Posted 6/21/2009 - 12:54:27 PM
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NEW YORK—When accepting the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration’s first Icon of the Industry Award here this month, Marriott International’s chairman and CEO, J.W. Marriott, Jr., didn’t mention that his company’s distribution now tops 3,100 hotels. Nor did he reference that Marriott now operates in 66 countries or any other company performance milestones.
Rather, Marriott spoke about his father, J. Willard Marriott, and the father’s humble beginnings. He recalled his father’s struggle to get a college education and that once he had achieved that goal, he and his wife Alice were able to relocate from Ogden, UT, to the Washington area, where they established the “family root beer stand” that step-by-step over decades evolved into today’s global lodging industry giant.
Marriott said that it was because of this connection that Marriott International has always been a supporter of institutions of higher learning, including the Cornell Hotel School, which named its Executive Education Center after Marriott as a way of acknowledging this support.
“Education and opportunity are at the heart of the Marriott-Cornell relationship,” said Marriott, who noted that Marriott International currently employs more than 100 Cornell Hotel School graduates.
Marriott also made special mention of Howard Bagnall Meek, the school’s first dean when it was founded in 1922. Marriott credited Meek with creating a hotel service model that was advanced for its time and is still viable today.
According to current dean, Michael Johnson, the Cornell Hotel School established the Icon of the Industry Award to honor individuals for their lifelong leadership in the hospitality industry and for their civic and philanthropic contributions. Marriott was a logical candidate to be the first recipient, said Johnson, who is also E.M. Statler professor of hotel administration at the School. “Bill Marriott has led an exemplary life founded on service to others,” he noted in presenting Marriott with the award, which was presented during a dinner at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York.
Under Marriott’s direction, Marriott International has shown a sustained commitment to diversity and inclusion, social responsibility and community engagement, Johnson added, noting that it was the first lodging company to hire an African-American general manager.
Participating in the ceremony was Bruce White, chairman of White Lodging, an ownership and management company with many Marriott hotels in its portfolio. White Lodging sponsored the award.
Serving as masters of ceremony for the event were Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, anchors of the popular MSNBC “Morning Joe” broadcast. Brzezinski praised Marriott for making a habit of visiting hourly employees when he travels to Marriott hotels around the world.
