Choice Hotels International in May is bringing in longtime Marriott executive Stephen Joyce to work under and eventually succeed its CEO of 10 years, Chuck Ledsinger.
Effective May 1, Joyce, 48, becomes president and chief operating officer at Choice, which operates such midprice brands as Comfort Inn, Quality Inn and Clarion. Joyce will work alongside Ledsinger and take over as CEO in October, and Ledsinger will stay on as Choice's vice chairman.
"The great thing about this transition is that I get to spend a lot of time with Chuck and get guidance on what makes this company click," Joyce said. "I'll work with him closely over the next six months and get a fair amount of mentoring."
Though this will be his first chief executive position, Joyce is no stranger to the hotel industry, having worked with Marriott for 25 years, most recently as executive vice president of global development and owner and franchise services. He began at Marriott working in corporate internal audit and operational consulting, and also has held positions in finance, franchising, operations and development.
"After conducting a comprehensive, deliberate and thoughtful search, we ultimately found what we were looking for in Steve Joyce," Ledsinger said. "I am confident that Steve has the operational acumen and strategic vision to lead Choice to the next level of its journey."
Under Ledsinger's leadership, Choice saw the greatest level of growth in its history, said board chairman Stewart Bainum Jr. Business Travel News' 2007 Business Travel Survey showed Choice was the second-largest hotel company in terms of number of hotels and sixth-largest in terms of number of rooms
(BTNonline, June 25, 2007).Joyce said he intended to continue that growth pattern. "The platform that's been built is what really attracted me to come to Choice in the first place," he said. "They're in a terrific position today. I'm going to take what Chuck has done, execute that and build on that. Most of what they're doing is working, so my goal is to make that even bigger."