InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) has named Michael Torres Vice President of Corporate Communications, The Americas. Torres will provide strategic counsel to protect and enhance the reputation of IHG and its family of brands for the region, which includes the U.S., Latin America, Canada and the Caribbean. As the chief communications officer, he will serve on the Americas Regional Executive Committee and be based in Atlanta.

Torres will oversee internal and external corporate communications, including employee/organizational, crisis/issues management, strategic messaging, marketing communications and media relations. As senior director of global corporate communications at PepsiCo, Torres provided strategic internal and external corporate and executive communications, and reputation risk/issues management counsel and direction for PepsiCo's Global Research and Development Division. As a member of the chief scientific officer's and executive vice president's senior leadership team, Torres' role as R&D's chief communications officer also included the development and execution of the first global R&D communications function and strategic communications plan that enhanced, promoted and protected the image of the company as well as global R&D initiatives and programs across AMEA, Europe and North and South America.

Torres' legacy also includes the development and execution of a global R&D change management communications strategy, which received an HR Excellence Award, recognizing it as the best-in-class model at PepsiCo. Before joining PepsiCo, Torres held several leadership positions at Anheuser-Busch and AB InBev.