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 1,000,000,000, one billion units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. It is a sub-category of the concept of the ultr ...

businessman who is the executive

chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, 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 gro ...

Marriott International Marriott International, Inc. is an American multinational corporation, multinational company that operates, franchises, and licenses lodging brands that include hotel, residential, and timeshare properties. Marriott International owns over 37 ho ...

, of which he owns 11.28%.

Early life and education

Marriott was born in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, 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 la ...

, the founder of

Marriott Corporation The Marriott Corporation was a Hospitality industry, hospitality company that operated from 1927 until 1993. It was founded by J. Willard Marriott and Frank J. Kimball as Hot Shoppes, Inc. In 1957, it opened its first hotel in Arlington Count ...

. He attended St. Albans School in Washington, D.C. He is also an

Eagle Scout Eagle Scout is the highest rank attainable in the Scouts BSA program of Scouting America. Since its inception in 1911, only four percent of Scouts have earned this rank after a lengthy review process. The Eagle Scout rank has been earned by over ...

and recipient of the

Distinguished Eagle Scout Award The Distinguished Eagle Scout Award (DESA) is a distinguished service award of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). It is awarded to an Eagle Scout who has achieved extraordinary national-level recognition, fame, or eminence within their profession ...

. In 1954, Marriott earned a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

degree in finance from the

University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...

, where he was a member of the

Sigma Chi Sigma Chi () International Fraternity is one of the largest North American social Fraternities and sororities, fraternities. The fraternity has 244 active undergraduate chapters and 152 alumni chapters across the United States and Canada and has ...

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 hangar facilities for supporting, arming, deploying and recovering carrier-based aircraft, shipborne aircraft. Typically it is the ...

as a wardroom mess officer in the

Navy Supply Corps The Navy Supply Corps is the United States Navy staff corps concerned with supply, logistics, combat support, readiness, contracting, and fiscal matters. Duties Commissioned officers in the Supply Corps practice a variety of disciplines, incl ...

. In June 1955, Marriott was married at the

Salt Lake Temple The Salt Lake Temple is a Temple (LDS Church), temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. At , it is the Comparison of temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Sa ...

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

Career

Marriott joined

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

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

, 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 is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

in January 1964, president of the company in November 1964,

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

in 1972, and

of the board in 1985. He introduced the practice of

revenue management Revenue management (RM) is a discipline to maximize profit by optimizing rate (ADR) and occupancy (Occ). In its day to day application the maximization of Revenue per Available Room (RevPAR) is paramount. It is seen by some as synonymous with ...

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 or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...

. On May 4, 2006, Marriott received an honorary doctorate of humanities from

Weber State University Weber State University (pronounced ) is a public university in Ogden, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1889 as Weber Stake Academy and earned its current name in 1991. As of fall 2023, the student population reached 30,536 students, cons ...

and delivered the

commencement speech In the United States, a commencement speech or commencement address is a speech given to graduating students, generally at a university, although the term is also used for secondary education institutions and in similar institutions around the ...

. 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 The Nolan School of Hotel Administration (SHA, more commonly known as the Hotel School) is a specialized business school in the Cornell Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University, a private Ivy League university located in ...

. 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 EY, previously known as Ernst & Young, is a multinational corporation, multinational professional services partnership, network based in London, United Kingdom. Along with Deloitte, KPMG and PwC, it is one of the Big Four accounting firms, Big F ...

named Marriott the National/Overall Entrepreneur of the Year. In 2018, Marriott received the Distinguished Service Award by the

National Maritime Historical Society The National Maritime Historical Society (NMHS) is a non-profit organization in America devoted to historical ship preservation and maritime education. The society's mission is to educate Americans, especially its youth about maritime accomplishmen ...

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. ...

Bethesda, Maryland Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. Located just northwest of Washington, D.C., it is a major business and government center of the Washington metropolitan region ...

. 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 distinguished it from other news programs by using a unique style o ...

'' aired on April 7, 1996, Marriott was interviewed by

Mike Wallace Myron Leon Wallace (May 9, 1918 – April 7, 2012) was an American journalist, game show host, actor, and media personality. Known for his investigative journalism, he interviewed a wide range of prominent newsmakers during his seven-decade car ...

. 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 Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganising of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the ...

his wife without approval of his father. The lawsuit was

settled out of court In law, a settlement is a resolution between disputing parties about a legal case, reached either before or after court action begins. A collective settlement is a settlement of multiple similar legal cases. The term also has other meanings in ...

Religion

Marriott is an active member of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

. 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 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, 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 World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) is a forum for the travel and tourism industry. It is made up of members from the global business community and works with governments to raise awareness about the travel and tourism industry. It is kno ...

, the National Business Council, the board of trustees of the

National Urban League The National Urban League (NUL), formerly known as the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes, is a nonpartisan historic civil rights organization based in New York City that advocates on behalf of economic and social justice for Afri ...

, a director of the

National Geographic Society The National Geographic Society, headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations in the world. Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, natural sc ...

, and a director of the Naval Academy Endowment Trust. He serves as chairman of the

President's Export Council The President's Export Council (PEC) is an American government organization that serves as the principal national advisory committee on international trade. The Council advises the president of the United States on policies and programs that affect ...

, 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