Romney rejoins Marriott board after losing bid for presidency

Mitt Romney, this year's Republican nominee for U.S. president, rejoined Marriott International Inc.'s board today, the hotelier said.

Romney previously served on the board of Marriott from 1993 to 2002 and January 2009 to January 2011, when he resigned prior to his campaign for the U.S. presidency, the Bethesda, Maryland- based company said in a statement. He lost the election last month to President Barack Obama.

"We will benefit from his tremendous energy and capability to guide long-term success in an increasingly complex business environment," Chairman J.W. Marriott Jr. said of Romney in the statement.

Romney, co-founder of private-equity firm Bain Capital LLC, received $260,390 from stock owed to him as a director of Marriott, the largest publicly traded U.S. hotel chain, according to a report filed in June with the Federal Election Commission. J.W. Marriott was a Romney supporter who donated $1 million to Restore Our Future, a political action committee supporting his candidacy.

"It is an honor to once again be able to serve in the company of leaders like Bill Marriott and Arne Sorenson and to support the work of the tens of thousands of Marriott associates who make Marriott International the renowned success that it is," Romney said in the statement.