Steven Ferry Chairman

Chairman - Steven Ferry was born in Southern England, where he attended private schools and Art College. He has worked both in the hospitality industry and in private service in England during the 1980s before training as a butler in England and then working as one in the United States. He established the International Guild of Traditional Butlers and wrote the basic manual on how to butle in the early 1990s. By the mid-1990s, he had left private service to focus on his writing.

Drawing on his early years as an educator in England, he published three textbooks for the profession - “The British Butlers Bible," "Butlers and Household Managers, 21st Century Professionals," and "Hotel Butlers, the Great Service Differentiators" and began to train butlers in private households. He also consulted employers about their domestic needs and occasionally assisted with personnel procurement when requested. He subsequently broadened his campaign to improve on service standards using the butler model, by providing training and consulting services to the hospitality industry.
 
Steven currently trains butlers and other household and hospitality employees on the butler model of service in private households and estates, hotels, resorts, spas and private villas. He is on the Editorial Board of the Hotel Business magazine and writes for a variety of industry trade magazines and newsletters.

In 2003, he introduced the spa butler as a resource for hotels and resorts with spas, to assist them in bringing about the ultimate spa experience for guests and in 2006 introduced rating standards to the industry for butlers in hotels. He has lectured at a number of venues, including Harvard University.
 
Prior to working in the hospitality profession, Steven was a professor of education and worked in the non-profit sector in various capacities. He has close to 20 books published, as well as hundreds of articles & photographs for major US publishers and corporations.

Industry Books
The British Butlers' Bible, Mansion Publishing, 2001
Butlers and Household Managers, 21st Century Professionals, Imprint Books, 2002
Hotel Butlers, The Great Service Differentiators, Booksurge Publishing, 2004

Professional Affiliations
Founder, International Guild of Traditional Butlers, 1992
Executive Member, International Guild of Professional Butlers (past)
Founder, The International Institute of Modern Butlers
Visiting Professor, The International Butler Academy (past)
Editorial Board, Hotel Business Magazine,

Jane Alevizos Secretary

Ms. Jane Alevizos has written materials for and trained tens of thousands of personnel at four and five-star hotels and resorts in England and South Africa over the last three-plus decades. She currently runs her own consulting and training agency based in South Africa.

Ms. Alevizos received her initial training in Hotel and Catering Operations and then Hotel Management and Administration in England, and has been involved with hotel butler training since 2002.

Werner Leutert President

Born in the USA of Swiss parents, Mr. Leutert grew up in the traditions of Swiss hospitality, efficiency and appreciation for manners and protocol. His service nature led him to earn a BS degree in Restaurant and Hotel Administration from the University of Massachusetts.

He began his service career as manager of a family-owned resort in the Adirondack Mountains of New York; at the Irondequoit Club Inn. Here as a young manager right "out of the box" Mr. Leutert was exposed to the tensions between hotel school focus on managing for profit and the owner's desires to have things remain the way that they were traditionally.

Next came 18 years of service as Butler/Estate Manager of the historic Glendorn Estate, now a Relais and Chateaux affiliated property, but completely private during his time there. As the largest single employer of domestic staff in Pennsylvania during the 1980s, Glendorn employed over 60 persons during peak summer periods in all the traditional household positions ranging from cooks to housekeepers, nannies, drivers, and more. While catering to the wishes and sensibilities of 6 distinct branches of the same owning family, Werner became intimately familiar with the challenges of keeping the respect of family members and staff.

The owners of Glendorn Estate decided to open up the facility as a destination resort to an exclusive sector of the public. Mr. Leutert then decided to continue in private service-next as the formal Butler for a prominent and formal family in a fully staffed residence in Naples, Florida.

Seeking to capitalize on his keen understanding of private service employer and employee sensibilities Werner opened his own private service staffing consultancy in 1999. Initially he provided service under the auspices of the International Guild of Professional Butlers of which he has been a founding member since 1998, including acting as the Guild's Vice Chairman for several years. He currently runs his own consulting agency, the Home Staffing Network, www.homestaffingnetwork.com.

Mr. Leutert is keenly interested in all matters concerning Butlers and other private service personnel. He has frequently been asked to consult on a variety of staffing and non-staffing projects including site visits, coaching for employers and employees, specialized projects such as the recruitment of Paul Hogan, Butler extraordinaire for the Fox Television hit show Joe Millionaire and many other projects large and small. Through a newsletter that he has been producing since 2002, Werner seeks to inform and share topics of interest with interested persons around the world.

As President of the International Institute of Modern Butlers LLC, Werner is available to answer questions, provide ideas and consult with you on matters pertaining to education and training in private service situations and specialized service venues such as hotels, spas and resorts were personal service is an art form. He understands traditional values in the modern service context.

Monica Ferry Director

Ms. Monica Ferry was born and raised in Holland. Speaking English and Dutch fluently, French and German acceptably, she worked in the non-profit sector in Europe and the United States in a variety of capacities, including as a teacher, for over 15 years.

Monica later worked as head housekeeper, as part of a household management team with her husband, in England. When they moved to the United States, she resumed an earlier profession as a paralegal for the Small Business Administration in Alaska and on the Exxon Valdez oil spill case for the plaintiffs. She subsequently earned her MBA and worked as the business manager for three small businesses in Florida.
 
She currently assists with the running of the Institute from her position as the Executive Director at the headquarters in Florida, including assisting with teaching larger classes and teaching executive skills to butler
managers.

Budi Prihardjanto  Director Far East Operations

Born and raised in Indonesia, Mr. Prihardjanto has worked as a Head Butler for ten years in several five-star / diamond, award-winning hotels in the Middle and Far East. His experience working in Rosewood, One & Only and Four Seasons properties includes establishing butler service, recruitment and training of butlers, as well as running Rooms Division, Front office, Room Service and Housekeeping.

Mr. Prihardjanto joined the International Institute of Modern Butlers in 2006 as a trainer and consultant for its Far East Operations, and supervises correspondence courses for most non-Western countries.

Wayne Fitzharris Vice president for UK Operations

As Director and lead trainer with IGBH, Wayne Fitzharris is a Master of H.C.I.M.A. (Hotel & Catering International Management Association) and studied marketing at Cornell University., He oversees The International Guild of Butlers and Housemanagers, which looks after the recruitment, placement and training of Executive Butlers, Household Managers and Household Staff around the world. Wayne has also been asked to supply consultancy and etiquette training for many of the families he works for around the world. In addition to his training commitments, Wayne is a Director of Global Search International responsible for the Executive Recruitment of some of the Hotel Industries leading players in some of the finest resorts around the world.

Wayne began his career at the Dorchester Hotel, and helped open St Andrews Old Course Hotel in Scotland, which won the Caterer Magazine’s “"Hotel of the Year” award. Two years later he took on the role of Household Manager for the Royal Family of Jordan, in Amman, with over 750 staff, and was tasked with training and bringing the standards up to date.

In 1996, Wayne developed his training skills at various luxury resorts and restaurants around the world.

By 2002 he had set up Global Search International and in 2006, joined forces with the International Institute of Modern Butlers LLC.

Pamela Spruce Vice President Far East Operations

Pamela Spruce is the Director and Chief Executive Officer of Australian Butlers Pty Ltd and the Principal of the Australian Butler School. 

Pamela has fifteen years experience in residential placements and is a committed supporter of training for the hospitality industry.  In 1997 she started the Australian Butler School engaging expert trainers to create a comprehensive program covering all areas of residential and hotel/resort butler service. Now a Government Registered Training Organization, Australian Butlers was honored with an Australian Tourism and Training Award for ‘Excellence in Training and Contribution to the Nation’ in 2006.

Ms. Spruce and the Australian Butler School have been instrumental in raising the standards for residential service employment in the Southern hemisphere, elevating it as a desirable career. She has also been involved in resort training in the Maldives, Indonesia, the Pacific Islands and Australia and trainers from the Australian Butler School have trained at resorts in South East Asia and the Pacific as well as Australia.

In addition, Ms. Spruce is directly involved in residential recruitment, is a member of Tourism and Training Australia and a consultant to clients in the resort and service industries.  In 2006 Pamela affiliated with the International Institute of Modern Butlers LLC.

Amer A. Vargas graduated with a Tourism Degree specializing in hotel management from CETT (Center for Tourism Studies) in Barcelona and spent the following decade in the service industry. Beginning as a waiter and then supervisor in high-end restaurants, he was then made responsible for raising service standards through staff training programs. After receiving further training as a butler, he worked as a butler and valet in private service as well as hotels in England and Europe.
 
During this time period, he translated the best-selling industry texts Butlers & Household Managers, 21st Century Professionals and Hotel Butlers, The Great Service Differentiators into Spanish and is creating butler training materials in the Spanish language.
 
As the Director of Spanish-Speaking Markets, Amer is responsible for making the technology of butling available in, private residences and hotels in the Spanish-speaking countries of the world. He provides consultation, placement, and training services in these countries.

Ms. Canan Yonsel graduated from the Tourism School and also completed her MBA at the Bosphorus University in Istanbul. She worked in Turkish and US corporations, reaching the position of financial controller for Union Carbide before returning to the tourism field.

There she worked in management and sales for 5 star hotels Etap Marmara Hotel and Moevenpick Hotel before partnering in a travel agency organizing meetings, seminars, product launches, press relations, and PR for multinational corporations, as well as freelancing as an executive consultant for international executive search companies. Combining her tourism and executive search background, she developed the executive search department of an international hospitality consultancy company, Servus International, serving Turkey and the Middle East, where she also placed many top- and middle-level managers for leading hotels and restaurants in the region.

She joins The International Institute of Modern Butlers LLC as its Director of Operations for the area, responsible for sales, marketing, placement, and coordination of training and consulting activities.
 

Born and raised in Sochi, Mr. Pavlenko received his Diploma in Management & Administration from Sochi State University and his ABC of Hospitality (equivalent of a Master’s) from Bilkent University.

He has spent the last decade working in all hotel departments in leading hotel chains such as Radisson SAS, Kempinski, and Ritz-Carlton. He then trained and worked as a butler in a private palace before establishing a Five Butler rating service in one of these hotels.

Mr. Pavlenko joined the International Institute of Modern Butlers LLC in 2007 as Vice President Russian Federation Operations.

David Robinson Vice President Condotels, Luxury Resorts, PRCs & DCs

Born and raised in England, Mr David Robinson received his initial hospitality training there, which prepared him for future work in both private service and the world of hospitality.

Over the intervening years, he has managed high end, luxury inns, worked as a butler in private service, and assisted in the opening of a 5-Star 5-Diamond hotel by helping to establish the large butler department.

He writes a popular column for butlers and hospitality professionals entitled “Mr. Robinson Writes.” Mr. Robinson joined the Institute in 2007 as Vice President Condotels, PRCs and DCs, and is also responsible for running Correspondence Courses in Western countries. He lives with his wife in the United States.

Arif Asmath

Vice President for the India subcontinent

Born and raised in India, Mr Arif Asmath earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Hotel Management and Catering Science and has spent the last ten years since working in Rooms Divisions and F&B at some of the top hotels of the world, including Sheraton, Oberoi, and Taj Palaces in India and a luxury resort at Maldives, and the last six years as a Butler and then Butler Manager at Burj al Arab, Dubai and Sea Island Resorts in the United States

He speaks more than five languages.

Mr. Asmath joins the Institute as the Vice President for the India subcontinent.

Paul Hogan

Vice President for Short-Term Butler Assignments

Mr. Hogan is a butler/estate manager with many years of international experience. An Australian by birth, he has resided in the USA since 1992. More recently, he happened to gain notoriety as "the butler" on the two hit television reality shows, “Joe Millionaire.”

Born and raised in Melbourne, Australia, Mr. Hogan entered the Australian Diplomatic Service. Over the next two decades, he served in Canada, Yugoslavia, The Caribbean, Los Angeles and Argentina. The complete management of Australian Embassies became his area of expertise and as a Consul, he provided assistance to fellow countrymen who found themselves in need.

As a butler/estate manager, Mr. Hogan has worked in Aspen and New York City, with short-term assignments in the United Kingdom, France, and Italy. Mr. Hogan is the Vice President for Short-Term Butler Assignments, colloquially entitled, VP Rent-a-Butlers.

Fiona Cameron-Williams

Vice President for Private Service

Ms. Fiona Cameron-Williams trained in the UK and Switzerland where she attended the Les Roches School of Hotel Management. Thereafter, Cameron-Williams ventured to The Kingdom of Bahrain where she was initially employed by a Five-Star Five-Diamond luxury resort and later transitioned into private service for The Royal Family, where she was charged with many tasks, including protocol, international recruitment, training and VIP event planning.

Her next post took her to the Pacific Northwest where she managed numerous properties for the CEO of a Fortune 500 company. At this juncture in her career, Cameron-Williams obtained a Masters Degree in Hospitality Management, also from Les Roches School of Hotel Management.

More recently, Cameron-Williams joined the Sea Island Company, to develop the butler concept at a prestigious resort.

She was responsible for the concept and establishment of butler service throughout the 157 rooms and subsequent day-to-day management of the 50-man department, including recruitment, training, and development of service standards.

Cameron-Williams founded the International Head Butler Network, formed to give Head Butlers nationally and internationally a forum in which to generate solutions to problems facing the hotel industry today.

Ms. Cameron-Williams joins the Institute as the VP for Private Service.