IHG announces changes to its development team for the Americas

IHG Hotels & Resorts (IHG), one of the world's leading hotel companies, today announced several changes to its Americas Development leadership team. The introduction of new key team members follows the June 2022 retirement of Americas Head of Development, Joel Eisemann, and the subsequent appointment of Julienne Smith, previously Vice President of Development, to the role.

With more than 4,200 hotels in the United States, Canada and MLAC (Mexico, Latin America and the Caribbean), IHG's presence in the Americas represents more than 70 percent of its global portfolio. The moves in the Americas Development leadership team are intended to drive continued growth and the addition of new properties to the IHG portfolio by current and future owners.

Effective immediately, IHG Americas' restructured development leadership team includes the following executives:

• Matt Frankiewicz has taken over from former Senior Vice President of Development Smith, after previously serving as Vice President of Transactions and Asset Management for the Americas. In this role, Matt will oversee the advancement and growth of IHG's luxury, lifestyle and premium brands in the United States and Canada, and will continue to lead the development and owner support team for all IHG brands. region. Frankiewicz joined IHG in 2017 after holding various leadership positions during his more than two decades at White Lodging Services and Hyatt Hotels Corporation.
   
• Tiffany Cooper has joined the Americas Development leadership team in a prominent role as Senior Vice President and Head of Development for North America and the Caribbean with IHG's Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants Group brand. A hospitality veteran who began her career at a Kimpton hotel more than 25 years ago, Cooper has driven the brand's regional growth for the past four years and will continue to leverage the collaborative resources of the Americas development team to expand the wallet and imprint of Kimpton.
   
• Kevin Schramm will continue to serve as senior vice president of development for IHG's Essentials and Suites brands in the United States and Canada. During his more than 20 years of development leadership experience, including a decade at IHG, Schramm has overseen the teams responsible for a large portion of his organization's annual signings.
   
• Paul Adan joins IHG as Senior Regional Vice President of MLAC, drawing on his experience as General Manager for Latin America and the Caribbean at Radisson Hotel Group Americas and Regional Vice President at Marriott International. Backed by more than 25 years of development and operations experience, Adan will lead MLAC's regional development team, leveraging his strong track record of brand growth and success managing franchise deals to identify and pursue new opportunities.

Additionally, IHG has made the following key changes to the regional development team:

• Mike Wernet will take over from Frankiewicz's former Vice President of Development and Owner Support. Prior to joining IHG, Wernet managed a substantial portion of JLL's diverse hotel portfolio and spearheaded the development of the organization's North American business intelligence platform. His 25+ years of hospitality experience also includes stints at RLJ and White Lodging, where he managed over $10MM in hotel investments and led business planning at the enterprise level.
   
• Scott Duff has joined IHG as the new vice president of development for Canada. With more than three decades of development, branding and estate brokerage experience across the Canadian hospitality ecosystem, Duff will oversee the strategic development and growth of IHG's luxury, lifestyle and premium brands, in parallel with overall responsibility of its essential product brands and suites.

Julienne Smith, Chief Development Officer for the Americas at IHG commented, "I am excited about the strong potential of our Americas Development leadership team to capitalize on future growth opportunities and build on our recent momentum as we work to grow with owners." existing and new. My team members have a significant breadth and depth of experience and proven abilities to connect with owners and developers throughout their respective careers. Under this new leadership, I am confident that our best-in-class teams will continue to strengthen to IHG and driving significant change within our industry.

Changes to the Americas Development leadership team provide continuity to a strong start to the year that saw IHG sign 108 hotels across the Americas region representing nearly 11,500 rooms in the first half of 2022. During the same period Over time, IHG has opened 42 hotels and added more than 4,300 rooms to its total regional count.