Coors Chief Van Paasschen leaves for Starwood Hotels
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, parent of the St. Regis, Westin and Sheraton chains, has hired former Coors Brewing Company head Frits van Paasschen as Chief Executive, succeeding interim CEO Bruce Duncan.
‘These boots are made for walking’. At Molson Coors they should borne that verse from a popular song in mind when they wooed Van Paasschen away from Nike two years ago. Apparently the ex-Nike executive Van Paasschen, 46, frequently feels the urge of ‘wanderlust’. From running shoes to beer and now to hotel beds: Van Paasschen assumed his new job on 24 September 2007. He was chief executive of Coors Brewing Company, the largest division of Molson Coors Brewing Co, and before joining Coors in 2005, Van Paasschen spent seven years at Nike Inc where he was responsible for its Europe, Middle East and Africa unit.
Mr Duncan has served as interim CEO since April and will continue as Starwood’s chairman, the company said in a statement. Duncan replaced Steven Heyer, who resigned more than a year before his contract was to expire after losing the board’s confidence.
Mr Heyer, the former chief operating officer of Coca-Cola, who reportedly left Coca-Cola because he was not promoted to a more senior post, had been with Starwood since 2004 and oversaw a 90 percent increase in the company’s share price. According to media reports, he was not paid severance when he left and forfeited all stock options and unvested restricted stock units.
Starwood claims that it has about 105,000 rooms, 70 percent of which are in what the company calls the upper upscale and luxury segments. Half of the backlog is outside North America, Starwood added. It plans to open 80 new properties this year and more than 100 in 2008.
