EXECUTIVE PROFILES
Wyndham Vacation Resorts Asia Pacific employs more than 1,500 staff members whose enthusiasm and dedication is only matched by their diversity. Wyndham Corporate Centre, located on Queensland’s Gold Coast, is the company headquarters and houses about 600 employees. Wyndham Vacation Resorts Asia Pacific is one of the Gold Coast’s largest corporate employers with additional employees located at resorts and sales sites throughout the Asia Pacific region. Meet the Executive Team:
Barry Robinson
CEO and Managing Director
Joined 2003
Barry A. Robinson has been the CEO and Managing Director of Wyndham Vacation Resorts Asia Pacific since September 2003. In 2009, Barry launched the Wyndham Hotel Group in the South Pacific as Managing Director. He has been the driving force behind many significant new property acquisitions, enhanced resort developments and has brought a renewed customer focus to the business. Under his supervision, both Wyndham Vacation Resorts Asia Pacific and Wyndham Hotel Group in the South Pacific have expanded their portfolios in the Australian, New Zealand and South Pacific regions and are to actively expand into new Asian markets.
With more than 30 year’s hospitality experience, Barry has a vast knowledge of the hotel and resort industry – from development to branding, management, franchising and operations. Barry held a number of senior leadership positions in the Asia Pacific region before coming to settle on the Gold Coast. During his career, he has worked for some of the world’s largest hospitality companies including Swiss-Belhotel International, Swissôtel Worldwide Partner Hotels and Choice Hotels International.
Barry Robinson is also:
- Board Director, FSHD Global
- President of ATHOC (Australian Timeshare and Holiday Ownership Council)
- Member, Australian Institute of Company Directors
- Member of the School of Hotel Resort & Tourism Management’s Executive Advisory Board, Bond University
- Member of Young Presidents Organisation, Queensland Chapter
- Long standing CHA member for over 15 years
Read Barry’s full executive profile.
Gary Croker
Senior Vice President Business Development Asia Pacific
Joined April 2003
Gary Croker began his role as Senior Vice President of Business Development in 2008 and is responsible for a number of key business enhancements. This includes leading a project to establish vacationownership in China and further development of the business unit in other parts of Asia. Gary joined Wyndham Vacation Resorts Asia Pacific in 2003 initially as head of finance for the Asia Pacific region until 2007 before changing roles.
Gary is a senior finance executive and chartered accountant with 25 year’s experience covering hospitality, transport, logistics and manufacturing. His experience encompasses operational financial roles, project management, cost reduction initiatives and information management. Gary has significant international experience working in Australia, New Zealand, Korea, Japan and the US for various companies ranging from large multi-national corporations to small start-up operations.
Liam Crawley
Chief Financial Officer
Joined 2008
Liam Crawley joined Wyndham Vacation Resorts Asia Pacific in 2008 as Chief Financial Officer. He leads a team of more than 90 employees and is responsible for all aspects of accounting, financial reporting, planning and analysis, payroll, procurement, internal audit and the consumer finance operations within the Asia Pacific region.
Liam has held several roles prior to joining Wyndham Vacation Resorts Asia Pacific. He is a Chartered Accountant with over 18 year’s experience as a senior finance executive at corporate, divisional and regional levels within publicly listed corporations. He commenced his career in Melbourne with Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu and later held senior finance positions at Mayne Group Limited in Melbourne in the corporate office, asset management, group finance, healthcare, diagnostics and logistics.
He later served as the Vice President of Finance and Group Financial Controller for Mayne Pharma Limited based in London. He was responsible for the group’s ASX reporting, financial control and led a global finance and accounting team of 125 finance professionals throughout the Asia Pacific, EMEA and US regions.
Chad Wilder
Senior Vice President Sales
Joined 2012
Chad Wilder joined Wyndham Vacation Resorts Asia Pacific in mid-2012 as the Senior Vice President of Sales. In this role, Chad leads a team of more than 400 sales employees located at Wyndham Corporate Centre on the Gold Coast, Queensland as well as a further 19 sales sites spread across Australia, New Zealand and Fiji.
Chad has a clear passion for sales and the vacation ownership industry for which he has been a highly effective developer of leaders for the last 17 years. He joined Wyndham Vacation Resorts Asia Pacific from the United States where he was Vice President of Sales and Marketing for the affiliated company, Wyndham Vacation Resorts based in Honolulu. In this role he was responsible for leading a sales and marketing team of over 200 sales representatives and a multimillion-dollar budget.
Chad has a proven record of building and maintaining successful sales and marketing teams and has been recognised as a high achieving sales leader through receiving numerous company and industry awards.
Mark Potgieter
Senior Vice President Marketing and WorldMark Services
Joined 2010
Mark Potgieter joined Wyndham Vacation Resorts Asia Pacific in 2010 as the Senior Vice President of Marketing and WorldMark Services. Mark is responsible for several departments including Marketing Operations, Campaign Management, Database Management, Creative Services, Owner Marketing and Solutions, Owner Education, Travel Club by Wyndham and Owner Services. He oversees a team of more than 220 employees. Mark commenced with the company as a marketing consultant in 2007, leading the re-branding project from Trendwest to Wyndham Vacation Resorts Asia Pacific, as well as various other marketing projects.
With over 20 year’s experience working with market leading brands in blue chip companies worldwide, Mark brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to his role. He has significant international experience working in South Africa, North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Australia. He is an innovative and strategic leader who has operated as a director on Quaker Canada’s management team, as Vice President on the Quaker Oats European Board and the PepsiCo Executive Board. Mark also ran a successful branding and marketing consultancy business.
Matt Taplin
Senior Vice President Resort Operations and Property Development
Joined 2012
Matt Taplin joined Wyndham Vacation Resorts Asia Pacific in late-2012 as Senior Vice President of Resort Operations and Property Development, bringing with him more than 25 years of hotel industry experience. In his role with Wyndham Vacation Resorts Asia Pacific, Matt is located at Wyndham Corporate Centre on the Gold Coast and is responsible for a team of approximately 540 employees who work in resort operations and property development across Australia, New Zealand and Fiji.
He joined the company after relocating from New Zealand and has extensive experience in a variety of roles across different locations, with a proven record of building and leading large and diverse hotel teams. In his previous role as Vice President of Operations at Millennium & Copthorne Hotels New Zealand Ltd, he was responsible for the overall operation and performance of 30 owned, managed or franchised hotels with more than 1,200 employees.
Julian Blanchard
Senior Vice President Legal and Compliance
Joined 2012
Julian joined Wyndham Vacation Resorts Asia Pacific in late-2012 as Senior Vice President of Legal and Compliance with more than 20 year’s experience in the legal industry. Julian is located at Wyndham Corporate Centre in Bundall on the Gold Coast and oversees a team of 11 employees across the Legal and Compliance and Resolution teams.
The Legal and Compliance team is responsible for ensuring that all areas of the business are complying with relevant legislation, which governs their field, while the Resolution team resolves any important issues that may arise. Julian brings with him a wealth of experience, particularly from his most recent role as International General Counsel for Billabong International, also based on the Gold Coast.
Tara Walsh
Vice President Human Resources
Joined 2001-2004, rejoined 2009
Tara Walsh has been the Vice President of Human Resources (HR) since 2009, leading a team of 16 dedicated HR professionals. The HR team covers the entire suite of services including attraction and selection, learning and development, workplace health and safety, grievance management, management advice, workplace change, workforce planning, and policy and procedure.
Tara has more than 16 year’s experience within the HR profession, with over five of those years spent in the vacation ownership industry. Prior to her current role, Tara served as HR Director for Electronic Arts’ Asia Pacific Packaged Goods division. In this role, she led the HR function for the Asia Pacific Packaged Goods business, which had operations in the South Pacific, India, South Africa, Japan and Greater Asia areas. Tara has university degrees in the fields of business, human resources and psychology. She is a registered organisational psychologist with the Australian Health Board.