The University of Miami Real Estate Impact Conference, hosted by the School of Architecture and the Miami Business School. This annual conference unites South Florida with national and international industry experts in one of the world's most dynamic cities. The conference features global leaders in commercial and residential real estate in one-on-one conversations, and innovators and trendsetters who are shaping and informing the industry’s future.
About the 2018 Keynote Speakers:
Arne Sorenson
President and CEO, Marriott International
Arne M. Sorenson is President and Chief Executive Officer of Marriott International, Inc., the largest hotel company in the world with over 6,000 properties in more than 120 countries.
Mr. Sorenson became the third CEO in the company’s history in 2012 – and the first without the Marriott surname. Prior to that, he served as Marriott’s President and Chief Operating Officer.
He has held a number of positions since joining Marriott in 1996, including Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and President of Continental European Lodging. He was elected to Marriott’s Board of Directors in 2011.
Additionally, Mr. Sorenson served as Vice Chair of the President’s Export Council. He is the immediate past Board Chair for Brand USA and continues as a member of the board. Other affiliations include: Chair, U.S. Travel Association CEO Roundtable; member of the Luther College Board of Regents; Stewardship Board of the World Economic Forum System Initiative on Shaping the Future of Mobility; and member of the Board of Trustees for The Brookings Institution.
Prior to joining Marriott in 1996, Mr. Sorenson was a partner with the law firm Latham & Watkins in Washington, DC. He is a graduate of Luther College in Decorah, Iowa and the University of Minnesota Law School. He and his wife Ruth live in the Washington, D.C. area, where they raised their four children.
Barry S. Sternlicht
Chairman and CEO, Starwood Capital Group
Barry Sternlicht is Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Starwood Capital Group, the private investment firm he formed in 1991 that is focused on global real estate, hotel management, oil and gas, and energy infrastructure. Mr. Sternlicht also serves as Chairman of Starwood Property Trust (NYSE: STWD), the largest commercial mortgage REIT in the U.S.; and French crystal maker Baccarat S.A.; as well as Co-Chairman of Starwood Waypoint Homes (NYSE: SFR; merger with Invitation Homes (NYSE: INVH) announced in August 2017), one of the largest publicly traded investors, owners and operators of single-family homes in the U.S.
For the past 26 years, Mr. Sternlicht has structured investments with an asset value of approximately $92 billion. Starwood Capital’s funds have invested in approximately 172,500 multifamily/condo units, 2,900 hotels, 74 million square feet of office properties, 54 million square feet of retail and 52,000 lots of land in residential subdivisions. The Firm currently manages approximately $54 billion of assets on behalf of its high net worth and institutional partners. Starwood Capital, its affiliates and externally managed public companies employ more than 3,500 professionals, while approximately 9,000 additional employees are involved with a dozen portfolio operating companies. The Firm maintains offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Greenwich, Los Angeles, Miami, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., and affiliated offices in London, Luxembourg and Hong Kong.
From 1995 through early 2005, Mr. Sternlicht was Chairman and CEO of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, a company he founded in 1995. During his tenure, he built Starwood Hotels into one of the leading hotel and leisure companies in the world, employing more than 120,000 people with 895 properties in 100 countries. Mr. Sternlicht created W Hotels, perhaps the world’s most successful “boutique” brand, and built the St. Regis Hotels brand from a single hotel to a global brand.
In 2008, Mr. Sternlicht founded SH Group, his new hotel management company. SH Group is the owner and manager of Baccarat Hotels & Resorts and 1 Hotels brands.
In 2016, Mr. Sternlicht was the recipient of PERE’s inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2015, he was named the Global Industry Figure of the Year by PERE, received the Cornell Icon of the Industry Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Hotel Investment Forum. In 2013, Mr. Sternlicht was named the Most Important Person in Commercial Real Estate Finance by The Mortgage Observer. In 2010, Mr. Sternlicht was named Executive of the Year and Investor of the Year by Commercial Property Executive. Mr. Sternlicht was also named America’s Best Lodging CEO by Institutional Investor Magazine. He is a member of the Interior Design Magazine Hall of Fame. He has received the Preston Robert Tisch Distinguished Industry Leadership Award from New York University, the CEO Diversity Award from Diversity Best Practices/Business Women’s Network, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association of Travel Marketing Executives, the Hospitality Heritage Award from the American Hotel and Lodging Association, and the Marketer of the Year Award from Brandweek. Mr. Sternlicht’s humanitarian efforts have garnered prestigious national honors such as JDRF’s Man of the Year, JDRF’s Living and Giving Award and JDRF’s Chairman’s Award.
Mr. Sternlicht serves on the Board of Directors of The Estée Lauder Companies and the Real Estate Roundtable. Additionally, he formally served as Chairman of the Board and is currently a Board member of The Robin Hood Foundation, and also serves on the Boards of the Dreamland Film & Performing Arts Center, and the Executive Advisory Board of Americans for the Arts. He is a member of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Foundation Trustee Council, the World Presidents Organization and the Urban Land Institute.
Barry Sternlicht received his BA, magna cum laude, with honors from Brown University. He later earned an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School.
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