Intercon Group appoints new CEO
Friday 25 March 2011, 03:36AM
Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG), whose brands include Intercontinental, Holiday Inn, Indigo, and Crowne Plaza, recently confirmed that its CEO, Andrew Cosslett, will be stepping down and handing over to Richard Solomons on June 30.
Solomons, who is currently the company’s Chief Financial Officer and head of global development, has been an IHG board member since 2003.
IHG Chairman, David Webster praised Cosslett for his six years of service, and said that the company will be “extremely sorry to see him go.”
Webster also praised Solomons, saying that he was a worthy successor, and the board’s first choice. The 49-year-old has been with IHG since June 1992. He has also been Finance Director of UK soft drinks company Britvic and was its chairman ahead of its initial public offering (IPO) in 2006. He was appointed Finance Director of IHG in February 2003.
Starting as a chartered accountant with KPMG Peat Marwick in 1985, he also worked in the past in investment banking for seven years with Hill Samuel Bank Ltd, based in New York and London.
IHG gave no reason for Cosslett’s departure in its official statement, but said that the board “understand and respect his decision to leave”.
Coslett, 56, is also a board member of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) and a member of the President’s Council of the Confederation of British Industry.
A search is now underway by IHG to find a replacement CFO.
