Vivek Nair, the elder son of late Captain C.P. Krishnan Nair, brings more than three decades of industry experience with an inclination for hospitality business, something that he learned under the mentorship of his father when the Leela Group expanded its presence pan-India becoming one of India’s most storied luxury hotels. Although most of Leela brand properties except the Leela Mumbai has been sold to Brookfield, the legacy that Vivek is heir to still surrounds him as an invincible aura.
Vivek Nair graduated from St. Xavier College in Mumbai, the city where the journey of Leela began and then pursued his higher studies in School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University. After returning to India in 1982 and recognizing the need for a hotel at Sahar, where the international airport had moved to from Santa Cruz, the first Leela hotel with 423 guestrooms was set up in 1986.
The Leela Group steadily began its climb in the hospitality industry with operational hotels in Delhi, Udaipur, Chennai, Bengaluru, etc. The group also built the Mahatma Mandir Convention and Exhibition Centre, one of the biggest state-of-art facility in India uniquely designed to combine a sense of aesthetics, functionality and flexibility. Vivek Nair through his experience and versatility continued to position the Leela Group as a niche player in the luxury hotel segment and made it a market leader.
Vivek Nair also represents the hotel and tourism industry in various forums and has been the President and Honorary Secretary of the Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Associations of India, the apex body of the Indian hospitality and tourism industry, for many years. Nair was also the chairman of the World Travel & Tourism Council, India Initiative (WTTC-II) representing top hotels, airlines, tour operators, Indian railways, tourism financial institutions, and so on in India. He was also on the Board of the Tourism Finance Corporation of India, a government owned financial institution which funds hotels, resorts, exhibition centres, amusement parks, etc.
He was also the chairman of Services Export Promotion Council (SEPC) which has been set up by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India and represents various sectors which render services and earn foreign exchange for India.
Image Credit : Cladgobal
