From Forbes.com 

Faces In The News
Sunstone CEO Heads To Hilton
Ruthie Ackerman, 03.06.08, 7:00 PM ET

It looks like Sunstone Hotel Investors‘ chief executive is jumping ship.

On Thursday Sunstone Hotel Investors, a real estate investment trust that owns interests in names like Marriott and Hilton, announced that its CEO

Steven Goldman resigned to join Hilton Hotels as president of global real estate development. Hilton was acquired by the Blackstone Group in October.Before joining Sunstone in March 2007 Goldman held senior management positions at Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Hyatt, and Walt Disney.Goldman will remain at the company until the end of March to assist in the transition, the San Clemente, Calif.-based company said.

Sunstone named

Robert Alter, who currently serves as executive chairman and is a former CEO, as interim CEO effective March 31.Wachovia Capital Markets analyst Jeffrey J. Donnelly called Goldman’s resignation surprising and said that the “timing is poor.” Donnelly said he thinks investors will react negatively to the news given that they have not responded well to Alter. “The current team was only recently put in place and the potential arrival of a new CEO likely will raise concern about the longevity of the current team,” Donnelly said.R.W. Baird analyst David Loeb said Goldman’s job at Sunstone was challenging. “They’re in a bit of a box,” Loeb said. The opportunity to buy assets in this environment is difficult. Sunstone has an active share repurchase program, but it doesn’t have the balance sheet to make repurchases. It repositioned assets but there’s not much it can do but aggressively asset manage their hotels. “Right now it’s a waiting game,” he said.

Since Alter announced he would resign as CEO in January 2007 there has been a lot of management turmoil.

Jon Kline was promoted to president from chief financial officer in September 2006 and then resigned in June 2007 after being passed over for the CEO position in favor of Goldman.

Ken Cruse was promoted to senior vice president of finance before replacing Kline as chief financial officer. And

Gary Stougaard, who held positions as executive vice president and chief investment officer resigned after Goldman became CEO.The question Donnelly says that what remains on investors’ minds is whether Kline could return. “Unlikely,” Donnelly responded.Loeb said Goldman also brought in a number of new executives, including Senior Vice President of Development Habib Enayetullah who he worked with at Hyatt, who may follow him to Hilton, creating more turmoil.

If Goldman succeeds at Hilton, Loeb says, he’ll have many more options going forward. Loeb said Blackstone could decide to split Hilton into two companies–an ownership company and a brand company–and if Goldman “plays his cards right” he might be the CEO of a very large hotel real estate company.