In the past year or so since Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide sued Hilton Worldwide over alleged corporate espionage, I’ve struggled to find a unique angle on this issue. But now that I’ve found one, so many clichés come to mind I can hardly contain myself.
Alternative headlines for this blog:
“The apple didn’t fall far from the CEO”
“After hotel stints, Klein and Heyer build new Tower of Treasures”
“Pair of Starwood outcasts takes on pears”
“Heyer, Klein sharing the fruits of their labor”
By now, you might have figured out where I’m going with this. When the question arose about where Ross Klein—former Hilton and Starwood branding guru accused of playing spy games—could ever hope to find a job after enduring a media lashing from the Starwood vs. Hilton case, it didn’t take long to find out that he landed at Harry & David Holdings as chief branding officer and executive VP.
But who would hire Klein with a pending lawsuit, you ask? It might be someone who knows a thing or two about corporate misconduct allegations. And maybe even someone who knew his work on the W brand at Starwood. The person who fits that description: Steven Heyer, CEO of Harry & David Holdings and former CEO of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. Heyer and Klein crossed paths when Heyer served as CEO from 2004-2007 and Klein was leading luxury brand development at Starwood.
You might recall that Heyer landed himself in a heap of trouble in 2007 amid his own allegations of misconduct with female employees and talk that he butted heads with Starwood chairman Barry Sternlicht. Consequently, he left Starwood without his severance package in April 2007. He was appointed CEO of the fruit and gourmet gift basket company in February 2010 and Klein followed him that same month.
It remains to be seen whether Klein might have to take a leave of absence— federal prosecutors had a separate criminal investigation going on him and Amar Lalvani for the Hilton debacle, but the future of that case is unclear after the civil case settlement.
• Read “Feds ask to halt Starwood-Hilton espionage lawsuit.”
To be fair, both men are well known for their marketing savvy outside of the hotel industry (Heyer at Coca-Cola Company, Klein at Ralph Lauren and Joe Boxer) so it makes sense they would be working together again to help an ailing company in need of a brand boost.
I suppose the moral of this story is: don’t burn any bridges. You never know when you could land yourself in some hot water and need a little understanding from a former boss.
