WHEN Andrew Coppel joined Queens Moat Houses as chief executive in 1993, there seemed every chance the hotel operator would go the same way as his previous company, Sale Tilney, where his attempted rescue ended in the appointment of receivers. A decade on, the former Morgan Grenfell banker is leaving a company with debts of about £640 million as opposed to the £1.5 billion it started with, although the small matters of foot-and-mouth disease, the September 11 attacks and the economic downturn mean it is once again in need of financial surgery.
But Mr Coppel, 52, who was educated at Belfast Royal Academy and Queen’s University Belfast, now appears to be on the lookout for a bigger turnaround project, and his experiences at QMH, Sale Tilney and, before that, Ratners, should help him in his quest.
The grandson of a Russian immigrant who ran a furniture business in Belfast, Mr Coppel is a keen golfer and tennis player and is chairman of Tourism Ireland, the official agency that promotes the Emerald Isle.