Ed Ryan, the general counsel to Marriott International Inc. for more than a decade, will retire in December, the Maryland-based hospitality company said Tuesday.

Ryan, who also serves as an executive vice president, will continue at the company through 2018 as an advisor to Marriott chief executive and president Arne Sorenson, the company said in a statement.

Sorenson said in the statement that Ryan “uniquely defined the GC role to fit both the complexity of our business and the company's rapidly growing profile as an industry leader and a global company.” Ryan developed “an exemplary in-house legal department … minimizing our legal risk, and leading the way on ethics,” Sorenson said.

Marriott noted in the statement that it “anticipates announcing Ed's successor shortly.”

Ryan steps down from his role after spending more than 21 years in the company's law department, 11 of which were spent as the company's general counsel. Marriott has more than 100 lawyers worldwide. Marriott noted that Ryan developed the company's international legal department.

Ryan's previous roles include assistant general counsel, asset management, operations, and corporate transactions. After it was announced in 2015 that Marriott would acquire Starwood Hotels & Resorts worldwide, Ryan directed the 10 month effort to finalize the deal, which formed the world's largest hotel chain.

Ryan offered this tip to success, in a recent interview with the National Law Journal: “Communicate well. We use the phone a lot to talk through issues and come up with good solutions. I'm a big fan of voice communication.”

Ryan oversaw the production of a company-wide code of conduct at Marriott. “We look at our contracts pretty carefully to make sure they're appropriate for different parts of the world,” he said in an interview in 2011. “If you're a U.S. company, you tend to approach things from a Western mindset. As you become a more multinational company, your company has to mature.”

On Sept. 22, Ryan executed an option to sell 6,000 shares in Marriott International, potentially driving interest in the company, NY Stock News reported.

Before he joined Marriott, Ryan worked in private practice, first at Crowell & Moring in Washington and later at Hogan Lovells, where in 1989 he made partner.