All the President’s Men (and Women) at Marriott Asia-Pacific Excluding China
From left, Christina Chan, Oriol Montal and Karen Kim
8 August 2023
Marriott International has beefed up its organization structure in Asia-Pacific excluding China through a mix of promotions and new roles dedicated to the region that were previously covered by leveraging shared resources across several functions.
Promotions include Christina Chan to chief financial officer overseeing finance operations, asset management, compliance and owner relations. Chan was previously senior vice president finance. Other promotions include Andrew Newmark as chief human resources officer, from vice president human resources, and John Toomey as chief sales and marketing officer, from vice president sales and marketing.
Following an earlier global appointment of Tina Edmundson as president for luxury of Marriott International, a managing director for luxury for Asia-Pacific excluding China, Oriol Montal, has been named. It reflects the chain’s aim to further grow its luxury brands, which include Ritz-Carlton, Bvlgari, St Regis, Edition, Luxury Collection, JW Marriott and W Hotels, in the region.
Marriott Asia-Pacific excluding China also now boasts a dedicated vice president of global design, Karen Kim, who leads the global design team and project management for the region and oversee new hotel openings and renovations of operating hotels.
“Asia-Pacific remains a strategic market for the company, representing tremendous growth potential and exciting opportunities for the business,” said Rajeev Menon, Marriott International president Asia-Pacific excluding China. “I am confident that our new organizational structure positions us well for the next chapter of growth in the region.”
Shawn Hill heads development as chief development officer since January last year, while Karin Trantallis continues her role as chief legal counsel and Neeraj Govil as senior vice president operations.
In March, Marriott opened its 1,000th hotel in Asia-Pacific (including China), the Ritz-Carlton Melbourne, and expects to open roughly two hotels per week, or an addition of 100 hotels, in Asia-Pacific and China this year. Key markets include Australia, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand, Singapore, China and India.
In an earlier interview with Hotels-Asia, Menon described its spread of offices throughout Asia-Pacific excluding China as a competitive edge as it enables the company to build local talent and in-market expertise and be “hyper-localized.”
Marriott’s presence in the region will continue to be led by area vice presidents Ranju Alex, South Asia; Jakob Helgen, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar; Karl Hudson, Japan & Guam; Sean Hunt, Australia, New Zealand and Pacific; Ramesh Jackson, Indonesia & Malaysia; Duke Nam, Korea & Philippines; and Gautam Bhandari, senior vice president, hotel development & market vice president, Singapore & Maldives (premium and select hotels).
Separately, Accor is also beefing up its Asia-Pacific leadership talent, which sees several senior executives who once worked with the group rejoining the chain, including Wayne Buckingham, vice president realty and asset management based in Australia, and Tony Chisholm, vice president food & beverage, Middle East & Asia, premium, midscale, economy hotels and resorts based in Singapore.