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Newsmaker: Hilton Taps Top Talent
October 05, 2009
By Michael B. Baker
Hilton Worldwide in late September announced that John Vanderslice, a former Club Med CEO, had joined the company to lead development of its luxury and lifestyle brands.
Earlier last month, Hilton also welcomed a new senior vice president of global brands and commercial services: former Walt Disney Co. executive Kenneth Svendsen, who now heads Hilton's worldwide group, corporate and leisure sales as well as third-party distribution, voice reservations and customer care.
Both Svendsen and Vanderslice report to Hilton president of global brands and commercial services Paul Brown.
Svendsen, a Denmark native, comes to Hilton following several travel-related roles at Disney, most recently as senior vice president of worldwide travel operations and consumer direct sales for Disney Destinations. He previously worked with vacation program development and sales for Disney's tour companies and served as vice president of worldwide travel operations and in-market sales for the Disneyland Resort.
Besides Disney, Svendsen also served in executive sales positions at the U.K.-based Airtours Holidays, Sunquest and Suntrips Holidays and the Danish travel agency Tjaereborg. Brown said Svendsen's "vast global experience and past successes in our industry will serve to further energize our industry-leading sales and customer care platforms, helping deliver continued growth opportunities for our brands."
Vanderslice, now global head of luxury and lifestyle brands, comes to Hilton from Miraval Spa in Tucson, Ariz., where he was CEO.
Prior to his work at Miraval, Vanderslice served as president and CEO of Club Med Americas, leading North and South American operations for more than 100 leisure resorts in 30 countries. While at Club Med, Vanderslice repositioned the resorts as upscale destinations and integrated corporate marketing, commercial activities, finance and operations.
Vanderslice also has worked in executive and leadership roles outside of the hospitality industry, including positions at Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Triarc Restaurant Group--owner of the Arby's and T.J. Cinnamons brands--and Kraft General Foods. Brown said Vanderslice's experience shows "a proven track record of successfully growing existing brands and introducing exciting new products to the marketplace."
Hilton's luxury portfolio includes the Waldorf Astoria Collection. The company earlier this year also announced the launch of a new luxury lifestyle brand, Denizen, but subsequently had to suspend development because of a pending lawsuit from rival Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, alleging that two former executives had stolen proprietary information to speed development of the brand.
"We are committed to launching a brand in the lifestyle space," Brown said in a statement, "but what that brand is obviously is to be determined at this point."
The appointments come at the tail end of a summer of changes for Hilton. The company recently completed moving its headquarters from Beverly Hills, Calif., to Tysons Corner, Va. Hilton subsequently changed its name from Hilton Hotels Corp. to Hilton Worldwide to better reflect the company's global footprint.
— Nielsen Business Media
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