Matthew J. Hart was the President and COO of Hilton Hotels Corporation from May 2004 until October 2007, when the company was acquired by the Blackstone Group. On May 24, 2007, Hilton's Board of Directors announced that Hart would assume the role of President and CEO of the company effective January 1, 2008. However, Hart resigned following Blackstone's acquisition of the company.

Early life and career

Hart obtained a Bachelor of Science from Vanderbilt University in 1974 and a Master of Business Administration from

Columbia Business School Columbia Business School (CBS) is the business school of Columbia University, a Private university, private research university in New York City. Established in 1916, Columbia Business School is one of six Ivy League business schools and is one ...

in 1976. During his time at Vanderbilt, he was a brother of the

Alpha Tau Omega Alpha Tau Omega (), commonly known as ATO, is an American social fraternity founded at the Virginia Military Institute in 1865 by Otis Allan Glazebrook. The fraternity has around 250 active and inactive chapters and colonies in the United Stat ...

fraternity. Hart was a lending officer with

Bankers Trust Bankers Trust was a historic American banking organization. The bank merged with Alex. Brown & Sons in 1997 before being acquired by Deutsche Bank in 1999. Deutsche Bank sold the Trust and Custody division of Bankers Trust to State Street Corpor ...

. He then joined Marriott Corporation in 1981. He eventually served as Executive Vice President and CFO for

Host Marriott Corporation Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. is an American real estate investment trust that invests in hotels. As of February 19, 2021, the company owned 80 upscale hotels containing approximately 46,500 rooms in the United States, Brazil, and Canada. History I ...

from 1993 to 1995. He later served as Senior Vice President and Treasurer for Walt Disney Company from 1995 to 1996. He then served as Executive Vice President, CFO, and Treasurer of Hilton Hotels Corporation from 1996 to 2004, eventually becoming President and COO from 2004 to 2007.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hart, Matthew J. Columbia Business School alumni Living people Vanderbilt University alumni American chief executives of travel and tourism industry companies American chief financial officers American chief operating officers Year of birth missing (living people)