KEY POINTS:
A top executive of the InterContinental Hotels group was forced to quit yesterday after lying about his academic qualifications.
Patrick Imbardelli walked out on his £300,000 ($786,000) a year job as head of the group's Asia Pacific chain only days before he was poised to join the main board of the company.
"We treat this as a very serious matter. The fundamental basis of trust was undermined. He will not receive any compensation," said a spokesman.
Imbardelli, whose reputation garnished over 25 years in the hotel industry is now in tatters, had falsely claimed to have three qualifications: a bachelor of business degree from the University of Victoria in Australia, and a BSc and a master of business administration from Cornell University in the United States.
He had, in fact, attended classes at both establishments in the 1980s but did not receive any qualifications.
Ironically, it was Imbardelli's successful climb up the corporate ladder that was his undoing. It appears that the publicity he received after the group announced on May 9 that he was to join the main board prompted a whistleblower to alert InterContinental to look into his background.
An internal investigation quickly established that his CV was full of holes.
Imbardelli joined the company - then known as Bass - in 2000 as part of an acquisition, becoming managing director of Asia Pacific in 2003.
A spokesman said there had been no reason to check the authenticity of his CV in 2000. "When you buy a company you don't check the background of the executives you are inheriting. We took it in good faith," said the group.
Imbardelli, 46, an Australian who is married with two children, has held a number of top management jobs with Hilton International, Hyatt Corporation and Southern Pacific Hotels. Last month he was named Hotelier of the Year, and was praised by chief executive Andy Cosslett who described him as a "driving force in growing the IHG portfolio".
IHG is the world's largest hotel group with more than 3700 hotels in nearly 100 countries. His abrupt departure stunned the hotel industry.
One colleague who worked closely with him in Asia said: "He is a really great guy. We are all sad and absolutely shocked."
One expert in the headhunting business described a fake qualification as "like a ticking timebomb waiting to go off - it can take years to go off but when it does everything is destroyed".
Imbardelli lived in Singapore which he used as a base to visit nearly 200 hotels throughout the region.
His job will be filled for the time being by Tony South, senior vice president for the region.
- Independent
