Paul Salmon is the chairman & CEO of the award-winning Rockhouse Hotel and its sister property Skylark Negril Beach Resort, two boutique hotels in Negril.

A native of Melbourne, Australia, Salmon moved to New York City in 1991 to work in the finance industry, transitioning into hospitality in 1994 when he and his partners bought the Rockhouse Hotel.

Salmon is also the managing partner at Miss Lily’s (the beloved Caribbean restaurant with locations in NYC, Negril and Dubai).

With 30 years of experience in the industry, Salmon is a thought leader in the practice of sustainable tourism, committed to best practices for how a foreign hotel operator can do so responsibly in a developing country: investing in the staff, in the guest experience, in the environment, and in the community. This philosophy is reflected in Rockhouse’s commitment to its long-term team, upholding environmental sustainability practices (both properties are members of Regenerative Travel) and positively impacting the local education system through the work of the Rockhouse Foundation, the charitable arm of Rockhouse and Skylark, which Paul co-founded in 2003 and has served as chairman since its inception.

The mission of the Rockhouse Foundation is to transform the spaces where Jamaica’s children learn, and support the great people who teach them. To date the Foundation has invested US$8m in the development of six local schools and the Negril Public Library. The current primary initiative focuses on the Sav Inclusive School in Westmoreland. Built from the ground up by the Foundation, it serves children with and without disabilities in a full inclusion setting. The Foundation has partnered with the Ministry of Education in committing to build out the school through high school, adding a grade each year for the next decade.

Salmon’s Guest Chef Dinner Series was conceptualised to support the Rockhouse Foundation, and Jamaica’s Rockhouse Hotel and Skylark Negril Beach Resort are the proud hosts of a biannual guest chef dinner series at Miss Lily’s Negril, located on the Seven Mile Beach at Skylark. The series welcomes award-winning chefs to cook a beachfront dinner alongside Miss Lily’s Culinary Director Chef Andre Fowles, with all proceeds from each event benefiting the Rockhouse Foundation. Past guest chef events have featured James Beard Award winners Mashama Bailey, Marcus Samuelsson and Nina Compton.