Ivan Zekic is a hospitality executive who has spent more than 20 years doing the hardest job in the industry: taking casino resorts and luxury properties from construction to opening day — then building the operating systems and leadership teams that turn a new property into a profitable one.
He opens properties. Ivan has led hospitality pre-openings for casino resorts, luxury hotels, and international properties — commercial, tribal, and branded. That means executive org design before a single hire, phased hiring waves timed to construction milestones, and recruiting the leadership itself: more than 25 Vice Presidents and over 100 Directors placed across properties, with hospitality divisions staffed, trained, and tested before the first guest walks in.
He sets up the systems. A property is only as good as its operating system: SOPs and service standards, opening and closing checklists, BEO processes, room-readiness programs, dry runs and test stays, daily reporting, KPI dashboards, and the leadership routines that hold it all accountable. Ivan builds these from scratch for new properties and rebuilds them for underperforming ones — including the modern layer: he has implemented robotics and automation in live hospitality operations, from service and delivery robots to automated beverage and kitchen systems, with the labor redesign and staff training to make them work.
He delivers results. Executive scope across entire hospitality divisions — hotel, food & beverage, spa, banquets and conference, VIP — with the financial outcomes to match: $55M+ in annual F&B revenue managed, measurable cost reduction, guest satisfaction gains, and sanitation scores above 90%.
Construction gets you a building. Systems and leadership get you a business. My job is the second part.
Ivan's executive scope has included more than 30 managers, over 250 employees, up to 12 outlets in a single portfolio, and annual food and beverage revenues exceeding $55 million — organizations he first hired, structured, and systematized himself.
Every department must understand what success looks like, how it is measured, and who is responsible for delivering it — from opening day forward.