
Aron Libinson, Steve Terry, and Michael Cooper are appointed
Aron Libinson joins as associate vice president of development for Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States, based in Moscow. Steve Terry joins as development director for UK and Ireland, based at IHG's head office in England, and Michael Cooper moves to Cape Town to take up a newly created role as vice president of development for Sub-Saharan Africa.Cooper takes on responsibility for IHG's expansion in Sub-Saharan Africa. Prior to moving to Africa, Cooper spent five years with IHG in Moscow, where he had responsibility for growth across Russia and the CIS. During this period, IHG signed 15 hotels, including five in St. Petersburg, and the largest Holiday Inn hotel in the world, with 1,000 guestrooms, due to open in 2014 in the Crocus City development in Moscow. Cooper originally joined IHG in 1998.Libinson was previously head of real estate and a board member at OJSC Hotel Co., a joint venture between the city of Moscow and a property fund. Libinson handled the asset management strategy for the company, including managing a portfolio of 11 hotels with more than 5,000 guestrooms. Prior to this, Libinson was head of hotel real estate development for Premier Hotels in Ukraine.Terry will report to Richard Arman, with responsibility for growing Crowne Plaza, the Holiday Inn brand family, Hotel Indigo and Staybridge Suites in the UK and Ireland. He was most recently senior development director at Wyndham Hotel Group and previously on the board of BDL Hotels, which owns several hotels from the IHG family of brands. Terry first moved into the hotel sector when he joined IHG—then Holiday Inn Worldwide—in 1995.Cooper takes on responsibility for IHG's expansion in Sub-Saharan Africa. Prior to moving to Africa, Cooper spent five years with IHG in Moscow, where he had responsibility for growth across Russia and the CIS. During this period, IHG signed 15 hotels, including five in St. Petersburg, and the largest Holiday Inn hotel in the world, with 1,000 guestrooms, due to open in 2014 in the Crocus City development in Moscow. Cooper originally joined IHG in 1998.