Hyatt announced a leadership shakeup in the Americas region Tuesday, appointing Susan Santaigo and Gabriel Felip as presidents and launching a new organizational structure.
The appointments and refreshed structure are designed to “support Hyatt’s continued focus on growth, operational excellence and performance optimization within its largest region,” according to the announcement.
As part of the reorganization, Hyatt has split its Americas region into two subregions: U.S. & Canada and Latin America & the Caribbean (LAC), with Santiago leading the former and Felip leading the latter. Both report to Pete Sears, group president for the Americas.
Santiago has been with Hyatt for more than 30 years, most recently serving as senior vice president of the company’s lifestyle division and Miraval brand. Felip is also a 30-year industry veteran, previously serving as Hyatt’s group president of inclusive collection global operations. In their new roles, both leaders oversee managed and owned Hyatt hotels across all brands in their respective subregions.
In a statement, Sears said the new Americas structure will allow Hyatt to “support our hotel teams and owners in more customized, regionalized ways – and this is designed to help us continue driving strong results through intentional and sustainable growth for the region.”
Hyatt has appointed additional leaders now reporting to Santiago and Felip: Yvette Martinez-Edwards as senior vice president of field operations for luxury and Miraval; Shyla Gardner as vice president of commercial services for LAC; and Juan Pablo Peurta as senior vice president of finance for LAC.
In her new role, Martinez-Edwards aims to drive operational excellence for Hyatt luxury brands. She previously served as vice president of field operations, leading Timeless Collection properties in Hyatt’s East region.
Gardner now runs a commercial services team that creates specialized commercial strategies for the LAC market. She was previously vice president of sales and marketing for Playa Resorts and an area director of sales and marketing in Mexico.
Puerto is now leading finance function and property performance optimization. Prior to the new role, he was CFO of travel and hospitality conglomerate Apple Leisure Group.
