
Starwood announced the retirements of the presidents of its hotel group and North America and Asia Pacific operations on Thursday.
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Stamford, Connecticut, said that Matt Avril (pictured above), president of the Hotel Group, Denise Coll, president of Starwood North America; and Miguel Ko, chairman and president of Starwood Asia Pacific are retiring. The company also announced organizational changes in light of the retirements.Avril has been president of the Hotel Group since 2008, supervising Starwood’s global hotel operations and sales function. Avril began his career with Starwood in 1989 through Vistana, Inc., the predecessor to Starwood Vacation Ownership. Ko has agreed to serve as Non-Executive Chairman of Starwood Asia Pacific for the next three years.Organizational changes, promotionsStarwood will realign its structure by combining its North America and Latin America operations together into the Americas. In 2011, Latin America was Starwood's fastest growing region in terms of both net rooms and RevPAR growth. Starwood will also elevate its leadership in China to reflect that country's great importance for Asia Pacific. As part of the organizational changes, the presidents of the Americas, Asia Pacific, and Europe, Africa and Middle East will now report directly to van Paasschen.Specific leadership appointments that are effective July 1, 2012 include the following:
- Sergio Rivera, currently President and CEO of Starwood Vacation Ownership, and a longtime member of Starwood's senior leadership team, has been promoted to co-president of Starwood Americas
- Osvaldo Librizzi, currently Starwood’ president of Latin America and a 37-year Starwood veteran, has been promoted to co-president of the Americas, alongside Rivera
- Stephen Ho, currently senior vice president of acquisitions and development for Starwood China, has been promoted to president of Asia Pacific
- Qian Jin, currently head of Starwood's operations for China, has been promoted to the title of president of Greater China
- Christie Hicks, senior vice president, Starwood Sales Organization, a 12-year Starwood veteran, will now report directly into Frits van Paasschen
- John Peyton, currently senior vice president of operations for Starwood North America, has been promoted to the new role of senior vice president of Global Initiatives
- Robert Hermany, currently senior vice president of operations, North America, has been promoted to replace Peyton in an expanded role of chief of North American operations and global initiatives