Kelley Named President of Irvine Hotel Co.

Irvine Co. is transforming its hotel division into a semiautonomous operation called Irvine Hotel Co. “to heighten its stature” in the competitive hotel market in Orange County, company President Thomas H. Nielsen said Wednesday. James T. Kelley, 42, a senior vice president of Chicago-based Hyatt Development Corp., a subsidiary of Hyatt Corp., has been hired as president of the new company.

Kelley will take over Dec. 2 from Sam Van Landingham, who had been acting head of the division for four months and who will return full time to his duties as vice president of the company’s office division. Meanwhile, Valentine Smith, senior director under Van Landingham in the hotel development division, is leaving the company Dec. 6. Smith acknowledged that there had been “differences” between him and Irvine Co. Chairman Donald L. Bren.