BUSINESS BOARD CHANGES

Hart new hilton president…

In the middle of January Hilton Hotels announced that its co-chairman/CEO, Stephen Bollenbach, will step down from the role of CEO at the end of the year and will further step down from the co-chairmanship at the end of 2010. Bollenbach, 64, started his career at Victory Savings & Loans in 1962 before moving to DK Ludwig where he eventually became VP/CFO in 1973. In 1980 he joined his first hotel firm, what is now Host Hotels & Resorts, was CFO of the Trump Organisation from 1990 to 1992 and of Walt Disney between 1995 and 1996. He was president/CEO of Host Hotels from 1993 to 1995 and was appointed to the same position at Hilton Hotels in 1996 and became co-chairman/CEO in 2004. Among his many other board appointments was the independent chairmanship of Caesars Entertainment and directorships of America West, Guess, Ladbrokes and Kmart Holding Corp. His is currently also a director of Harrahs Entertainment and Time Warner.Hilton Hotels also announced the appointment of Matthew Hart, 56, to the board as president/COO. Hart first joined the firm in 1996 from Marriott Corp as senior VP of finance, having served in similar capacities at Host Hotels and Walt Disney and having started his career at Bankers Trust. He is also a director of US Airways and Kilroy Realty.This month also saw the announcement that Indra Nooyi is to become chairwoman/ president/CEO of PepsiCo following the announced departure of Steven Reinemund as chairman at the beginning of May. 

Finally, Sports Cafe announced that William Balkou had stepped down from the position of CEO to become executive director responsible for development and would be replaced by Peter Marks. This is the first board change since Paul Wright replaced Rodger Sargent as finance director at the beginning of 2005.

© db March 2007