Protecting a
Global Brand
STARWOOD HOTELS
& RESORTS’
KEN SIEGEL
HELPS CRAFT A
CORPORATE
CULTURE THAT
IS GLOBALLY
MINDED AND
SOCIALLY AWARE
BY BILL GLOSE
PHOTOGRAPHY BY 85 PHOTO
In 2000, just two years after the company’s
creation, Starwood Hotels & Resorts
Worldwide Inc. lost a lawsuit that included
a large damage award and created a
precedent that could threaten its business.
Reeling from the verdict, Starwood’s
management decided to begin the new
millennium by making some big changes.
They brought in Ken Siegel.
Siegel, then 44, was a mergers and
acquisitions lawyer who had already
managed multiple company spin-offs and
billion-dollar acquisitions. He joined the
company as Starwood’s new general counsel
and executive vice president in November of
2000, shortly after the 2660 Woodley Road
Joint Venture et al. v. ITT Sheraton Corporation,
et al. verdict supported the allegation that
one of Starwood’s subsidiaries, Sheraton,
had violated fiduciary responsibilities to its
individual owners due to vendor rebates
it was receiving for volume purchases.
Sheraton, and Starwood, asserted that they
acted in good faith and did nothing improper,
but the jury disagreed and Sheraton was
slapped with a $50 million judgment,
most of which came in the form of punitive
damages. The judgment also created the
possibility that hotel owners could terminate
Starwood’s multiyear management
contracts, each of which was also worth
millions of dollars. With 700 hotels in 80
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