Paul Kirwin, who has been the president of Carlson Hotels' Asia/Pacific operations since the division's creation five years ago, has been appointed president of operations in the Americas. Kirwin also has specifically worked with several of Carlson's brands, including 13 years—five of those as president—with midprice Country Inns & Suites and as manager of some Radisson Hotels & Resorts properties. Prior to working with Carlson, Kirwin worked in operations positions for Hyatt Hotels & Resorts. Kirwin takes his new role from Yvonne LePenotiere, who has become Carlson Hotels' first chief branding officer in one of several structural changes Carlson Hotels has made to its business development teams.
Nancy Johnson, who is executive vice president of franchised operations for full-service hotels, now will oversee franchise development for all Carlson Hotels brands. On the owned and managed hotels side, meanwhile, the company promoted Wendy Nelson, who had been handling asset management and project analysis for the company, to executive vice president of Carlson Hotels Real Estate Co., giving her an additional role in architectural design.
The restructuring reflects Carlson Hotels' strategy to grow its owned and managed portfolio, according to the company. As of Business Travel News'
2007 Business Travel Survey, more than 95 percent of Carlson Hotels' properties were franchised.
Besides Country Inns & Suites and Radisson, Carlson also owns the Regent Hotels & Resorts, Park Plaza Hotels & Resorts and Park Inn brands. In total, Carlson Hotels has 964 locations in 70 countries worldwide.