Hilton Raises Law Chief’s Pay, Hyatt Sends More to Outside Firms

Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. boosted pay for general counsel Kristin Campbell more than 7% last year, to $4.4 million, as the company rebounded from the pandemic, while Hyatt Hotels Corp. shipped more money to outside law firms.

Campbell earned almost $2 million in cash, with about $760,600 of that in the form of base salary, according to an April 6 proxy filing. More than half of her total compensation was in stock and options awards.

Campbell, 61, was set to retire from Hilton at the end of 2022 but she remains with the hospitality company. She “agreed to work closely with the company to facilitate an orderly transition for her successor, including through an extension of her retirement date, if needed,” Hilton said in a securities filing last year.

Hilton posted more than $1.25 billion in net income last year, more than tripling its result from 2021, as travelers were willing to spend more revenue per available room after being tied down by pandemic-related restrictions. The company will report its first quarter 2023 earnings on April 26.

A Hilton spokesman said the company has no personnel updates to share regarding Campbell’s status.

She joined Hilton as its top lawyer in 2011. Over the years Campbell helped slash Hilton’s outside counsel roster to 40 firms from 350 and took the lead on a complicated spin-off of the McLean, Va.-based company’s real estate assets.

Hilton’s proxy credited Campbell, who also serves as the company’s corporate secretary and head of environmental, social, and governance, with enhancing its ESG strategy, strengthening the company’s culture via talent attraction and retention, and advancing efforts to drive revenue.

Campbell’s pay package soared to $7.5 million in 2020 as she helped Hilton navigate early pandemic-related challenges. She sold off nearly $5 million in Hilton stock in February but Campbell continues to own company shares valued at more than $32.3 million, according to Bloomberg data.

Hyatt’s Approach

Hyatt paid almost $13.2 million to Latham & Watkins and $240,300 to Chicago’s Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg, the company said in a proxy statement filed April 6.

The fees are an increase from Hyatt’s two prior fiscal years. Latham received about $8.8 million and almost $7.4 million from Chicago-based Hyatt in 2021 and 2020, respectively, according to proxy filings. Neal Gerber, meanwhile, was paid $139,400 in 2021 and $140,300 in 2020.

A Hyatt spokesman attributed the spike in legal fees to both firms last year to “reflect an increase in commercial and transactional activity.”

Latham advised Hyatt on its $2.7 billion acquisition of resort company Apple Leisure Group, which closed in late 2021. Latham handles transactional and non-transactional matters for the company, said Hyatt, as does Neal Gerber.

Hilton and Hyatt were also both forced last year to stop developing properties in Russia due to US sanctions stemming from hostilities in Ukraine.

Hyatt’s proxy noted how much it paid Latham and Neal Gerber due to their ties to billionaire Thomas Pritzker, executive chairman of the hotel company’s board.

Michael Pucker, a Latham corporate partner in Chicago, is Pritzker’s brother-in-law. Pucker is also chairman and chief executive of DNS Capital LLC, the family office of his wife Gigi Pritzker.

Marshall Eisenberg, a veteran Pritzker family lawyer and founding partner of Neal Gerber, is a trustee of certain trusts for Pritzker and his “lineal descendants,” according to Hyatt’s proxy.

Hyatt’s proxy noted that board member and former Illinois Tool Works Inc. general counsel James Wooten Jr. received about $267,600 in total compensation last year, while Hilton paid more than $419,000 to board member Douglas Steenland, a former general counsel and chief executive at Northwest Airlines Corp. Steenland previously was a partner at a DLA Piper predecessor.

Margaret Egan, Hyatt’s general counsel since 2018, wasn’t one of the company’s five highest-paid executives last year. She currently owns almost $1.4 million in Hyatt stock, according to Bloomberg data.