Frits van Paasschen has agreed to step down as CEO and president of Starwood Hotels & Resorts, the company announced Tuesday.
"We have come to the conclusion that now is the right time to turn to new leadership to drive execution of Starwood's growth strategy, improve performance and sharpen our focus on operational excellence," Starwood board chair Bruce Duncan said during a Tuesday conference call.
The board appointed board member Adam Aron interim CEO while it reviews candidates to fill the position permanently.
Aron since 2006 has served as a Starwood director while acting as CEO of World Leisure Partners, a leisure-related consultancy, and as a senior operating partner at Apollo Management L.P. Aron previously held CEO positions at Vail Resorts and Norwegian Cruise Lines.
Van Paasschen is the third major executive within the past year to resign from Starwood. Former CFO Vasant Prabhu left in early 2014, while Christie Hicks, vice president of Starwood's sales organization, last week announced her plans to step down after 15 years with the company.
Starwood last week released its fourth-quarter and full-year earnings, which showed improved occupancy and average daily rate across all brands but a nearly flat year-over-year net income.
"We can do better," Duncan said. "If you look at our net rooms growth that we've announced for 2015, we can do better. If you looked at the top-line revenue guidance and the EBITDA targets that we put up, we can do better. The reason that we are having this call today is that we want to put into place, into action, programs and activity that deliver improved results."
Van Paasschen has served as president and CEO for seven years. He will stay on as a consultant to assist Starwood during the transition, according to a company statement.
When asked during the conference call what kind of CEO candidate the board had in mind, executive vice president and CFO Tom Mangas said Starwood is seeking someone with hospitality and brand experience.
"We're looking for someone who's a good operator," Mangas said. "A leader; someone who can galvanize the troops and move us forward to achieve our goals."
Duncan said the board has no timeline for when it would select a candidate.
Aron, meanwhile, during the call assured investors that he has "separated from almost all my other activity. This is my focus; I've got nothing to juggle."
When asked what he plans to improve, Aron said he wants to devote more effort to marketing activity, as well as drive top-line revenue growth and aggressively manage company costs.
"We really need to focus on accelerating the size of our pipeline and footprint as we seek the objective of high net rooms growth," Aron added.
Duncan said the board is "confident Starwood won't miss a beat as [Aron] steps in to lead the company during this transitional period."