Starwood Hotels CEO Van Paasschen Resigns, Names Director Adam Aron Interim CEO

(RTTNews) - Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (HOT) announced Tuesday that President, CEO and Director Frits van Paasschen has resigned from the positions by mutual agreement with the board after serving at the helm since 2007. However, van Paasschen has agreed to continue with Starwood as a consultant to assist in the smooth transition.

The company has named Adam Aron, a director since 2006, as the interim CEO, while the board conducts a search for a permanent CEO that would include both internal and external candidates.

"Frits has made many important contributions over the past seven years to Starwood's successful evolution into a global company with leading lifestyle brands that possess distinct competitive advantages. He's put innovation and technology leadership at the forefront, while building a culture of collaboration across a dynamic organization," Chairman Bruce Duncan said in a statement.

Van Paasschen has been president and CEO of the company since September 2007. He joined the company after serving from March 2005 until September 2007 as president and CEO of Molson Coors Brewing Co.'s largest division, Coors Brewing Co.

Prior to joining Coors, Van Paasschen worked independently through FPaasschen Consulting, a consulting company, and Mercator Investments, a private equity firm, evaluating, proposing, and negotiating private equity transactions from April 2004 until March 2005. Earlier, he spent seven years at Nike, Inc. (NKE).

"We are fortunate to have on our Board a talented and experienced business builder in Adam Aron who is prepared to step into the CEO position on an interim basis. Adam has been a Starwood director for nearly a decade and has deep hospitality industry experience as former CEO of both Vail Resorts and Norwegian Cruise Line," Duncan added.

Aron has been a director of Starwood since 2006, serving at various times on the audit committee, capital committee, corporate governance and nominating committee, and compensation and option committee which he chaired.

The resignation comes just a week after the company announced a strategic plan to spin-off its vacation ownership business, Starwood Vacation Ownership or SVO, into a separate publicly traded company. The spin-off is expected to accelerate Starwood's ongoing 'Asset Light' transformation, and create a new pure-play vacation ownership company.

HOT closed Friday's regular trading session at $76.55, up $0.44 on a volume of 2.20 million shares.