Timeshare industry pioneer Rip Gellein is now working on a larger canvas. The chairman and CEO of Starwood Vacation Ownership was promoted last month to head all of Starwood Hotels & Resort's development activities. He succeeds Ted Darnall, who left the company to create a real estate fund to develop two new Starwood brands he helped create: aloft and Extended Stay by Westin.

In his new role as president, global development, Gellein oversees all of the company's real estate activities, including hotel, resort and residential development; vacation and fractional ownership; property acquisitions and dispositions; hotel management contracts; design and construction; and more.

Starwood made another significant executive appointment late last month as former Disney executive Matt Ouimet was named president, Hotel Group. In this newly created position, Ouimet oversees operations at Starwood's nine brands and 850 properties.