Phillip Starling, Managing Director Phillip Starling has come full circle in his role as managing director of the Marco Beach Ocean Resort. He grew up on another exclusive island resort – St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands – and his first job was at the legendary Caneel Bay, an experience that set the course of his career in hospitality and established his standards of uncompromising quality. Starling moved "stateside" to Orlando, Florida, to pursue his college education, during which he continued working in hotel and retail management positions. After finishing his college studies in business management, he accepted a position as a quality control supervisor for Royal Crown Cola, a position that required rigorous precision and meticulousness. Soon he was tapped as a union shop steward. His skill as a union liaison and negotiator caught the attention of the Grosvenor Resort in Lake Buena Vista just as Starling was yearning to return to the hotel business. He was hired as quality control manager representing the hotel's housekeeping staff with the unions and surviving several strikes. He stayed with the Grosvenor for eight years, attaining the position of director of housekeeping. In 1990, Starling moved to Atlanta to become director of housekeeping for Omni's CNN Center hotel. One of his primary roles was to improve the department's ratings and institute a quality management system, and to travel to other Omni hotels as part of the internal inspection team. During his tenure, the Super Bowl was held in Atlanta, with many high profile guests and tight security at the Omni. His experience with quality standards and improvement programs, and skill at handling the special needs of big events like the Super Bowl, led him directly to his next job, front of the house leader at The Ritz-Carlton, Atlanta, which he joined in 1994 prior to the Olympics. Superstars and athletes were regular guests at the Ritz as the countdown began for the Olympics. One of Starling's special assignments was to handle the secret hotel arrangements for Muhammad Ali, the "surprise guest" for the opening ceremony, which Starling attended. Another Ritz-Carlton special assignment was to serve on the pre-opening team for its hotel in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Starling's home territory. Little did he know that his experience with opening a hotel in the islands would prove invaluable for a resort on Marco Island, just then being envisioned by the successful Florida developer, Gulf Bay Group of Companies. He first arrived in Southwest Florida as resort manager for Sanibel Harbour, which tapped him for his experience with openings and renovations. While there, he helped the hotel attain its Mobil Four-Star Award and captured the notice of Gulf Bay's senior executives, who enticed him to Marco Island six months prior to the opening of the Marco Beach Ocean Resort. As the resort manager nearing the pinnacle of his career, he found himself sitting in the garage, on a bucket, wearing a hard hat, ordering the kind of supplies one needs to equip a future five-star hotel. "Every experience and skill I had gained in my career was utilized in the opening of the Marco Beach Ocean Resort," Starling says. His most important job, however, was the hiring of staff, many who are still with the resort as it nears its fifth anniversary in 2007. Starling notes that the most rewarding aspect of his career is mentoring talented people, which enables him to focus on ever-higher goals, particularly as the hotel seeks the highest honors in the hotel industry. Starling's career as a key staff member at some of the world's finest hotels, and his early training as a connoisseur of quality, can be summed up in the plaque which hangs in his office, and states "Luck is the residue of design." "The back of the house is where you make the difference," Starling explains, "because the soul of a hotel is the staff." Such a maxim is epitomized in the exemplary leadership of Starling himself. Jeffrey Bullock, Director of Operations In its five year history, the Marco Beach Ocean Resort has attracted the brightest lights of the hotel industry to its management team, professionals who have a passion for the highest standards of luxury and customer service, and more importantly, the vital acumen and experience to attain those standards. One of those leading lights is Jeff Bullock, the hotel’s Director of Operations.  Like many dedicated hotel executives, Bullock was “hooked on hotels” at an early age.  When Bullock was growing up in New Hampshire, his family owned and managed an elegant, 17-room colonial style inn, a defining experience that instilled in Bullock a lifelong appreciation for treating guests like royalty in a beautiful, well-maintained environment. When it came time for college, Bullock chose a school in Tampa and worked part time at Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Club & Lodge, an opportunity for him to enjoy his two favorite pastimes, hotel operations and golf.  His experience with his family’s inn served him well in his front office job, where he was a direct liaison for guest services. Bullock furthered his hotel management studies as a business major at Penn State, and then joined the accounting department of the landmark Hotel Hershey.  He returned to Florida in 1997, when he joined The Ritz-Carlton, Naples as guest services coordinator for the front office.  He was promoted several times, and ultimately attained the position of Assistant Front of the House Manager. In 2003, the year-old Marco Beach Ocean Resort was making headlines as a “boutique Ritz,” and Bullock took notice.  The appeal of making an impact on a boutique-sized hotel was irresistible.  When he heard about the hotel’s available position of Front Office Manager, he sent his impressive resume and immediately secured an interview with Managing Director Phillip Starling. “I was attracted to the elegance of the hotel.  The smaller, intimate setting and the enhanced opportunity to lavish attention on guests,” he says. Bullock notes with pride and a sense of privilege, “I am part of a group of professionals who have a personal commitment to bring refinement and polish to the hotel.  Our common goal has fostered the essential ‘esprit de corps’ among the staff, which translates into how we treat our guests.” Today, Bullock oversees all aspects of the guest experience.  He also is entrenched in staff training programs, in which his younger colleagues benefit from his platinum-quality experience and learn to live the hotel’s motto: “Doing common things uncommonly well.” Branka Guberina, Chef Concierge Branka Guberina, chef concierge at the Marco Beach Ocean Resort on Marco Island, has been inducted into the prestigious Les Clefs d'Or, the exclusive, international organization of the finest hotel concierges in the world. She is now eligible to wear the organization's signature gold keys, an industry icon of experience, dedication and professionalism. "Branka Guberina is a local legend for her extraordinary hospitality skills," said the hotel's Managing Director Phillip Starling. "The hotel's entire staff is very proud of her and the role she plays in setting Marco Beach Ocean Resort on its path to five-diamond status." Guberina has 13 years of guest services experience at Collier County's finest hotels, beginning in 1992 with The Ritz-Carlton, Naples, where she was a concierge for guests of the hotel's exclusive Ritz-Carlton Club. In 1994, she was the Ritz-Carlton's "Employee of the Year." In 1998 she joined the Trianon Hotel Company as guest services coordinator, before accepting a guest services position with Naples' Hotel Escalante in 2000. She joined Marco Beach Ocean Resort in 2002. Guberina's credentials also include food manager certification from the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, and a Master of Science in Italian language and literature from the University for Languages in her native Belgrade, Yugoslavia. Guberina is fluent in English, Italian, French, and Yugoslavian. Chef Alberto Varetto, Sale e Pepe Executive Chef Alberto Varetto was born in Torino, the capital of Italy's Piedmont region, and began his culinary apprenticeship at the age of 12. Now in his early thirties, he reigns as executive chef at Sale e Pepe, an ornate Renaissance-style palazzo on Marco Island's Gulf of Mexico beach, a destination restaurant that is part of Marco Beach Ocean Resort. Chef Varetto is Italian to his soup bones. "Sale e Pepe's food is truly authentic because we import the fundamental ingredients, including flour, tomatoes, Parmesan cheese and herbs, from Italy," said Chef Varetto. "In addition, we make fresh, pasta, sauces, sausage, and breads every day ... just like they do in Italy." The menu showcases Italy's 22 regions and continuously changes based on the ingredients available, which vary with Italy's seasons, as well as what is fresh and abundant in South Florida. Varetto received his Diploma Alberghiero di Cucina before beginning his culinary career in Italy. Varetto brought his international culinary skills and expertise to the United States in 1997, joining the renowned Chef Roberto Donna, a family friend from Piedmont, at the Galileo Ristorante in Washington, D.C.