by Donald Wood
Last updated: 9:35 AM ET, Wed February 21, 2024
WHY IT RATES: The hotel
giant is reworking its leadership structure to improve the customer experience
and efficiency of the business.—Donald Wood, Breaking News Senior Writer.
As a result of strong growth in the Americas region, Hyatt
today announced new senior leadership appointments in the Americas region and
subregional structure designed to further support Hyatt’s continued focus on
growth, operational excellence and performance optimization within its largest
region.
With this new organizational structure, Hyatt’s Americas
region is now comprised of two subregions: U.S. & Canada and Latin America
& the Caribbean (LAC), led by two newly appointed subregional presidents,
respectively: Susan Santiago and Gabriel Felip who both report to Pete Sears,
Group President, Americas, effective January 2024.
In her new role as President, U.S. & Canada, Santiago is
responsible for the growth and performance optimization of Hyatt’s owned and
managed portfolio. She is in her 32nd year with Hyatt and has held numerous
positions leading operational performance, most recently as Senior Vice
President of Hyatt’s Lifestyle Division and Miraval brand.
As President, Latin America & Caribbean, Felip leads
operational performance for all managed and owned Hyatt hotels in the region
across all brands, including Hyatt’s
Inclusive Collection. Felip is an industry veteran with more than 30 years
of hospitality and tourism experience and previously served as Hyatt’s Group
President of Inclusive Collection Global Operations.
"Our new Americas structure enables us to further
support our hotel teams and owners in more customized, regionalized ways – and
this is designed to help us continue driving strong results through intentional
and sustainable growth for the region,” said Sears. “With these changes, we
continue our momentum in positioning Hyatt as the preferred hospitality brand,
delivering meaningful and memorable experiences for guests and driving results
for our owners."
Included in the Americas’ new subregional structure are
three newly created roles within the operations, commercial services and
finance functions, respectively: Yvette Martinez-Edwards has been promoted to
Senior Vice President, Field Operations, Luxury & Miraval, reporting to
Santiago, Shyla Gardner re-joins Hyatt as Vice President, Commercial Services,
Latin America & the Caribbean, reporting to Asad Ahmed, Senior Vice
President, Commercial Services, Americas, and Juan Pablo Puerta now serves as
Senior Vice President, Finance, Latin America & the Caribbean, reporting to
Liz Bauer, Senior Vice President, Finance, Americas.
With a dedicated focus on driving operational excellence
within Hyatt’s luxury brands, Martinez-Edwards oversees Hyatt’s managed luxury
and Miraval hotel portfolio for the Americas region. Most recently,
Martinez-Edwards served as Vice President of Field Operations where she led a
group of full-service Timeless Collection properties in the East region. She
also previously led Hyatt’s sales strategy in Latin America & the
Caribbean, and for the Miraval brand.
Gardner leads a cross-functional LAC Commercial Services
team that provides a specialized commercial strategy for the LAC market and
further develops strong brand stories that embrace Hyatt’s culture and key
differentiators for Hyatt’s full LAC portfolio, including the Inclusive
Collection. Prior to this role, Gardner acted as Vice President of Sales &
Marketing for Playa Resorts and previously served as an Area Director of Sales
and Marketing in Mexico for Hyatt.
To further support Hyatt’s intentional long-term growth
strategy, Puerta is responsible for leading the finance function and driving
property performance optimization throughout Latin America & the Caribbean.
Puerta also continues to lead the function for Hyatt’s Inclusive Collection in
the region. Prior to this role, Puerta served as the CFO of Apple Leisure
Group.
SOURCE: Hyatt Hotels
Corporation press release.
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