Hilton Hotels Corp. announced Wednesday that Thomas C. Kennedy had taken over as chief financial officer as of Sept. 15.

Kennedy, who has more than 20 years of financial experience, most recently was CFO of Vanguard Car Rental, the holding company of the National Car Rental and Alamo Rent-A-Car car rental brands. He also has held executive or management positions at Northwest Airlines Inc., Chiquita Brands International, Bank of Yokohama, and Merrill Lynch Capital Markets.

He succeeds former Hilton CFO Robert LaForgia, who left the company earlier this year. Hilton went private last October in a $26 billion acquisition by the Blackstone Group, the New York City private equity group.

Kennedy will be based in Beverly Hills, where Hilton has retained its corporate headquarters.