INTERVIEW
Kathryn Moore
The operations director of MSpa International talks about the company’s new fast track management programme, hot spa markets and a brand new wellness concept
KATIE BARNES, MANAGING EDITOR, SPA BUSINESS K
athryn Moore has a passion for management. Straight out of school at 19, the native Austral- ian from Perth started running
nightclubs and restaurants – at one point overseeing 50 staff – before taking a two- year beauty therapy diploma in 2002 with a view to making a career out of operat- ing spas. “I don’t think having a therapist qualifi cation makes a huge amount of dif- ference to running spas,” says Moore who’s now the director of operations – corporate support for MSpa International. “But it did give me more insight into what therapists go through and I think it’s helped me to be a better manager.” In her first role at Retreat on Spring,
an Aveda spa in Melbourne, Moore was mentored by Marie Prosperi-Porter and Julie-Anne Kelly – two well-known spa pro- fessionals in the country who “opened my eyes to how quickly the industry was grow- ing”. Then, after managing the spa at Hilton Melbourne for two years, she relocated to Hua Hin, Thailand where an opportunity to join MSpa, a subsidiary of Asia’s Minor Hotel Group (MHG), as spa director for its Man- dara Spa and Anantara Spa brands presented itself. Three years on, the 32-year-old has moved very quickly through the company to become “number two” to MSpa’s general manager Lee David Stephens (see p30) run-
Jacobs says spas are part of his DNA and that focusing on them once more was what attracted him to the role
Moore heads up international projects for MSpa as well as being operations director
ning the its 44 spas and 450 staff across Asia, the Middle East and Africa, as well as head- ing up new developments and openings as its international project manager.
FAST TRACK MANAGEMENT Faced, like the majority of the industry, with the lack of skilled spa managers – “I couldn’t fi nd any to save my life!” – Moore has put together a fast track programme for beauty therapy graduates, in-house ther- apists and other professionals outside of the industry who show ambition and
38 Read Spa Business online
spabusiness.com / digital
management potential. After a six-month probation in a receptionist or therapist position, candidates will go through an 18-month mentoring programme shadow- ing top-level MSpa employees at various properties with the back-up of online training courses. Probation is important, she says, as they need to ensure candidates have a work ethic fi rst.
With four people on the programme so
far, Moore’s aim is fi nd more recruits by developing stronger relationships with respected therapist training organisations/
Spa Business 3 2013 ©Cybertrek 2013
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