William R. Fatt – Posthumously Awarded

Mr. Fatt was Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of FRHI Hotels & Resorts from January 5, 1998 until July 12, 2016. During this time, Mr. Fatt has led the transformation of the company from a small chain of almost 30 luxury hotels in Canada with 10,000 employees, to a global hotel management company that today operates in 34 countries and boasts more than 110 hotels, 42,000 guestrooms and a global workforce of 45,000 colleagues. Under three leading brands, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, Raffles Hotels & Resorts and Swissôtel Hotels & Resorts, FRHI operates world-class hotels in premier destinations including iconic hotels like The Savoy in London, The Plaza in New York City and Raffles Singapore. Prior to becoming Chairman & CEO, Mr. Fatt served as CFO of Canadian Pacific Limited, the parent company of Fairmont Hotels & Resorts’ predecessor, Canadian Pacific Hotels.  

FRHI was created from the merger of Fairmont Hotels & Resorts and Raffles Hotels & Resorts after Fairmont was taken private in 2006 by Kingdom Holding Company and Colony Capital. Since being taken private, FRHI has sold over $3.5 billion of hotel real estate and rapidly grown its international portfolio of managed luxury hotels, resorts, branded estates and luxury private residence club properties. The company’s principal shareholders are now Katara Hospitality and Kingdom Holding Company.  

Among the milestones Mr. Fatt has overseen as Chairman & CEO of Fairmont Hotels & Resorts and FRHI are the following:  

• The spinoff via an Initial Public Offering of approximately C$1 billion of hotel assets into a publicly traded REIT to raise capital to fund international expansion.  

• Multiple hotel real estate and brand acquisitions and dispositions in furtherance of the company’s growth and internationalization, including the acquisition of Delta Hotels & Resorts in 1998 (and later sale in 2007), Princess Hotels and the Fairmont Hotels & Resorts brand.  

• The stewardship as CEO of Fairmont Hotels & Resorts as a publicly listed company on the NYSE and TSX from an initial market capitalization of C$1.2 billion in 2001 to its privatization in 2006 at a market capitalization of C$4.3 billion.  

• The merger in 2006 of Fairmont Hotels & Resorts with Raffles Hotels & Resorts and Swissôtel Hotels & Resorts and the transformation of the company to an ‘asset-light’ brand management and hotel operating platform.  

• The negotiation in 2009/2010 of a strategic investment in the company by Qatar Diar during the most severe downturn in the hotel industry’s history which has positioned the company for further growth and expansion.  

Mr. Fatt has over 30 years of finance, investment and capital markets experience. He is a director of The Jim Pattison Group, the Bank of Nova Scotia and Canadian Pacific Railway Limited. Previously, Mr. Fatt was Chairman of the Board of Cadillac Fairview Corporation and, a director of EnCana Corporation, SunLife Financial Inc. and Enbridge Inc.  

Mr. Fatt graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from York University, Toronto.