IHG Hotels & Resorts has appointed Andrew Francks as Vice President of Human Resources – US & Canada Hotel Operations, a strategic move that brings a seasoned HR leader with deep institutional knowledge into one of the company’s most critical regional roles.
Francks steps into the position with extensive experience spanning the hospitality and retail sectors, having built his career across the United Kingdom and the United States over more than 15 years. His appointment comes at a pivotal moment for IHG’s Americas business, which operates more than 4,500 hotels and over 523,000 rooms – representing the largest share of the company’s global portfolio.
A long-standing member of the IHG team, Francks has held a series of progressive HR leadership roles within the organisation. Most recently, he served as Chief of Staff to Wayne Hoare, IHG’s Chief Human Resources Officer, while simultaneously leading the company’s global Talent and Leadership Strategy workstream. In that capacity, he supported the development of IHG’s global HR plan, drove continuous improvement initiatives across the function and managed internal communications and engagement strategy for the HR organisation.
Prior to that, Francks served as Vice President of Global Talent, Culture, Organisation and HR Owner Offer from September 2019 – a role in which he was responsible for designing and delivering the talent strategy across IHG’s diverse hotel estate globally. He also held positions as Global Director for Talent and Performance and Global Director for Early Careers, where he played a central role in shaping the company’s approach to workforce development.
One of Francks’ notable contributions at IHG has been the launch of the IHG Skills Academy, a free virtual learning platform introduced in the UK in 2021 and subsequently expanded globally. The platform, now available in nine languages, provides online education and skills training to individuals facing barriers to employment – directly supporting IHG’s responsible business commitment to improve the lives of 30 million people by 2030. Since 2004, IHG Academy programmes have positively impacted more than 80,000 individuals through work experience, internships and apprenticeships.
Francks also serves as a Board Member of the Global Travel and Tourism Partnership, an industry-supported charity that provides free skills training to young people aged 16–19 across 17 countries.
Before joining IHG, Francks spent six years at Yum! Brands, where he held multiple roles including Group HR Director for a large franchise partner, Global Learning Lead for the KFC brand while based in the United States, Head of Learning for KFC UK & Ireland and various HR business partner positions. He began his career at Marks & Spencer, where he spent five years working across retail, head office and logistics learning and development functions after joining as a Graduate HR Manager.
Francks holds a BA in Film and Media from the University of Central Lancashire.
His new role will see him serve as a strategic HR business partner to operations teams across the US and Canada – a remit that encompasses IHG’s largest market by hotel count. IHG reached 4,000 open hotels in the US during 2025, a milestone year in which the company also surpassed one million rooms globally across more than 6,700 properties. The group’s development pipeline now exceeds 2,200 hotels, representing potential system growth of 34 per cent.
Led by Chief Executive Officer Elie Maalouf, IHG operates 20 hotel brands – from luxury marques such as Six Senses, Regent and InterContinental to essential travel brands including Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express and the fast-growing Garner. Its IHG One Rewards loyalty programme counts more than 145 million members worldwide, and the company employs approximately 375,000 people globally.
