Oct. 24: Tyler Lecture
Marriott to deliver talk in executive leadership series
11:11 a.m., Sept. 30, 2013--As part of the 2013-14 Chaplin Tyler Executive Leadership Series at the University of Delaware, J.W. Marriott Jr., executive chairman and chairman of the board of Marriott International Inc., will speak on his leadership of nearly six decades at 2 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 24.
The lecture, which is free and open to the public, will be held in 115 Purnell Hall on the UD campus in Newark.
Events Stories
June 5: Blue Hen 5K
June 6-9: Food and culture series
Marriott held positions as CEO and chairman of the board for 40 years before stepping down on March 31, 2012.
Known throughout the industry for his hands-on management style, he built a highly regarded culture that emphasizes the importance of people and the value they bring to the organization. Today, there are approximately 325,000 employees at the company’s headquarters and other offices and at managed and franchised property locations.
Marriott International, which grew from a family restaurant business to a global lodging company with more than 3,800 properties in 72 countries and territories under Marriott’s leadership, has consistently been named to Fortune’s lists of most admired companies, best places to work and top companies for minorities.
Marriott developed a passion for the business at an early age and worked in a variety of positions in the Hot Shoppes restaurant chain during high school and college. He joined the company full time in 1956 and took over management of Marriott’s first hotel shortly thereafter.
He became executive vice president of the company and then its president in 1964; he was elected CEO in 1972 and chairman in 1985.
Regarded as a lodging innovator, Marriott made a strategic decision to shift the company’s business model from hotel ownership to property management and franchising in the late 1970s. That move transformed the company and resulted in its split in 1993 into Marriott International, a hotel management and franchising company headed by Marriott himself, and Host Marriott International, a hotel ownership company chaired by Marriott’s brother, Richard.
Marriott also worked to compile an extensive portfolio of lodging brands, including Marriott Hotels, The Ritz-Carlton, JW Marriott, Bulgari, EDITION, Renaissance, Autograph Collection, AC Hotels by Marriott, Courtyard, Fairfield Inn and Suites, SpringHill Suites, Residence Inn, TownePlace Suites, Marriott Executive Apartments, Marriott Vacation Club, Grand Residences by Marriott and The Ritz-Carlton Destination Club.
Marriott serves on the board of the J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation and is on the executive committee of the World Travel and Tourism Council. He has also served on the board of trustees of the National Geographic Society and General Motors; as director of the U.S. Naval Academy Foundation; as chairman of the President’s Export Council (PEC) and of the Mayo Clinic Capital Campaign; and as a member of the Secure Borders Open Doors Advisory Committee (SBODAC) and the U.S. Travel and Tourism Advisory Board (TTAB).
He holds a bachelor’s degree in banking and finance from the University of Utah and served as an officer in the Navy.
About the Tyler Lecture
The Chaplin Tyler Executive Leadership Lecture Series in UD’s Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics brings leaders from business, nonprofit organizations and the government to campus to share their experiences and insights with students, faculty and the business community in an open exchange of ideas and perspectives.
The series, which is supported by the Chaplin Tyler Endowment Fund, is dedicated to the memory of Chap and Elizabeth Tyler, their commitment to education and their determination to help young people achieve success in the business world.