Barry Sternlicht

Barry Sternlicht is Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Starwood Capital Group, the private investment firm he formed in 1991 focused on global real estate, hotel management, oil and gas, energy infrastructure and securities trading. Sternlicht is also Chairman of Starwood Property Trust, now the largest commercial mortgage REIT in the U.S. traded on the NYSE. For the past twenty-two years, he has structured investments with an asset value of more than $40 billion. Starwood's funds have invested in more than 18,000 apartment units, more than 1,000 hotels, over 22 million square feet of office properties, 15 million square feet of retail and over 20,000 acres of land in residential subdivisions. Today the firm manages approximately $29 billion of assets under management on behalf of its high net worth and institutional partners. Starwood Capital Group employs approximately 330 associates at its headquarters in Greenwich, Connecticut, with other offices in Atlanta, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington DC, London, Sao Paolo, Paris and Luxembourg. Starwood’s family of products includes Starwood Energy Partners, focused on energy infrastructure investments, Starwood Real Estate Securities, a long-short fund, and Starwood Oil & Gas Group. From 1995 through early 2005, Sternlicht was Chairman and CEO of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide (HOT), Inc., a company he founded in 1995. In 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. Starwood Hotels is a fully integrated owner, operator and franchiser of hotels with nine brands, including: St. Regis, The Luxury Collection, W Hotels, Sheraton, Westin, Meridien, and Four Points. Sternlicht created W Hotels, perhaps the world’s most successful “boutique” brand, and built St. Regis Hotels into a global brand. In 2013, Sternlicht was named the #1 Most Important Person in Commercial Real Estate Finance by The Mortgage Observer. In 2010, Sternlicht was named Executive of the Year and Investor of the Year by Commercial Property Executive. Sternlicht was named America’s Best Lodging CEO by Institutional Investor magazine. Sternlicht is a member of the Interior Design Magazine Hall of Fame. He received the Preston Robert Tisch Distinguished Industry Leadership Award from New York University, the CEO Diversity Award by 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. Sternlicht’s humanitarian efforts have led to prestigious national honors such as JDRF’s Man of the Year, JDRF’s Living and Giving Award and JDRF’s Chairman’s Award. Sternlicht is a trustee of his alma mater, Brown University. He serves on the Board of Directors of The Estée Lauder Companies, Restoration Hardware, and TriPointe Homes. Sternlicht is also Chairman of the Board of Societé du Louvre. He serves as Chairman of the Board of Robin Hood and is on the boards of the Pension Real Estate Association (PREA), the Real Estate Roundtable, the Dreamland Film & Performing Arts Center, and the Executive Advisory Board of Americans for the Arts. He is a member of 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.