Executive Team
Alejandro Zozaya
As Executive Chairman of Apple Leisure Group, Alejandro Zozaya leverages 30 years of industry insight to optimize global synergies between the Group’s fourteen leading travel and hospitality brands.
Through the unparalleled distribution of Apple Vacations®, BeachBound®, Funway Holidays®, Travel Impressions®, CheapCaribbean.com®, Blue Sky Tours®, Southwest Vacations®, Funjet Vacations®, and United Vacations®, ALG serves more than 3.2 million guests annually—delivering more North American leisure travelers to Mexico and the Caribbean than any other hospitality company in the world, and positioning itself as the # 1 vertically integrated provider of charter flights.
Amstar DMC is the largest destination management company in Mexico, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic. For over 25 years, Amstar has expertly served group, business and leisure travelers with personalized tours, private excursions and deluxe airport transfers.
AMResorts® and its popular guest loyalty program, Unlimited Vacation Club®, spearhead ALG’s rapidly expanding resort product portfolio. Since 2001, AMResorts has elevated the all-inclusive resort experience with an awarded collection of luxury brands: Zoëtry® Wellness & Spa Resorts, Secrets®, Breathless®, Dreams®, Now®, Reflect®, Sunscape® Resorts & Spas, and Alua® Hotels & Resorts. AMResorts closed 2017 with the largest pipeline of all-inclusive resorts in the Caribbean; by the end of 2018’s first semester, announced a development pipeline of 10,000 rooms, equivalent to 50% of their current inventory; and closed the year with an impressive expansion to Europe, adding more than 4,000 rooms and 16 hotels to its portfolio on that region. This follows multiple years of double-digit growth for the company, a trend ALG plans to continue in 2019 as it is poised to expand its portfolio of resort management contracts by 36 percent, if we only consider the projects secured to-date.
Prior to establishing AMResorts in 2001, Alex held senior positions at Fiesta Americana Hotels & Resorts, where he directed all commercial activities for Latin America's largest hotel consortium.
Alex's outstanding contributions to international hotel business have garnered numerous industry accolades, including recognition as “Hotelier of the Year” by Alta Hoteleria, for which he received the distinguished Diamante Award; CNN Expansion magazine ranked Alex among the“100 Most Important and Influential Business People in Mexico”. In February 2018, Alex was named Vice President of the Mexican National Council of Tourism Companies (CNET for its acronym in Spanish), main organism representing the tourism private sector in the country. Additionally, in August 2018, Alex joined the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) Executive Committee as Vice Chairman for Latin America and the Caribbean. The council provides valuable expertise and services to the travel and tourism sector while actively shaping the future of the industry in those regions. On August 29, 2019, after seven years as CEO, and 20 participating in the many stages of the company’s trajectory, Alex took over the position of Executive Chairman of Apple Leisure Group, where he continues to play a strategic role in the company’s expansion.
Alejandro Reynal
Alejandro Reynal boasts a long-standing international professional career in business services, telecommunications, and consumer goods sectors, having worked in the United States, Europe, and Latin America.
Mr. Reynal has a proven track record and thrives on transforming business organizations, leading change to impact performance and culture by defining and aligning a company’s strategy and delivering results through disciplined execution.
Previously he was CEO of Atento, a global customer relationship management and business process outsourcing services company operating in 13 countries and employing over 150,000. When he was appointed Atento´s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in 2011, the company was part of Telefonica. Alejandro led the company’s strategic transition and integration into Bain Capital’s private equity portfolio in 2012, and its initial public listing (IPO) in the New York Stock Exchange in 2014.
During his tenure as CEO, Atento completed a business transformation from being a call center subsidiary of Telefonica to become a leading provider of customer experience solutions. He also led Atento’s cultural transformation, successfully being recognized as one of the “25 World's Best Multinational Workplaces” by Great Place to Work® in five different years.
Prior to his CEO role at Atento, Mr. Reynal held the positions of Corporate Strategy Director at Telefonica and a series of other corporate and business senior leadership positions in Atento. Additionally, he held management positions in The Coca-Cola Company and The Gap, Inc.
Alejandro Reynal holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.
Gonzalo del Peón
As one of the founders and current President of AMResorts®, Gonzalo del Peon has played a decisive role in defining and consolidating the company's business model and organizational structure, making AMResorts one of the leading hotel chains in the world within the luxury tourism segment, generating more than 30,000 direct jobs and more than $4.4 billion dollars in investments.
With more than 30 years of experience in the hospitality industry, Gonzalo presides over all areas of investor relations as well as owners, operations, administration, sales, marketing and product innovation across seven award-winning brands - Zoëtry® Wellness & Spa Resorts, Secrets®, Breathless®, Dreams®, Now®, Reflect® and Sunscape® Resorts & Spas. He also oversees Unlimited Vacation Club® (UVC), an elite benefits program for discerning travelers. Under his management, UVC has quickly grown to more than 100,000 members worldwide.
Gonzalo has been part of the AMResorts executive team since its inception in 2001. Prior to joining the Newtown Square-based company, he played an important role in the growth and development of Grupo Posadas in Mexico and Latin America. During the 14 years that he collaborated in this company, he acquired extensive experience and held various positions, including Marketing Director, Director of Strategic Planning and Innovation, and Vice President of Sales and Marketing. Previously, he held the position of Project Manager for Commercial Technical Equipment in Bilbao, Spain, as well as Brand Manager at Procter & Gamble in Mexico City.
Gonzalo has earned a reputation for excellence and has been recognized by industry leaders in Mexico and the Caribbean for his professional achievements. In 2016, he was honored with the prestigious “La Llave del Progreso” award in the Hotel Executive Category. Presented by AMAIT Abastecedores Turísticos A.C, the “Key to Progress” award celebrated his dedication and contribution to the growth and development of Mexico’s tourism industry. In addition to his professional career, he has played an effective role on the Marketing Committee of the Tourism Promotion Council of Mexico since 1999.
He has earned a Master of Business Administration at the Pan-American University’s PanAmerican Institute for High Business Direction (IPADE) and a degree in International Marketing at the Bilbao Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Spain. Gonzalo lives in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania with his wife and two children.
Javier Coll
Javier Coll is Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer of Apple Leisure Group®, Co-founder of the group’s luxury resort brand management company, AMResorts®, and its elite benefits program, Unlimited Vacation Club® (UVC). Javier has played a pivotal role in the development of both businesses and is also responsible for ALG business operations in Europe.
The multidisciplinary executive applies more than 25 years of international hospitality operations and finance experience to skillfully direct the group’s growth, development, mergers and acquisitions. Under Javier’s leadership, AMResorts has become the largest Resort Brand Management company in Mexico and the Caribbean.
Since the inception of AMResorts in 2001 and prior to his appointment as Executive Vice President & Chief Strategy Officer of Apple Leisure Group, Javier held diverse leadership roles in AMResorts, including Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer, and was directly involved in negotiating contracts, analyzing and selecting existing hotels for rebranding, plus supervising the development and construction of new hotels. While defining the signature attributes of AMResorts’ six luxurious brands, Javier also developed and implemented new operating procedures for each brand’s finance, administration, auditing, IT and legal departments. Javier has been responsible and instrumental in developing strategies that would expand AMResorts’ world-class portfolio. Before joining AMResorts, Javier was the Deputy Managing Director of MAC Hotels, based in Palma de Mallorca, where he oversaw sales, marketing, operations and administration for the hotel chain. Javier was also Head of International Development (Spain), Managing Director (USA), and Director of Administration for Spain’s Barceló Group. He began his career as an economist, developing viability studies of the transition from traditional European-plan hotels to the all-inclusive format.
Originally from Palma de Mallorca, Spain, Javier is a Wharton GMP Graduate from the University of Pennsylvania. He has an M.B.A. with specialty in Taxation and he graduated in Economics with a major in Marketing from the University of Barcelona, Spain.
Javier Águila
In his role as President of Apple Leisure Group’s (ALG) European Division, Javier Águila leads the firm’s operations throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA region). A travel and hospitality industry veteran with more than 15 years’ experience in investment, strategy, operations and corporate finance, Mr. Águila is currently spearheading ALG’s ongoing international expansion into markets including Spain among others.
Immediately prior to joining the ALG team, Mr. Águila served as CEO and Founder of Alua Hotels and Resorts, one of Spain’s fastest-growing and dynamic hotel management companies. During his tenure at Alua, Mr. Águila worked alongside top institutional investors—including Blackstone, KKR, HI Partners, and Hispania—to quickly expand the brand’s portfolio to include over 3,000 rooms. The brand’s rapid growth, along with Mr. Águila’s ability to identify promising development opportunities and effectively raise capital, led to the acquisition of the Alua brand by ALG in 2018.
Prior to founding Alua, Mr. Águila served as Chief Operating Officer at Orizonia, one of Spain’s largest tourism conglomerates at the time (Tour Operator, Travel Agencies, OTA, DCM, Airline, Hotel Management) with over €2 billion in sales and more than 5,000 employees. He also worked as an investment professional at the Carlyle Group, a European Leveraged buyout fund with special focus on the travel and leisure industry; as a management consultant at Mckinsey & Co., a U.S.-based worldwide management consulting firm; and Booz Allen, an American management and information technology consulting firm with activity throughout the U.S., Europe and Latin America.
Mr. Águila holds a B.A. in Business Administration from ESADE, a master’s degree in International Management from Thunderbird and an MBA from Columbia Business School where he attended as a Rafael del Pino, and ICO Foundation Scholar.
Gabriel Felip
Gabriel N. Felip Cotter plays a key role in the company’s growth by ensuring integration and consistency across AMResorts’ three main operational regions in the Caribbean, Mexican Caribbean and Mexican Pacific. Gabriel also oversees all corporate positions that support each property’s daily operations.
An industry veteran with more than 30 years of hospitality and tourism experience, Gabriel came to AMResorts from Bahia Principe Hotels & Resorts where he served as Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer, directly responsible for operations of more than 24 hotels throughout Spain and the Caribbean. Prior to that, he spent more than 20 years with Occidental Hotels & Resorts where he began as Managing Director in the Dominican Republic. He then spent 15 years as President and Chief Operating Officer of the worldwide sector of the company, responsible for over 50 hotel operations, as well as growth, expansion, mergers and acquisitions of the Occidental Group’s assets.
Gabriel has been recognized for his astounding work in the industry throughout his career, including the Medalla de Mérito Turístico, awarded to him in 2007 by the Council of Ministers of the Spanish Government.
Gabriel holds a degree in Business Management & Administration and a Master’s Degree in Banking & Computers from the University of Barcelona. He also earned a tourism degree in Spain and served in the Spanish Air Force. Felip is fluent in Spanish and Catalan.
Ray Snisky
With over 30 years of experience in leisure tour operations and hotel management, Snisky leads the Apple Leisure Group (ALG) Vacations division and is a member of the Executive Committee. Snisky is responsible for all aspects of the ALG Vacations business.
Through the unparalleled distribution of Apple Vacations®, BeachBound® Travel Impressions®, CheapCaribbean.com®, Blue Sky Tours®, Southwest Vacations®, Funjet Vacations®, and United Vacations®, ALG Vacations serves more than 3.2 million guests annually—delivering more North American leisure travelers to Mexico and the Caribbean than any other hospitality company in the world, and positioning itself as the # 1 vertically integrated provider of charter flights.
Prior to the merger with ALG in May 2018, Snisky was responsible for strategic development to grow all of La Macchia Enterprises’ travel business, both domestically and internationally. Snisky also oversaw the development of new business opportunities and ventures at a holding company level.
In 2004, Snisky was named to replace founder Bill La Macchia as President of the flagship brand of The Mark Travel Corporation (TMTC), Funjet Vacations. He was responsible for all aspects of the Funjet Vacations brand, one of the leading vacation brands in the world to Las Vegas, Mexico, Caribbean and Hawaii.
In 1998, Snisky was named Vice President of Corporate Development for TMTC. In his role he was responsible for acquisitions, acquisition integration, destination management and product development. He led a team which managed all supplier relationships for TMTC worldwide. This group managed the TMTC business relationships with airlines, hotels, ground transportation, attractions and destinations.
During his tenure with the company Snisky was involved in the development of many new business relationships and ventures, as well as the integration of several strategic business units. He was a member of the company’s Board of Directors. During his career he has served on several destination and supplier advisory boards.
Prior to joining TMTC in 1995, Snisky was with Mirage Resorts Inc. in Las Vegas, Nevada. He held various positions of increasing responsibility in hotel operations from 1989-1995.
Snisky received a B.S., in Hotel Administration, from U.N.L.V. in 1989. He resides in Mequon, WI with his wife Kaci, and three children Ellie, Ava and Grayson.
Rodrigo Llaguno
As Executive Vice President, Rodrigo Llaguno is responsible for overseeing all operations of Unlimited Vacation Club (UVC), AMResorts’® exclusive travel club, and Amstar DMC, a best-in-class destination management company.
Llaguno brings with him 18 years of experience in leadership positions across Latin America-based companies of varying sizes. Over his career he has developed considerable expertise in growth-focused strategy development and implementation, customer service optimization, and contact center management.
Before joining ALG, Llaguno served as the Regional Director of Mexico Operations for Atento (NYSE: ATTO), a leading provider of international customer service management solutions. Within this role, he oversaw the growth and performance of the region, as well as customer and associate satisfaction. Llaguno also served as Corporate Customer Experience Vice President of Mexican airline Aeromexico, where he was responsible for the customer service strategy for the whole organization, all client-related processes and data, and the development of the company’s overall service culture. Prior to that, Llaguno served as Customer Experience Vice President at Avianca Holdings (NYSE: AVH), and held other leadership roles within the aviation sector, as well as in the health products and recycling industries.
Llaguno holds a degree in Chemical Engineering and Administration from Monterrey Institute of Technology in Mexico (ITESM), and a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School.
John Ische
As Chief Information Officer for Apple Leisure Group, John leads the ALG information technology team and is also the President of Trisept Solutions, ALG’s award winning leisure travel technology business. Trisept, launched in 2001, provides travel merchandising innovation to many of the world’s largest travel brands.
John has spent his entire 30+ year career in travel technology starting as a software developer. He has driven innovation across the entire IT discipline for travel including online merchandising, operations, dynamic packaging, data and analytics, customer loyalty, mobile, data security/privacy and data center/cloud technologies.
Over his career, John has been able to collaborate on travel merchandising and distribution solutions for businesses across the globe to enable their point of difference and growth through technology. This expansive set of experiences tied to John’s unique ability to solve problems and lead innovation through collaboration has fueled Trisept’s travel technology leadership.
Today, the Trisept team is driving the digital transformation of the ALG’s vertical model leveraging data to improve customer experience across ALG’s lines of business.
John graduated from the University of Wisconsin – Madison with degrees in Computer Science and Statistics.
Cory Shade
Cory Shade is Chief Legal Officer and member of the Apple Leisure Group Executive Committee. In this role, she is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the company’s legal matters. She was appointed to her position in August 2017.
Prior to joining ALG, Cory served as Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary at Perry Ellis International. Inc., where she was responsible for all legal matters. Prior to joining Perry Ellis in 2006, Cory was the General Counsel of Firstcom Corporation (merged into AT&T Latin America) and responsible for all legal and governance matters.
Previously, Cory was a Corporate Attorney with the law firm’s Steel, Hector & Davis, LLP, which is now known as Squire, Saunders & Dempsey, LLP and Kilpatrick Stockton LLP. Her practice included securities, mergers and acquisitions, and financing, as well as general corporate counseling.
Cory holds a B.A. in economics from George Washington University, and she earned her J.D. and M.B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis.
Iñaki Cebollero
In his role as Chief People Officer for Apple Leisure Group (ALG), Iñaki Cebollero oversees all global Human Capital and Talent Management functions.
Cebollero is directly responsible for the development and implementation of a wide variety of human resource programming for more than 40,000 employees and collaborators, located across 11 countries. He also leverages his experience in corporate sustainability to bolster the Group’s ongoing efforts.
With a proven track record at international companies throughout Spain, Latin America and the U.S., Cebollero specializes in corporate and operational reorganization, strategic organization design, compensation managemen and staff training initiatives. He is also deeply experienced in the development of corporate culture and sustainability programs throughout multinational companies.
Most recently, Cebollero served as the CPO for Atento (NYSE: ATTO), a renown global provider of customer relationship management and business process outsourcing services, where he oversaw more than 2,500 HR partners. He has also held leadership positions at Ahold, an international operator of supermarkets, and Leroy Merlin, a global home improvement and gardening retailer.
Over his 25-year career, Cebollero has helped his previous companies earn numerous awards and honors, such as being featured in the "25 World's Best Multinational Workplaces" list from Great Places to Work® on six different years, and “Latam Best Multinational Workplaces” for nine consecutive years, a powerful statement of his ability to develop and maintain strong corporate culture.
Cebollero holds a degree in Political Science and Sociology from the Complutense University in Madrid, as well as a master’s degree in HR Management from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Iñaki also completed the Management Development Program (MDP) from Navarra University, IESE Business School.
Jose Ignacio Garcia
In his role as Chief Financial Officer for Apple Leisure Group (ALG), Jose Ignacio Garcia oversees all global Finance and Accounting functions and teams.
Garcia came to ALG after serving as Senior Vice President and CFO for Spirit AeroSystems where he drove the implementation of the company’s business diversification strategy and managed the overall finance function and team. Previously, he held various financial leadership roles at General Electric (GE), working on headquarters and regional assignments for the industrial and energy businesses in the U.S., China, Brazil and France. In his last GE position, he was VP and CFO for GE Renewable Energy.
With more than 24 years of financial leadership experience, Garcia has a strong business acumen and proven track record leading global finance teams in organizations across multiple geographies with complex accounting and risk management challenges. He leverages his corporate and regional expertise in controllership, FP&A, commercial finance, investor relations, tax, treasury, internal audit, supply chain finance, systems and cost management.
Throughout his career, Garcia’s collaboration with executive leaders has led to the creation and implementation of successful business strategies, designing effective operating cadences and driving organic and M&A growth to meet or exceed company financial targets. He has also been successful integrating acquired businesses and generating synergies across supply chain, engineering, manufacturing, and sales, general, and administrative (SG&A) functions.
Garcia attended ESADE Business School in Barcelona, Spain, where he received a Master of Business Administration and a Bachelor of Arts in Business.