Six Continents Hotels, Inc., one of the world’s leading hotel companies, announced today that Chris Ward has been named vice president of strategy and a member of the Americas’ management committee. In this role, Ward will have responsibility for developing and implementing the company’s regional five-year plan. He will also be responsible for supporting Six Continents Hotels` global strategic initiatives. Ward will be based in Atlanta and will report directly to Karim Naffah, strategy director, Six Continents PLC.

Chris’s experience combines a solid background in the areas of acquisitions, integration, distribution strategies, market entry strategies and e-commerce,” said John Sweetwood, president, The Americas, Six Continents Hotels. “His experience working globally and within the Americas will be a strong asset to the company.”

Prior to joining Six Continents Hotels, Ward was a consultant for six years at the Boston Consulting Group. There he was responsible for providing a range of professional services—such as industry analyses, business performance evaluations and market-entry strategies—to help businesses create and sustain competitive advantage. Before his tenure at the Boston Consulting Group, Ward served as associate director of marketing for Pacvest Capital Thailand, where, among his range of responsibilities, he prepared feasibility studies, negotiated contracts and created strategic business plans to support the launch of new companies in Southeast Asia. Previous to this position, he helped locate, evaluate and execute investments for start-up businesses in Asia as an investment/business development analyst for Infomatrix Company.

Ward has a bachelor’s degree in politics from Princeton University and a master of business administration degree from the University of Virginia.

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