22 graduate Sandals Corporate University with diploma in hospitality leadership

Twenty-two employees of Sandals Resorts, drawn from the company’s hotels across the Caribbean, graduated from the Sandals Corporate University (SCU) after completing the diploma in Hospitality Leadership programme recently.

In his keynote address, Sandals’ executive chairman, Adam Stewart, hailed the graduates for participating in the programme.

Stewart spoke of Sandals Resort’s impact on the Caribbean, noting that it has become the region’s largest employer with over 18,000 workers from within the Caribbean. He disclosed that Sandals’ newest hotel – Sandals St Vincent and the Grenadines – will open on March 27.

The opening comes less than two years since that of Sandals Curacao in June 2022, and less than a year since Sandals Dunns River opened in May 2023.

Senior personnel from SCU were on hand for the special occasion, including Dr Noriel Jacobs-Gray, Regional Learning and Development Manager; Dr Luz Longsworth, SCU Senior Corporate Director; Wayne Cummings, chairman SCU Advisory Board; Dean Christopher Muller, founder and principal, Accelerating Leaders; and Dean Michael Cheng, dean and chaplain, School of Hospitality and Tourism, Florida International University.

Valedictorian, Melissa Brown-Fletcher spoke of the ripple effect of the training and urged her colleagues to make a change in the tourist industry.

“Let’s be catalysts” Brown-Fletcher urged.

The graduates were drawn from Sandals Dunn’s River, Sandals Ocho Rios, Sandals Resorts International, Sandals Bahamas, Sandals Royal Curacao, Sandals Montego Bay, Sandals South Coast, Beaches Turks and Caicos (which boasted seven graduates), Beaches Ocho Rios, and Beaches Royal Bahamas.