Hospitality Exec Welcomes Shot at Space

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The discerning traveler should always be exploring new frontiers, insists René Gross Kaerskov, co-chief executive of Hirsch Bedner Associates, an international hospitality design firm in Santa Monica.

He has scaled Mount Kilimanjaro and is training for a marathon on all seven continents as well as planning climbs on the world’s tallest volcanoes. He is also one of the early people who signed up, in 2006, to blast off as one of Virgin Galactic’s first passengers into space.

“One day, I read an article where Richard Branson said every country should have an astronaut,” said Gross Kaerskov, 49. “Being from Denmark, I checked to see if my country had one. It turns out it didn’t, so I signed up.”

Kaerskov, who’s avidly following news leading up to Virgin Galactic’s maiden voyage, predicts he will shoot for the stars late next year. He has already done four training flights, where he experienced a dozen instances of zero gravity lasting 15 to 30 seconds. Even with the prep, Gross Kaerskov believes nothing will compare to the actual zero gravity on the Virgin Galactic flight.

He hopes his employees will be inspired by his passion for travel.

“There is an old saying that the more someone travels, the more interesting he becomes,” he said. “Because we design properties with a specific sense of place, I encourage my employees, especially the younger people, to see, learn and travel as much as possible because it will help them better serve our hotel clients and make their guests’ experiences richer.”

Resume Builder

James Castro leads the corporate development team at Access Integrated Healthcare in Glendale and has 15 years of experience in financing and banking.

But ask him about his investments and he’ll say among his most valuable have been in inner-city communities.

As a volunteer with UCLA’s Academic Advancement Program, he edits essays and resumes for low-income students who are applying to college.

“I think a resume is a way to tell a story,” he said. “I spent so much time understanding their stories.”

One of his recent students was kicked out of high school in Missouri after getting in trouble with the law. The youth is from a troubled neighborhood; his stepfather is in jail for abusing his mother and mentally ill sister.

But Castro, 39, could quickly sense the boy’s talent while speaking with him on the phone. Castro spent hours begging school officials to give the student another chance. It worked.

Thanks to his petition, the boy got back to school, graduated and moved to Los Angeles to be an Access Integrated intern.

He learned about financing and banking, and with Castro’s help applied to the nation’s best schools, Yale and Stanford among them.

“What I learned is that direction and guidance go a very long way,” Castro said. “So I’ll keep investing in it.”

Staff reporters Elyse Glickman and Olga Grigoryants contributed to this column. Page 3 is compiled by Editor Charles Crumpley. He can be reached at [email protected].

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