Hospitality veteran Serge Simard has been chosen to take the helm at Montreal’s Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth hotel．

　　TORONTO — Hospitality veteran Serge Simard has been chosen to take the helm at Montreal’s Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth hotel, replacing Richard Payette, who has retired after 16 years with Fairmont Hotels & Resorts.

　　Along with his duties as GM, Simard will also serve as regional VP of Eastern Canada for Fairmont Hotels & Resorts. Simard has relocated from Nairobi, where he was the regional VP of Africa and India and oversaw operations for six properties.

　　Simard’s hospitality career began in 1977 with food-and-beverage roles at Hilton International, Sheraton Hotels and Resorts and Delta Hotels and Resorts. Since landing at Fairmont Hotels & Resorts in 1985, he quickly moved through the ranks, eventually overseeing the global management of all food-and-beverage activities for the brand.

　　The hospitality leader assumes his new duties Aug. 4.