Hotel group Accor has begun appointing new senior members of its team following the resignation of five directors and the former chair last month.

The team members are understood to have quit in protest at the decision to combine the roles of CEO and chair and to reduce the number of seats on the board. Accor CEO Giles Pelisson has therefore been made chair of the board replacing Serge Weinberg, the former non-executive chair. Jacques Stern has also been appointed as senior executive vice president and chief financial officer in charge of finance, strategy, hotel business development and IT. He was previously chief executive officer and executive vice president in charge of purchasing and information systems and a member of the executive committee.

Other new board members include Denis Hennequin, president of McDonald's Europe and Bertrand Meheut, chair and CEO of Canal Group.