Strategic Hotels names Freed, Equity Office vet as new CFO
Diane Morefield
(Crain's) — Strategic Hotels & Resorts Inc. has named a former executive at Joseph Freed & Associates LLC and Equity Office Properties Trust as its chief financial officer.
Diane Morefield, 51, will replace James Mead, who has left the company, Strategic said in a news release Tuesday. Ms. Morefield most recently was CFO at Equity International, Sam Zell's overseas real estate business, after a stint as CFO of Joseph Freed, the Chicago-based developer of Block 37.
Ms. Morefield also worked at Equity Office from 1997 to 2006, where she was senior vice-president of investor and public relations and then head of the company's Midwest region.
"Diane has a strong combination of deep real estate industry knowledge and sophisticated financial and capital markets expertise," Laurence Geller, Strategic's president and CEO, said in the release.
Ms. Morefield, who has an accounting degree from the University of Illinois and an MBA from the University of Chicago, will start April 12. She will receive a $370,000 base salary plus a bonus, restricted stock and other incentives.
Chicago-based Strategic controls 17 hotels, including the Fairmont Chicago and the InterContinental on Michigan Avenue.
Mr. Mead, who joined Strategic as CFO in 2004, left the company Monday. Stephen Briggs, the company's senior vice-president and chief accounting officer, will act as CFO until Ms. Morefield takes over next month.
