Stephanie M. De Vos
Stephanie is a German and American citizen with extensive communications experience both agency side and in-house. Stephanie was raised in the US, Caribbean and Switzerland and speaks fluent English, German, French and Italian. The breadth of her international experience has led Stephanie to oversee the communications for some of the world’s most prestigious lifestyle, travel, real estate, culinary and wellness brands including Rosewood Hotels and Resorts, COMO Hotels & Resorts, Oberoi Hotels and Resorts, Burberry, Johnnie Walker, Smirnoff and Pepsico as well as leading designers such as Tony Chi, Martin Brudnizki, Paola Navone, Lanserring.
In 2007, after graduating with a Master’s Degree in Art Business, Stephanie joined the International Team of the leading communications firm freuds and began work on global brands including Burberry, the Guinness 250th Anniversary celebrations, Twinings, Johnnie Walker, and Pepsico as well as global events such as the BAFTA Awards, the Olympic handover from Beijing to London in 2008, and the 2012 Olympic Torch Relay. By 2012, Stephanie was a senior member of the Luxury & Lifestyle division at freuds and continued to work with Burberry and other lifestyle / hospitality clients including Rosewood Hotels & Resorts’ global portfolio, Airbnb, Soho House Group, Chiltern Firehouse and the opening of Zaha Hadid’s Heydar Aliyev building in Baku, Azerbaijan.
In 2015, Stephanie moved in-house to Rosewood London as Director of Communications, responsible for PR, marketing, external, internal, and crisis communications, digital & social media and strategic partnerships. Most recently, Stephanie was Managing Director of Riva Global, overseeing all strategy planning and development as well as the execution of all client activities, including the company’s rebrand and strong new business development in hotels, real estate developments, luxury brands and design. Stephanie breathes the world of travel. You never know on which side of the Atlantic you will find her, working on the next project.
Kate Richards
Kate has over 13 years experience within the hospitality sector specialising in marketing and PR. Kate spent 5 years working in-house as Marketing and PR Director for COMO Hotels and Resorts’ two five-star hotels in London, COMO Metropolitan London and COMO The Halkin. As Marketing and PR Director, Kate oversaw the development and execution of both hotels’ strategies, including the opening of the live-fire grill restaurant Gridiron and re-branding of Michelin-starred restaurant Ametsa, the wellness programming for the award-winning spa, COMO Shambhala Urban Escape and the on-going positioning of the two hotels and brand development within the London marketplace.
Kate created the marketing plans for each property and its subsequent outlets, developed several notable partnerships, created the hotels’ local institutional mapping plans and worked closely with the stakeholders to develop the company brand guidelines. Kate managed and coordinated x7 international agencies appointed by COMO, liaising with the teams to ensure relevant coverage was secured within target publications. During Kate’s time at COMO she successfully launched both hotels’ Instagram accounts and managed the social and digital team, working closely with corporate head office to deploy relevant digital campaigns and monitor SEO, web traffic and conversions.
