Eva Ziegler, global leader for Le Méridien, has added another brand to her title. Starwood Hotels & Resorts named her global brand leader for W Hotels Worldwide, filling the position left vacant when Ross Klein left for Hilton last June.

“Eva’s branding expertise and broad international experience will be invaluable to Starwood as we meaningfully launch W Hotels outside of North America,” said Phil McAveety, Starwood’s executive vice president and chief brand officer. “As a highly experienced marketer and business professional, who has spent her career working for international Fortune 500 companies such as Toyota and Coca Cola, Eva knows how to build distinctive and compelling global brands and adapt them to ensure they are locally relevant. She is the perfect candidate at the right time to take these two compelling lifestyle brands to the next level.”

Starwood plans to triple W’s global footprint by 2011. The brand recently celebrated its 10^th anniversary.

The Vienna-born Ziegler joined Starwood in 2005 and helped integrate the Le Méridien brand into its portfolio. The brand has eliminated more than 30 hotels and plans to renovate more than half the existing portfolio by 2011 and open 20 properties globally.

During an interview at last month’s Americas Lodging Investment Summit, McAveety talked about finding ways to connect Starwood’s brands. Le Méridien and W were a natural fit as the design-led brands. He also said the focus would be to grow Le Méridien in this country and in Asia Pacific.