Gordon McKinnon Named EVP and Chief Branding Officer for Carlson

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. August 28, 2009

MINNEAPOLIS, Mn, August 27, 2009 - Hotel industry veteran Gordon McKinnon has been named executive vice president and chief branding officer for Carlson Hotels Worldwide.

Hubert Joly, president and chief executive officer of Carlson, a global hotel, marketing, restaurant and travel company, announced McKinnon's appointment, which is effective Sept. 1. He will be based in Minneapolis and report to Joly, who also serves as president and CEO of Carlson Hotels Worldwide.

McKinnon comes to Carlson from The Rezidor Hotel Group based in Brussels, Belgium, where he was executive vice president of brands. Carlson is the main shareholder of Rezidor.

"We welcome Gordon to Carlson's global hotel management team, and we look forward to drawing upon his extensive experience and unique skill set as we continue to enhance our hotel brands and market position," Joly said.

McKinnon joined Rezidor in 2002 as the vice president of brand and concept development, which involved positioning and defining current and future hotel brands and concepts. As a brand leader, he was responsible for defining and establishing the Hotel Missoni concept in terms of design, architecture, strategic locations, operations and service standards.

Before joining Rezidor, McKinnon was vice president of marketing for the Malmaison hotels, headquartered in Glasgow, U.K., where his main responsibilities included the creation, control and promotion of the brand. He joined Malmaison in 1993 as founding member of the Malmaison concept team and served as the managing director of the Malmaison Brand Company. Initially, he served as a consultant and joined the company full-time in 1999. In addition, he has held several leadership positions at marketing and communications companies in the United Kingdom.

Carlson is a global hotel, marketing, restaurant and travel company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Carlson is one of the world's leading hotel companies, with five brands spanning luxury to economy. Carlson hotel brands are: Regent(R) Hotels & Resorts, Radisson(R) Hotels & Resorts, Park Plaza(R) Hotels & Resorts, Country Inns & Suites By CarlsonSM and Park Inn(R) hotels. Its portfolio includes more than 1,045 hotels in 75 countries. In addition to its hotel brands, the company's brands and services include: Carlson Marketing, T.G.I. Friday's(R) and Pick Up Stix(R) restaurants, and Carlson Wagonlit Travel(R). Carlson's brands and services employ about 150,000 people in more than 150 countries.

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