known around the world for its stunning scenery, delicious wine, and world-class cheeses. David’s three sisters and his nephews are still living in France.
David began his career in 1992 at Raynier et Marchetti as a contract caterer. In 1995, he was off to DisneyLand Paris where he began his training as a manager, experiencing all aspects of hotel restaurant management including kitchen, bar, housekeeping, and supplier negotiations. In July 2000, David made his way to the United States, working at the Ritz Carlton in Pennsylvania as a Food and Beverage Manager, focused on providing 5 star service in the restaurant, lounge bar, and cigar bar. After a series of managerial positions that took him from New York to Las Vegas, he would land in Shanghai China in 2011, where he would lead a team of 40 people at Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts as the Assistant Director of Food and Beverage. Finally, in 2013, David found himself in Hanoi, Vietnam in his current position as the Executive Assistant Manager at Moevenpick Hotel and Resort.
Not only has David lived in exciting locales across the globe, he has made the most of the opportunities presented to him. His team was awarded “Best Afternoon Tea in the City” while working at the Four Seasons in Chicago. In China, while working at the Shangri-La, David organized a dinner for famous wine critic Robert Parker, a dinner that patrons paid $5,000 per person to attend. David also holds a Guinness World Record; he was part of the team who created the world’s longest Buche de Noel at 1088 meters.
Born and raised in Portland, Oregon in the United States, Aaron graduated with honors from the University of Portland, recently ranked by U.S. News and Report as the 8th best college in the western United States, with a Bachelor in Education and second major in English. He has spent thousands of hours in diverse classrooms helping both native English speakers and ESL students develop their English literacy. In 2014 he spent the year as a full-time secondary English teacher, teaching and supporting over 120 students across four classes.
Upon completion of his thesis and graduation from university, Aaron first spent time at East Hampton Indoor Tennis Club, an exclusive tennis club in East Hampton New York. From there, he moved to Hong Kong, privately hired as an English tutor. After six months in Hong Kong, he made his latest move to Hanoi, Vietnam, his current home.
Aaron received University of Portland’s Presidential Merit Scholarship all four years of his college career before graduating with honors. In 2014, he was asked to be a guest speaker at the Northwest National Teachers of English Conference in which he spoke to veteran teachers about his success using kinesthetic teaching methods in the classroom. In addition to his teaching, Aaron was the #2 recruit out of the state of Oregon for men’s tennis in 2010 and spent four years on the University of Portland Men’s Tennis Team, a nationally ranked program in the United States.
Sascha Spiegal is a native of Switzerland but a true citizen of the world at heart; he has called numerous countries across the world home during his illustrious career in hospitality. In 2012, Sascha earned his Master’s Degree in Business Administration and is currently completing his Doctorate Degree in Business Administration. He is also a certified Hospitality Trainer, earning his certification in the United States. He is also fluent in four languages: German, French, Spanish, and English.
Mr. Speigal’s career includes roles such as F&B Supervisor at the 5-star Hotel le Mirador where he managed a team of 25 employees, ensuring quality control, delivery of premium service to guests, and the proper serving of banquets of upwards of 650 guests. In 2008, he would become the Operations Manager of Bai Tram Hideaway Resort. It was his duty to maintain functional, effective and efficient working order of 60 employees across all areas of the hotel in order to provide guests with the highest quality service.
As a result of his success, he began in 2009 as a consultant with Elation Group, working with restaurants and other hospitality services to train their staff to meet industry standards. This included creating documentation for training courses for all areas of food service, consulting on restaurant menu design and sales tactics, and other facets of the restaurant business.
In 2014, Mr. Speigal began work as the Operations Manager at the Belmond Governor’s Residence in Yangon, Vietnam. He was involved in all aspects of the Residence, from managing the entire staff’s daily operations, managing events with over 300 guests, menu creation and pricing, and numerous other duties.
