Raymond Bickson is the new man at the helm of Indian Hotels (IHC) — which manages The Taj group of hotels — taking over from RK Krishnakumar who will continue to be a non-executive director and vice-chairman. Mr Bickson will take charge as managing director with effect from July 19 this year. Mr Bickson formally joined the Taj group on Jan 15, ’03 as COO of the prestigious luxury hotels division.

"In keeping with the vision of IHC becoming a global enterprise, Mr Bickson will successfully lead IHC into its next phase of growth into the international arena," said Ratan Tata, chairman IHC. Taj is presently exploring an expansion into the China markets and has identified properties in Beijing and Shanghai. Mr Bickson’s 30 years of hoteliering experience will be critical to IHC’s international expansion plans.

"These are exciting times at IHC and we have set out the task of making the Taj group a truly global hotel chain," said Mr Bickson, who has been voted as one of the top ten hotel mangers globally by Leader’s magazine. "He has built new hotels and repositioned landmark hotels in the US and China," said Mr Krishnakumar. Prior to joining the Taj group, Bickson was the general manager of The Mark, New York, formerly the New York flagship of the Rafael group and which is now owned by the Mandarin Oriental hotel group.