Former Whitbread managing director Patrick Dempsey OBE is to join student accommodation provider Unite Group as a non-executive director.
Dempsey was managing director of Whitbread Hotels & Restaurants for 11 years and sat on Whitbread’s board as an executive director from 2009.
During his time at Whitbread, he oversaw the growth of Premier Inn to 700 hotels and 60,000 rooms.
In his 30 years in the hospitality industry Dempsey has held posts at Macdonald Hotels, Forte Hotels UK and Restaurant Associates, part of Compass Group.
Unite chairman Phil White said: “Patrick’s experience and knowledge of running and growing large service-orientated brands will strengthen the expertise of the board at a time when students and universities are becoming ever more demanding in their expectations of student accommodation.”
Dempsey, who was awarded an OBE for services to the hospitality industry in 2012, will take up his new role on 1 March.
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