Jimmie Paschall

Jimmie Paschall

Title: Senior Vice President, External Affairs and Global Diversity Officer
Company: Mariott International, Inc
Corporate Headquarters: Bethesda, Maryland
Website: www.mariott.com
Primary Business: Global hospitality
Revenues: $10.91 billion
Employees: 300,000 including franchised properties

Vision of the Future

The concept of corporate diversity and inclusion (D&I) continues to evolve. Leveraging D&I is increasingly seen as a competitive advantage. At Marriott, D&I allow for global transformation. They provide a foundation for cultivating global leadership, support our business strategy and competitiveness in the marketplace and represent the next generation of diversity practice in the United States.

Over the past 18 months, we have implemented a new global operating structure that will position Marriott for continued growth and success. Our D&I efforts support this new operating model by building awareness and ownership at all levels of the organization. We are broadening how we think about global D&I, reaching across cultural borders to compete for customers and talent worldwide. We continue to embrace the talents of our employees who speak more than 50 languages and work in over 70 countries and territories to help us meet the changing needs of our customers. Developing cross cultural competence is the foundation of our strategy.

Developing cross cultural competence is the foundation of our strategy.

Our vision is to embed global diversity and inclusion so deeply into our organization that it is integral to how we do business. This is led by the company’s Executive Global Diversity and Inclusion Council, chaired by President and Chief Operating Officer Arne Sorenson. The Council will complement the efforts of the Marriott Board of Directors’ Committee for Excellence (CFE), chaired by Debra Lee, chairman and chief executive of BET Networks. The Council is charged with creating organizational ownership where leaders and managers “own” the achievement of diversity and inclusion outcomes and understand the importance of cultural competence in doing business globally.

Marriott has several other integral pieces to our D&I efforts, including our regional D&I councils that ensure our diversity strategy is implemented in the local markets. And, last year, Marriott introduced a new learning curriculum focused on cultural competence and global leadership effectiveness targeting top leadership with the goal of helping them better relate and do business in the global marketplace. In early 2011, a new program will be introduced for all associates companywide.

This evolution builds on a sustained commitment and history of performance. In 2005, Marriott set two major diversity goals, both of which it has surpassed: to spend $1 billion with diverse suppliers and have 500 hotels owned or operated by diverse groups by 2010. To date, Marriott has spent $2.3 billion with diverse-owned businesses and has more than 570 diverse-owned hotels that are open for business.

PDJ