Based in Atlanta and reporting to Steve Porter, president, the Americas, IHG, Wells is responsible for overall brand performance, including brand strategy, sales, marketing, revenue management and hotel performance support across all seven InterContinental Hotels Group brands, including InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts, Hotel Indigo, Holiday Inn Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn Express, Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites. 

With more than 30 years in the hospitality industry, Wells has held executive-level marketing positions for major hotel companies such as Choice Hotels International and Promus Hotel Corporation, the parent company of Embassy Suites, Hampton Inns and Homewood Suites.  He has previously worked for Holiday Inns Inc. as the vice president of operations and marketing and has also served as the vice president of marketing for Days Inn and the director of marketing for Doubletree Inns.

Wells most recently served as the executive vice president and chief operating officer of Pegasus Solutions Inc.  In this position, he was responsible for product development, service delivery, training and implementation, global reservations centers and information technology.

Prior to that Wells served as President and COO of Utell Limited, a subsidiary of Pegasus and provider of marketing, sales, distribution and technology services to more than 4,500 independent hotels in 30 countries.  He also served as Executive Vice President and COO, Pegasus Hospitality Group, which operated Sterling Hotels & Resorts, Summit Hotels & Resorts, Golden Tulip Hotels & Resorts and Utell Limited hospitality businesses.  In this capacity, Mark was responsible for the operation of each brand, reservations and distribution services and shared corporate services.

"As an industry leader, with some of the world's most recognized and respected brands, Mark's tremendous wealth of experience, his strategic forethought and ability to understand and incorporate the various disciplines of branding, marketing, operations, distribution and franchising will enable him to be an immediate asset to the IHG family," said Steve Porter.  "I am delighted that Mark will be joining our team."

InterContinental Hotels Group PLC of the United Kingdom [LON:IHG, NYSE:IHG (ADRs)] owns, manages, leases or franchises, through various subsidiaries, more than 3,500 hotels and 536,000 guest rooms in nearly 100 countries and territories around the world.