John Willard "Bill" Marriott Jr. (born March 25, 1932) is an American

billionaire A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least one billion (1,000,000,000, i.e., a thousand million) units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. The American busin ...

businessman who is the executive

chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

Marriott International Marriott International, Inc. is an American multinational corporation, multinational company that operates, franchises, and licenses lodging including hotel, residential, and timeshare properties. It is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland. T ...

, of which he owns 11.28%.

Early life and education

Marriott was born in Washington, D.C., the son of Alice Marriott and

J. Willard Marriott John Willard Marriott, Sr. (September 17, 1900 – August 13, 1985) was an American entrepreneur and businessman. He was the founder of the Marriott Corporation (which became Marriott International in 1993), the parent company of the world's l ...

, the founder of Marriott Corporation. He attended St. Albans School in Washington, D.C. He is also an Eagle Scout and recipient of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award. In 1954, Marriott earned a Bachelor of Science degree in finance from the University of Utah, where he was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity. There, he met his wife, the daughter of a professor. Upon graduating, Marriott went to a Navy training school in Georgia. From June 1954 to 1956, he served on the USS Randolph

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...

as a wardroom mess officer in the Navy Supply Corps. In June 1955, Marriott was married at the Salt Lake Temple in Salt Lake City.

Career

Marriott joined Marriott Corporation in 1956. He pushed his father, who was wary of taking on debt after experiencing the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, to expand from the restaurant business into the hotel business. Marriott was elected executive vice president and member of the

board of directors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

in January 1964, president of the company in November 1964, chief executive officer in 1972, and

of the board in 1985. He introduced the practice of revenue management to the hotel industry. Effective March 31, 2012, Marriott assumed the role of executive chairman of the company and relinquished the role of chief executive officer to Arne Sorenson.

Awards

In 2001, Marriott was recognized as The Industry Leader of The Year by Broad College of Business,

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...

. On May 4, 2006, Marriott received an honorary doctorate of humanities from Weber State University and delivered the commencement speech. On April 2, 2008, Marriott received the International Association of Business Communicators' Excellence in Communication Leadership Award. On June 2, 2009, Marriott received the Icon of the Industry award from Cornell University School of Hotel Administration. In 2010, Marriott received the Foreign Language Advocacy Award from the Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages in recognition of programs that provided language instruction to both non-English speaking and English speaking employees. On November 19, 2016, Ernst & Young named Marriott the National/Overall Entrepreneur of the Year. In 2018, Marriott received the Distinguished Service Award by the National Maritime Historical Society.

Personal life

Marriott has been married to Donna Garff for over 61 years and they have four children, all of whom work for

, fifteen grandchildren, and twenty great-grandchildren. They raised their kids in a brick

ranch-style house Ranch (also known as American ranch, California ranch, rambler, or rancher) is a domestic architectural style that originated in the United States. The ranch-style house is noted for its long, close-to-the-ground profile, and wide open layout. ...

in Bethesda, Maryland. In an episode of ''

60 Minutes ''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who chose to set it apart from other news programs by using a unique styl ...

'' aired on April 7, 1996, Marriott was interviewed by Mike Wallace. In 2018, Bill's son John Marriott III sued both him and his uncle, Richard Marriott, for allegedly cutting John out of the family fortune, in part for divorcing his wife without approval of his father. The lawsuit was settled out of court.

Religion

Marriott is an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Since 1978, the Marriotts have been supporters of the annual Festival of Lights on the grounds of the Washington D.C. Temple. In 1997, Marriott was called by the church to be an

Area Authority Seventy Seventy is a Priesthood (LDS Church), priesthood office in the Melchizedek priesthood (Latter Day Saints), Melchizedek priesthood of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Traditionally, a church member holding this priestho ...

and member of the Fifth Quorum of the Seventy. This was split in 2004 and Marriott joined the newly-created

Sixth Quorum of the Seventy Seventy is a priesthood office in the Melchizedek priesthood of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Traditionally, a church member holding this priesthood office is a "traveling minister" and an "especial witness" of ...

, serving until his release on October 1, 2011.

Boards

Marriott is actively involved in various boards and councils including, the U.S. Travel and Tourism Promotional Advisory Board, the executive committee of the World Travel and Tourism Council, the National Business Council, the board of trustees of the National Urban League, a director of the National Geographic Society, and a director of the Naval Academy Endowment Trust. He serves as chairman of the President's Export Council, a group that advises the president on matters relating to export trade, and serves as chairman of the Leadership Council of the Laura Bush Foundation for America's Libraries.

Bibliography

Without Reservations: How a Family Root Beer Stand Grew into a Global Hotel Company
Luxury Custom Publishing LLC, May 1, 2013

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marriott, Bill 1932 births American leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints American chairpersons of corporations Area seventies (LDS Church) Latter Day Saints from Washington, D.C. Living people Marriott International people People from Potomac, Maryland Businesspeople from Washington, D.C. St. Albans School (Washington, D.C.) alumni United States Navy officers David Eccles School of Business alumni Weber State University people