Ritz Trades Jims At Sales Post

<H1>Ritz Trades Jims At Sales Post</H1><I>Atlanta </I>- The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co. has named James Schultenover vice president of sales and marketing, a post held by Jim DiChiara for the past 11 years.

Schultenover, a five-year Omni sales and marketing executive who left amidst the chain's change of ownership earlier this year, also has held several positions with Marriott Hotels, including vice president of group development. While with Omni, the Wisconsin native oversaw the business travel, group and association markets; central reservations; public relations, advertising and marketing; as well as the Select Guest recognition program.

DiChiara's focus on quality management lead the 31-property chain to become the only hotel company to win the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in 1992.

"Historically, the Ritz-Carlton company has been good at sales and marketing," said Mark Woodworth, executive vice president of PKF Consulting, Atlanta. "And Marriott also has been really good at that, partly because they tend to have good people playing that role for them, so I would expect to see more of the same."

Marriott, which currently owns a 49 percent stake in The Ritz-Carlton Co., probably will eventually purchase a controlling interest-or the whole company, industry sources said.