Orient-Express Hotels CEO Paul White announced his resignation on Friday after serving three years as chief of the international hotel group. White said that the resignation was for personal reasons. Chairman Bob Lovejoy will take over as interim CEO while a search for a permanent replacement begins.
White led the company through the economic downturn and managed to post RevPAR growth over his final five quarters as CEO. White had been with the company for 20 years, working as a financial controller and then regional vice president of operations before taking the top spot.
Orient-Express had two new members, Harsha Agadi and Philip Mengel elected to its board of directors in June and Lovejoy was elected as chairman. However, the company said this had nothing to do with White’s resignation. “The new chairman has been on the board since 2000. It wasn’t related at all,” Vicky Legg, director of corporate communications said.
White is 46 and has not made any comments on his future employment. “It was purely for personal reasons that he resigned,” Legg said.
