Richard Keith Resigns As Ultimate Escapes Chairman and Board of Directors Member

By: Destination Club News
Date: October 6, 2010

The other shoe has dropped as the fallout of the Ultimate Escapes bankruptcy continues. Richard Keith, the Chairman and a member of the Board of Directors at Ultimate Escapes, has resigned from these posts just a few short days after CEO and President Jim Tousignant was terminated.

The CEO and Founder of Private Escapes, Keith was one of the earliest members in the destination club industry, joining Private Retreats while still in its infancy. Keith would go on to serve as Private Retreats Chief Operating Officer before conceiving the concept of a low cost destination club option. Private Escapes was born and would eventually grow to become the third largest destination club in the world.

Sheon Karol from CRG Partners has been appointed to the role of Chief Restructuring Officer and the Ultimate Escapes Committee of Unsecured Creditors has been named, consisting of a group of members and other creditors. With Tousignant and Keith now both gone, Philip Callaghan, Chief Financial Officer, is the primary executive at Ultimate Escapes, who has quickly removed the biographies of nearly all of their senior level executives from their public website.

It will be interesting to see how members of Ultimate Escapes distribute blame across the club's executive ranks. Does Jim Tousignant deserve the majority as the club's CEO and President? Largely a financial issue, what falls on Philip Callaghan as the club's Chief Financial Officer? And what about Keith? Ultimate Escapes Chairman, a member of the Board of Directors, the former Co-CEO, and the Vice President of the Destination Club Association, a governing body created to help protect the industry from another major destination club bankruptcy.

"The value of the DCA is immeasurable as we create meaningful consumer protection to regulate this growing sector while educating current and prospective members about the benefits of the destination club lifestyle," Keith said upon his appointment to Vice President at the Destination Club Association. "The DCA has been in the works for more than a year, and I'm eager to promote these initiatives, ensuring all clubs are responsible to their members. Full financial disclosure and steady growth is of the utmost importance to the future of this sector - we're setting the bar early."

More news continues to leak about Ultimate Escapes, so check back frequently for more information about the club's bankruptcy filing and how it impacts the rest of the destination club sector.