Marriott Vacations Worldwide Announces Leadership Appointments

ORLANDO, Fla. (February 17, 2026) — Marriott Vacations Worldwide (NYSE: VAC) has announced major leadership appointments designed to sharpen execution, improve profitability, and reinforce a performance-driven culture across the company. The Board of Directors appointed Matthew (Matt) E. Avril as Chief Executive Officer, and named industry veteran Michael (Mike) A. Flaskey as President and Chief Operating Officer, effective immediately.

These changes come after a period of internal review and operational assessment, with the company emphasizing urgency in strengthening marketing and sales execution, tightening cost and capital allocation discipline, and improving long-term value creation for shareholders—while also aiming to enhance owner, customer, and associate experiences.

Article Outline (SEO Structure)

Section	What You’ll Learn
1. Breaking News Summary	Who was appointed, what roles changed, and why it matters.
2. CEO Appointment: Matthew E. Avril	Background, interim role, board confidence, and priorities.
3. President & COO Appointment: Michael A. Flaskey	Track record, responsibilities, and expected impact.
4. Strategic Focus: Operational Execution	How the company plans to strengthen sales, marketing, and margins.
5. Compensation Plan & Alignment	How pay is linked to long-term share price and EBITDA goals.
6. Upcoming Earnings & Business Update	Key dates investors should watch.
7. What This Means for Owners & Guests	Service quality, experience design, and loyalty over time.
8. What This Means for Employees	Culture, accountability, and performance expectations.
9. What This Means for Investors	Governance signals, execution focus, and value-creation priorities.
10. Company Overview	MVW’s scale, brands, and business model.
11. FAQs	Clear answers to common questions about the leadership change.

1) Breaking News: What Marriott Vacations Worldwide Announced

Marriott Vacations Worldwide (“MVW”) announced two top leadership appointments that reshape the company’s executive structure:

Matthew (Matt) E. Avril was appointed Chief Executive Officer. He will also remain a member of the Board of Directors.
Michael (Mike) A. Flaskey was appointed President and Chief Operating Officer, effective immediately.

According to the company, these appointments follow months of operational and strategic review, with leadership emphasizing a “reset” focused on performance and execution. The Board’s chairman, Bill Shaw, highlighted Avril’s decisive leadership and urgency during his interim tenure, noting his engagement with investors, associates, and customers, and pointing to changes already driven through a rigorous assessment process.

In practical terms, MVW is signaling that it wants tighter day-to-day execution and stronger alignment between leadership actions and long-term results—especially across marketing effectiveness, sales performance, and profitability.

2) CEO Appointment: Matthew E. Avril and the Board’s Rationale

Avril moves from interim role to permanent CEO

MVW appointed Matthew (Matt) E. Avril as CEO after he served as interim President and CEO since November 2025. Avril joined MVW’s Board in March 2025 and will continue serving as a director while leading the company.

What the Board said about Avril’s leadership

Board Chairman Bill Shaw said Avril worked closely with the Board and executive leadership to conduct a comprehensive business review, bringing a focused approach to performance and laying the groundwork for an organizational reset. Shaw emphasized Avril’s urgency and engagement with key stakeholders, and described him as a proven industry executive skilled in execution—positioning him as the right leader to deliver sustainable improvement and long-term shareholder value.

Avril’s stated priorities

Avril publicly outlined the priorities he intends to pursue as CEO:

Strengthen marketing and sales execution
Enhance profitability
Reinforce a performance-driven culture
Implement greater cost and capital allocation discipline

He also expressed confidence that these actions can deliver value for shareholders by improving customer and associate experience and leveraging the brands MVW represents.

Avril’s experience and credentials

MVW described Avril as having 30+ years of executive leadership experience in hospitality and vacation ownership. The company notes that Avril has served as a self-employed consultant since March 2017, and previously held top roles across major players in the sector, including:

Diamond Resorts International, Inc. (CEO, November 2016 to March 2017)
Vistana Signature Experiences, Inc. (CEO-elect)
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (President, Hotel Group, Sept 2008–Dec 2012), overseeing worldwide operations for nine hotel brands across hundreds of properties and many countries

MVW also highlighted Avril’s governance and financial experience, noting he is a certified public accountant (inactive) and has served on public company boards, including as chairman and committee member roles.

3) President & COO Appointment: Michael A. Flaskey and What He’s Expected to Do

Why MVW picked Flaskey

MVW appointed Michael (Mike) A. Flaskey as President and COO, describing him as a seasoned executive with 25+ years of experience across vacation ownership and hospitality.

Flaskey’s background includes leadership roles that touch virtually every part of the vacation ownership engine: brand strategy, sales, marketing, operations, and resort management. MVW specifically pointed to his experience at Starwood Vacation Ownership, where he helped develop experiential strategies tied to vacation ownership brands.

Key career highlights mentioned by MVW

MVW highlighted several major milestones in Flaskey’s career:

Senior leadership roles at Starwood Vacation Ownership (with deep expertise across brand, sales, marketing, operations, and resort management)
More than a decade at Diamond Resorts International, including serving as CEO (2017–2021) and leading a transformation that culminated in Diamond’s sale to Hilton Grand Vacations
Most recently, CEO and Board member of Hornblower Group (August 2024 to December 2025)

MVW also noted that Flaskey currently serves on the board of Invited Clubs and previously served on the board of Holiday Inn Club Vacations.

Flaskey’s responsibilities at MVW

As President and COO, Flaskey is expected to set MVW’s commercial strategy and oversee brand, commercial, and operating functions to drive “seamless execution.” He will be responsible for an experience-based model aimed at enhancing owners’ lifetime value through a differentiated go-to-market approach to engage both current owners and prospective new owners.

How Avril described the partnership

Avril said he has known Flaskey for a long time and is confident their prior work relationship (including at Starwood Vacation Ownership and Diamond Resorts) will help them “hit the ground running.” He added that Flaskey’s enthusiasm, expertise, and transformational leadership are expected to strengthen marketing and sales effectiveness, enhance processes, and improve margins while keeping the organization aligned.

Flaskey’s message

Flaskey said he is excited to implement an industry-leading strategy centered on innovation and execution, and that combining those strengths with leading vacation ownership brands creates significant potential. He also stated his focus is on unlocking the company’s full potential and expressed confidence about returning to growth and strong performance in the near future.

4) Strategic Emphasis: “Operational Execution” and a More Disciplined Playbook

The announcement strongly signals that MVW’s leadership team is prioritizing how the business runs day to day—not just big-picture strategy. In vacation ownership, operational execution has a direct effect on:

Marketing efficiency (how well the company converts interest into tours, and tours into long-term owners)
Sales effectiveness (how consistent, ethical, and customer-focused the process is)
Owner satisfaction (how the resort and membership experience feels after the sale)
Profitability (how well the company balances growth investment with cost control)

MVW’s stated plan includes strengthening marketing and sales execution, enhancing profitability, reinforcing a performance-driven culture, and improving cost and capital allocation discipline.

While the press release does not list step-by-step operational changes, it provides a clear direction: leadership wants measurable performance improvement that shows up in execution, margins, and shareholder value—supported by incentive structures that reward long-term outcomes rather than short-term optics.

5) New Executive Compensation Plan: Pay-for-Performance Tied to Long-Term Targets

Alongside the leadership appointments, MVW disclosed that it implemented a new compensation plan for the CEO and President/COO roles and filed a related Form 8-K with details.

What the Board emphasized

Chairman Bill Shaw said the plan is designed to link executive rewards to long-term share price appreciation and Adjusted EBITDA growth, reinforcing accountability and alignment with shareholders.

The specific performance goals disclosed

MVW stated that the plan includes a pay-for-performance structure in which two-thirds of long-term equity awards are contingent on delivering:

$950 million in Adjusted EBITDA
a $145 stock price

…over a three-year horizon.

In plain English, the company is trying to make leadership incentives match what long-term investors typically want: stronger operating earnings (EBITDA) and sustained stock performance over multiple years, not just a quick quarter-to-quarter bump.

6) Timing Matters: Earnings Call and Broader Business Update

MVW stated it will report fourth quarter 2025 earnings after market close on February 25, 2026, followed by a conference call on February 26, 2026 at 8:00 a.m. ET to discuss results and provide a broader business update.

For investors and industry observers, that timing is important: it means the market will likely hear more detail soon about the company’s operational assessment, priorities, and how the new leadership team plans to drive measurable improvements.

7) What This Could Mean for Owners, Members, and Guests

Marriott Vacations Worldwide operates in a space where trust and long-term satisfaction are everything. Vacation ownership is not a one-time product—it’s a multi-year relationship. The press release repeatedly emphasizes the idea of improving the customer and associate experience while also strengthening performance and profitability.

Potential improvements owners often notice first

When a vacation ownership company focuses on execution, owners and members may feel the difference in practical, everyday ways—such as:

More consistent service delivery at resorts and within owner support channels
Smoother booking and exchange experiences (where applicable)
Clearer communication about benefits, updates, and policies
Stronger resort operations that protect the vacation experience over time

It’s important to note that MVW’s announcement is a leadership update and does not promise specific customer-facing changes on a defined schedule. Still, the company’s language around “experience-based” strategy and enhancing owners’ lifetime value points to a renewed emphasis on the relationship after the sale—not only the initial transaction.

8) What This Could Mean for MVW Associates and Culture

Leadership changes at the CEO and COO level often influence internal culture quickly—especially when the stated goal is a “performance-driven culture” and a more disciplined approach to cost and capital allocation.

In many companies, that can translate into:

Sharper focus on measurable goals and execution standards
More attention to process improvement across marketing, sales, and operations
Clearer expectations for accountability and cross-functional alignment

MVW has not described staffing actions or restructuring details in this announcement. The most concrete statement is that leadership intends to act with urgency to strengthen execution and profitability while reinforcing culture and discipline.

9) What This Could Mean for Investors and the Market

From an investor’s standpoint, MVW’s announcement sends three strong governance signals:

Stability after an interim period: Appointing Avril as CEO formalizes leadership after he served in an interim capacity.
Operational leadership depth: Naming a President/COO with extensive industry background suggests a push for execution at scale.
Incentive alignment: The disclosed pay-for-performance structure ties a large portion of equity awards to multi-year targets for Adjusted EBITDA and stock price performance.

Investors often watch not just who is hired, but what management is rewarded for. By highlighting a three-year horizon and specific targets, MVW is emphasizing longer-term value creation and accountability.

10) About Marriott Vacations Worldwide: Scale and Business Model

Marriott Vacations Worldwide Corporation is a global vacation company offering vacation ownership, exchange, rental, and resort and property management, plus related products and services. The company reported that it has:

120 vacation ownership resorts
approximately 700,000 owner families
an exchange network and membership programs with 3,200+ affiliated resorts across 90+ countries and territories

MVW also stated it maintains long-term relationships with Marriott International, Inc. and an affiliate of Hyatt Hotels Corporation for the development, sales, and marketing of vacation ownership products and services.

For more information, the company directs readers to its website: www.marriottvacationsworldwide.com.

FAQs: Marriott Vacations Worldwide Announces Leadership Appointments

1) Who is the new CEO of Marriott Vacations Worldwide?

MVW appointed Matthew (Matt) E. Avril as Chief Executive Officer.

2) Was Matt Avril already leading the company before this appointment?

Yes. He served as interim President and CEO since November 2025 and joined the company’s Board in March 2025.

3) Who is the new President and Chief Operating Officer?

MVW appointed Michael (Mike) A. Flaskey as President and COO, effective immediately.

4) What will Mike Flaskey oversee in his role?

MVW said Flaskey will set the commercial strategy and oversee brand, commercial, and operating functions, including an experience-based model aimed at enhancing owners’ lifetime value through a differentiated go-to-market approach.

5) What are the key priorities the company highlighted?

MVW emphasized urgency around strengthening marketing and sales execution, enhancing profitability, reinforcing a performance-driven culture, and improving cost and capital allocation discipline.

6) When is MVW’s next earnings report and conference call?

The company said it will report Q4 2025 earnings after market close on February 25, 2026, followed by a conference call on February 26, 2026 at 8:00 a.m. ET.

7) What did MVW disclose about executive compensation?

MVW said it implemented a new compensation plan for the CEO and President/COO roles and filed an 8-K. The Board stated that two-thirds of long-term equity awards are contingent on achieving $950 million in Adjusted EBITDA and a $145 stock price over a three-year horizon.

Conclusion

In this announcement, Marriott Vacations Worldwide is clearly signaling a reset with execution at the center. By appointing Matthew E. Avril as CEO and bringing in Michael A. Flaskey as President and COO, MVW is pairing board-level continuity with deep operational leadership. The company has also reinforced accountability through a compensation structure tied to multi-year performance goals, while pointing investors to an upcoming earnings release and business update later this month.

As MVW prepares to share more during its late-February earnings cycle, stakeholders—including owners, employees, and investors—will be watching closely to see how this leadership team translates urgency into results across marketing, sales, service delivery, and profitability.

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Marriott Vacations Worldwide Announces Leadership Appointments: Powerful New CEO & President/COO Move Signals a Bold Reset (2026 Update)