Season 4 - Ep. 8 | Unpacking Leadership Lessons with Marriott International President and CEO Tony Capuano

When Tony Capuano took over as President and CEO at Marriott International, the company was wrestling with the most significant challenge it’s ever faced as travel essentially shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Further complicating matters, Marriott’s beloved, iconic CEO, Arne Sorenson, had recently passed away and many in the company were dealing with the loss of their visionary leader, mentor, and friend.

On this episode of Redefiners, Tony talks with Clarke and Hoda about leadership lessons he’s gleaned from almost 30 years at Marriott, including his top advice for leaders transitioning into the CEO role. He’ll also dig into Marriott’s Bonvoy customer loyalty program, sustainability at scale in the hospitality industry, and how technology and AI can help deliver high touch personal service.

We'll also hear from Ty Wiggins, an Executive Director in our London office and author of RRA’s latest book, The New CEO: Lessons from CEOs on How to Start Well and Perform Quickly (Minus the Common Mistakes). Ty discusses why transitioning into the CEO role is one of the most challenging—and rewarding—moves of an executive’s career, and how new leaders can get off to a strong start.

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• Planting Long-Term Investment Seeds with Markel Group CEO Tom Gayner
• Reimagining Patient Care: A Conversation with Healthcare Innovator Ashley McEvoy
• Sunscreen and Success: Supergoop!'s Winning Formula with CEO Amanda Baldwin

Tony Capuano
President and CEO of Marriott International

Anthony Capuano is President and CEO of Marriott International, Inc. In his role, Mr. Capuano presides over the world’s largest hospitality company and some of the most iconic brands in travel. The company now has nearly 8,800 properties across 139 countries and territories and over 30 brands. It also has the travel industry’s largest customer loyalty program, Marriott Bonvoy, which has more than 196 million members.

Before his appointment as CEO in February 2021, Mr. Capuano was Group President, Global Development, Design and Operations Services where he led the strategic unit growth of all of Marriott’s brands while overseeing the global design team as well as Marriott’s global operating standards and protocols for thousands of properties around the world. Mr. Capuano was also responsible for oversight of the EDITION Hotels, a unique concept in the luxury lifestyle hotel space conceived by hotelier Ian Schrager and Marriott International.

Mr. Capuano joined Marriott in 1995 and was instrumental in its steady growth over the years which included the acquisition of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide in 2016. Mr. Capuano began his Marriott career as part of the Market Planning and Feasibility team, where he helped the company assess the overall economic viability of new and existing hotels, balancing the company’s interests with the needs of hotel owners and developers, investors, lenders and operators.

That role prepared him to lead Marriott’s development efforts in the Western United States and Canada for its full-service hotel brands. Later, his responsibilities expanded to include North America, the Caribbean and Latin America. In 2009, Mr. Capuano assumed global development responsibility. He began overseeing global design in 2014 and global operations in January 2020.

Mr. Capuano earned a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University in Hotel Administration. He is an active member of the Cornell Hotel Society, The Cornell School of Hotel Administration Dean’s Advisory Board, as well as the Business Roundtable and the American Hotel and Lodging Association’s IREFAC Council. Additionally, Mr. Capuano serves on the Board of Directors for McDonald’s Corporation and Save Venice, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving the artistic heritage of Venice, Italy. He resides in Potomac, Maryland with his wife and daughter.