Wyndham Worldwide Announces Spin-Off Hotel Company Executive Leadership Team

PARSIPPANY, N.J., Aug. 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Wyndham Worldwide (NYSE: WYN) today announced executive leadership appointments for the new, publicly traded pure-play hotel company to be created by the recently announced 2018 spin-off from Wyndham Worldwide.

With 18 brands and over 8,100 hotels, Wyndham's hotel business is the world's largest hotel company by number of properties.  It is home to an industry-leading loyalty program with more than 50 million members, and is emerging from a three-year strategic focus on improved brand quality, distribution technology, and brand marketing. Anchored by iconic hotel brands including Days Inn and Super 8, the future asset-light, fee-for-service hotel company is poised to build on its leading position in the economy and midscale segments, while growing its upscale portfolio and management business.   

As previously announced, Geoff Ballotti, current CEO of Wyndham Hotel Group, will continue to lead the hotel company as President and CEO.  Also recently announced, David Wyshner has joined Wyndham Worldwide as CFO and will become CFO of the new hotel company upon spin. 

The following new appointments were announced today:

• Chief Strategy and Development Officer: Tom Barber, currently Senior Vice President, M&A and Operational Excellence at Wyndham Worldwide.
• General Counsel: Paul Cash, currently Executive Vice President and General Counsel at Wyndham Destination Network. Cash will assume this role at the end of 2017.
• Chief Administrative Officer: Mary Falvey, currently Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer at Wyndham Worldwide.  Falvey will assume this role immediately in addition to her current role at Wyndham Worldwide.
• Chief Marketing Officer: Barry Goldstein, currently Chief Marketing Officer at Wyndham Hotel Group.
• Chief Operating Officer: Bob Loewen, currently Chief Operating Officer of Wyndham Hotel Group.

"This proven and experienced leadership team of industry veterans is perfectly suited to move this business forward as a standalone leader in hospitality, with an incredible global portfolio, a strong and resilient asset-light business model, strong cash flow, and a growing pipeline," said Ballotti. "Each of our leaders brings a unique perspective and background that together creates a powerful combination of public company and hospitality industry expertise as we look ahead to growing our collection of brands and driving lasting value for shareholders."

On August 2, 2017, Wyndham Worldwide announced plans to spin off the company's hotel business, resulting in two separate, publicly traded companies.  Wyndham Hotel Group, with headquarters in Parsippany, NJ, will become a new, publicly traded pure-play hotel company with a portfolio of renowned brands.  The other publicly traded company will include Wyndham Vacation Ownership, with headquarters in Orlando, Florida, the world's largest publicly traded timeshare company and Wyndham Destination Network, home to RCI, the world's largest timeshare exchange company. The corporate names of the post-spin public companies have not yet been decided. 

The two public companies intend to enter into long-term exclusive license agreements to retain their affiliation with one of the industry's top rated loyalty programs, Wyndham Rewards, as well as continued collaboration on key inventory sharing and customer cross-sell initiatives. 

BIOGRAPHIES

Tom Barber has served as Senior Vice President, M&A and Operational Excellence at Wyndham Worldwide, since 2012.  Prior to joining Wyndham, he served as Director, Mergers & Acquisitions at Credit Suisse Securities, where he was involved in more than $20 billion in transactions across most industry sectors.  Prior to joining Credit Suisse Securities, he served as Manager, Strategy Consulting at Gemini Consulting and as a business development and product manager at Microsoft Corporation. 

Paul Cash has served as Executive Vice President and General Counsel for Wyndham Destination Network since 2010 and with the Company since 2005. Prior, Cash was a partner in the Mergers and Acquisitions, International and Entertainment and New Media practice groups of Alston + Bird LLP, New York, N.Y., where he worked extensively in the negotiation and documentation of domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, venture capital investments and intellectual property licenses. Previously, Cash was an associate at Pünder, Volhard, Weber & Axster in Germany.

Mary Falvey is Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer at Wyndham Worldwide, where she leads a wide range of human resources and corporate operations functions across the global enterprise, including human resources, communications, corporate real estate and facility operations, security, corporate social responsibility, and event management. Prior, Falvey served in several senior leadership positions at Cendant Corporation, including Executive Vice President of Global Human Resources for RCI and Vice President of Human Resources for the hotel division.  Earlier in her career, she held various human resources positions at Nabisco. 

Barry Goldstein was named Chief Marketing Officer of Wyndham Hotel Group in March 2017.  Goldstein was previously Chief Digital and Distribution Officer for Wyndham Hotel Group, supporting the company's digital marketing strategies. Prior to joining Wyndham, Goldstein was Chief Revenue Officer for Dolce Hotels and Resorts (later acquired by Wyndham Hotel Group) and Vice President, Global Sales Strategy, Technology and Operations, at Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide.

Bob Loewen is Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for Wyndham Hotel Group. Previously, Loewen was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Wyndham Hotel Group, responsible for financial reporting, forecasting and planning, mergers and acquisitions and business development investments.  He joined the company in April 2000 as Director, Corporate Audit.  Prior to Wyndham, he served as division controller for Becton Dickinson Healthcare Consulting.

David Wyshner is Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Wyndham Worldwide. He was most recently President and CFO of Avis Budget Group, the global vehicle rental service provider, and served as Avis Budget's CFO for more than ten years. Prior to that, Wyshner served as Executive Vice President and Treasurer of Cendant Corporation, a global diversified services company with approximately $20 billion in annual revenues, where Wyshner led the execution of that company's separation into three publicly traded companies.

ABOUT WYNDHAM WORLDWIDE
Wyndham Worldwide (NYSE: WYN) is one of the largest global hospitality companies, providing travelers with access to a collection of trusted hospitality brands in hotels, vacation ownership, and unique accommodations including vacation exchange, holiday parks, and managed home rentals. With a collective inventory of nearly 130,000 places to stay across more than 110 countries on six continents, Wyndham Worldwide and its 38,000 associates welcomes people to experience travel the way they want. This is enhanced by Wyndham Rewards®, the Company's re-imagined guest loyalty program across its businesses, which is making it simpler for members to earn more rewards and redeem their points faster. For more information, please visit www.wyndhamworldwide.com.

ABOUT WYNDHAM HOTEL GROUP
Wyndham Hotel Group, hotel giant with an unmatched global presence, is one of three hospitality business units of Wyndham Worldwide (NYSE: WYN). Driving the democratization of travel, Wyndham Hotel Group is elevating the experience of the everyday traveler, changing the game so every traveler – no matter how much they spend or how they like to travel – has an extraordinary experience. As both a leading hotel brand franchisor and hotel management services provider, the company's global portfolio consists of more than 8,100 hotels and over 705,700 rooms in 79 countries under the following brands: Dolce Hotels and Resorts®, Wyndham Grand®, Dazzler® Hotels, Esplendor® Boutique Hotels, Wyndham Hotels and Resorts®, Wyndham Garden® Hotels, TRYP by Wyndham®, The Trademark Hotel Collection, Wingate by Wyndham®, Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham®, Microtel Inn & Suites by Wyndham®, Ramada®, Baymont Inn & Suites®, Days Inn®, Super 8®, Howard Johnson®, Travelodge®, The Trademark Hotel Collection®, and Knights Inn®. Wyndham Rewards, ranked number one hotel rewards program for 2016-2017 by U.S. News & World Report, offers more than 50 million members the opportunity to earn and redeem points at more than 25,000 hotels, condos and homes globally. For more information, visit www.wyndhamworldwide.com.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements are those that convey management's expectations as to the future based on plans, estimates and projections at the time Wyndham Worldwide makes the statements and may be identified by terminology such as "will," "expect," believe," "plan," "anticipate," "goal," "future," "outlook," guidance," "target," "estimate" and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Wyndham Worldwide or the post-spin companies to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release include statements related to the Wyndham Worldwide's current views and expectations with respect to the spin off and related transactions, as well as the post-spin companies' future operating, financial and business performance.

You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements include general economic conditions, the performance of the financial and credit markets, the economic environment for the hospitality industry, the impact of war, terrorist activity or political strife, operating risks associated with the hotel, vacation exchange and rentals and vacation ownership businesses, uncertainties that may delay or negatively impact the spin off or cause the spin off to not occur at all, uncertainties related to the post-spin companies' ability to realize the anticipated benefits of the spin off, uncertainties related to Wyndham Worldwide's ability to successfully complete the spin off on a tax-free basis within the expected time frame or at all, unanticipated developments that delay or otherwise negatively affect the spin off, uncertainties related to Wyndham Worldwide's ability to obtain financing for the two companies or the terms of such financing, unanticipated developments related to the impact of the spin off on our relationships with our customers, suppliers, employees and others with whom we have relationships, unanticipated developments resulting from possible disruption to our operations resulting from the proposed spin-off, the potential impact of the spin-off and related transactions on Wyndham Worldwide's credit rating, uncertainties relating to Wyndham Worldwide's exploration of strategic alternatives for its European rentals brands and the outcome and timing of that process, as well as those factors described in Wyndham Worldwide's Annual Report on Form 10-K, filed with the SEC on February 17, 2017, and in Wyndham Worldwide's subsequently filed Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K. Except for Wyndham Worldwide's ongoing obligations to disclose material information under the federal securities laws, it undertakes no obligation to release publicly any revisions to any forward-looking statements, to report events or to report the occurrence of unanticipated events.

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SOURCE Wyndham Worldwide