Ludwig Group From 1968 until 1980 Bollenbach held a series of financial management positions with the
Ludwig Group and helped to oversee some of his hotel properties. Bollenbach had been introduced to the organization by
John L. Notter, who ultimately spent 15 years as the operating head of the
D.K. Ludwig Group and became the chairman of the
Ludwig Cancer Research. Bollenbach worked for Mr Ludwig for many years, helping to oversee some of his hotel properties. This work with Ludwig culminated as Bollenbach was
D. K. Ludwig's CFO from 1977 to 1980. Bollenbach was chairman and chief executive officer of Southwest Savings and Loan Association and also
Gino's Inc., the owner of
Gino's Hamburgers and
Rustler Steak House restaurant chains, for $48.6 million. 108 Rustler Steak House Restaurants plus three other restaurants were sold in the following year to two different firms (Tenly Enterprises and
Sizzler Restaurants International) for undisclosed amounts. Newly formed Tenly Enterprises purchased 94 restaurants while
Sizzler Restaurants International purchased the remaining 17. The Gino's chain had 359 company-owned locations when
Marriott Corporation acquired it in 1982. The last Gino's, located in
Pasadena, Maryland and owned independently from Marriott, closed in 1986.
1986: Holiday Corp. He then was chief financial officer and a member of the board of directors of
Holiday Corporation from 1986 to 1990. Holiday Inns, Inc. was renamed "Holiday Corporation" in 1985 to reflect the growth of the company's brands, including
Harrah's Entertainment,
Embassy Suites Hotels,
Crowne Plaza,
Homewood Suites, and
Hampton Inn. In 1988, Holiday Corporation was purchased by UK-based Bass
PLC (the owners of the
Bass beer brand). During his time at Holiday, Bollenbach helped prevent Trump from using a
leveraged buyout to take over the hotel chain.
1990–1992: Trump Organization After a brief stint with
Promus Companies (a
corporate spin-off affiliated with Caesars Entertainment and Harrah's Entertainment) in 1990, Bollenbach became the first
CFO of the
Trump Organization in 1990 while
Allen Weisselberg worked under him as comptroller.
1992–1995: Marriott Bollenbach returned as an executive for
Marriott Hotels in 1992
1995–1995 Disney In 1995, Bollenbach replaced
Richard Nanula as the CFO for Disney. In this position, he crafted Disney's $19-billion deal to buy
Capital Cities/ABC in 1995.
1996–2007 Hilton Bollenbach was the co-chairman and
chief executive officer of
Hilton Hotels Corporation beginning in February 1996. He was the first person outside the Hilton Family to hold this position. Bollenbach aimed to expand Hilton's gaming holdings through acquisitions, especially in
Atlantic City, where Hilton had no presence.
Bally Entertainment, with five casinos, including two in Atlantic City, was a natural target. Its midscale clientele, heavy on slots revenue, would provide balance to the volatility of Hilton's high-end
baccarat players. Hilton beat out
ITT Corporation with an offer of $2 billion in stock plus $1 billion of assumed debt, Following the merger between Ladbrokes plc and Hilton Group plc in the United Kingdom,
Peter George served as group chief executive of Hilton Group plc. George and Bollenbach worked to create the strategic alliance in 1997 between
Hilton Hotels Corporation and Hilton International (the lodging subsidiary of Hilton Group.) This alliance ultimately paved the way for the 2006 acquisition of Hilton International by Hilton Hotels Corporation. In 2007, Bollenbach left after making the sale of Hilton to
The Blackstone Group for $26 Billion.) In June of 2008, AIG fired Chief Executive Officer
Martin Sullivan, replaced him with
Robert Willumstad as CEO and appointed Bollenbach as "
lead independent director." Willumstad left after three months on the job and was replaced by Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Edward M. Liddy, who was dismissed by the board in May 2009. after this resignation and AIG's announcement that it would name six new independent directors, Bollenbach himself left in 2009 along with
Martin Feldstein, James Orr,
Virginia Rometty,
Michael Sutton, Edmund Tse, and
Ed Liddy after working on bailout. ==Personal life, and death==