1. AMERICAS(
Writer’s Direct Dial +1 718-215-2970
E-Mail: Kevin.Jones@rwnewyork.com
February
5,
2015
Re:
Recommendation
for
Colleen
Mairéad
Hughes
(CoCo
Creative
NY)
To
Whom
It
May
Concern:
Please
accept
this
letter
as
an
unreserved
recommendation
on
behalf
of
Colleen
Mairéad
Hughes
and
her
company
CoCo
Creative
NY.
As
General
Counsel
and
Senior
Vice
President
for
Corporate
Development
&
Strategy
for
all
North
American
and
certain
Hong
Kong
operations
of
the
$40
billion
dollar
Genting
Group
companies
(“Genting”),
I
hire
and
supervise
scores
of
consultants
on
a
regular
basis.
The
typical
consultants
engaged
by
Genting
include
lobbyists,
public
relations
experts,
marketing
executives,
brokers
and
a
broad
spectrum
of
technical
trades.
The
harsh
reality
is
that
few
of
these
many
consultants
ever
stand
out
as
being
exceptional.
Even
fewer
reach
the
point
of
being
essential.
Colleen
was
the
rare
exception.
As
described
in
more
detail
below,
Colleen’s
combination
of
brilliance,
creativity,
resourcefulness,
empathetic
attentiveness,
enthusiasm
and
persistence
brought
immediate
and
impactful
value
to
my
team.
In
light
of
that
value
I
fully
recommend
Colleen
for
any
endeavor
that
she
decides
to
pursue.
I
became
familiar
with
Colleen
and
her
work
in
the
spring
of
2014
when
she
joined
a
group
of
local
consultants
from
Orange
County,
New
York
that
we
selected
to
help
with
a
competitive
bid
to
develop
a
$2
billion
dollar
resort
in
the
Town
of
Montgomery,
New
York.
The
scoring
system
for
the
bid
process
put
a
premium
on
understanding
the
needs
of
the
local
community,
and
garnering
support
for
the
development
of
comprehensive
community
development
initiatives.
Since
we
did
not
have
ties
to
that
community
and
only
had
a
few
weeks
to
prepare
our
bid,
we
had
to
tap
and
rely
heavily
on
local
consultants.
Amongst
all
of
the
consultants,
it
was
immediately
clear
that
Colleen
was
the
only
one
who
really
understood
the
unique
challenges
associated
with
our
goals.
Within
a
matter
of
weeks
it
became
clear
that
we
no
longer
needed
the
group
of
consultants
that
we
had
started
working
with.
All
we
needed
was
Colleen.
She
not
only
took
on
the
work
of
the
entire
consulting
group,
but
also,
and
even
more
impressively,
streamlined
the
whole
process
and
single-­‐handedly
helped
us
to
pull
off
multiple
events
like
job
fairs
and
conventions
that
were
attended
by
hundreds.
There
are
many
examples
of
where
Colleen
stood
head
and
shoulders
above
her
peers,
but
one
of
the
most
striking
examples
was
during
a
small
meeting
with
local
residents
who
lived
across
the
street
from
our
proposed
development.
We
had
the
difficult
task
of
trying
to
break
through
their
healthy
skepticism
and
explain
how
Genting
was
genuinely
interested
in
stimulating
one-­‐of-­‐a-­‐kind
community
development
that
would
enhance
their
community
and
generate
well-­‐paying
careers.
The
benefits
to
the
community
were
plain
and
simple
from
our
standpoint,
but
communication
quickly
broke
down
and
rigid
distrust
of
us
as
a
developer
started
to
settle
in.
Just
as
we
began
bracing
ourselves
for

2. a loss of support from the very people we were most interested in helping Colleen stepped
in.
As a local trusted voice, she was given the floor and eloquently explained how she
had only agreed to join my team because of our sincere desire to help the community. The
clarity of her vision, passion and dedication to spurring both business opportunities and
community development sliced the tension in the air and completely changed the tone in
that room. By the time we left that meeting, we had the strong trust and support of
everyone there. In fact, the same group that was attending town hall meetings to protest
our development became our biggest supporters, and some even took off ofwork to travel
over an hour away to speak at public forums on our behalf. The radical shift in the hearts
and minds of the local Orange County community residents was the direct result of one
person's work: Colleen.
I could easily continue to list out many more examples of where Colleen made a
crucial contribution to Genting and our developments. For example, Colleen's generous
participation with me on an unscripted live radio show made it one of the most listened to
segments on that radio station for weeks.
For the sake of brevity, I will close by saying I look forward to opportunities to work
with Colleen and her company in the future. Until then, I will continue to thoroughly,
whole-heartedly and without a single reservation, recommend Colleen for any endeavor she
sees fit to pursue. You will be nothing but pleased with the value that Colleen brings to the
table.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you need any additional information.
~~:~·
KeviU
General Counsel,
SVP of Corporate Development &Strategy
Genting Americas Inc.