Rachael Gursky, Brand Integration Manager, Starwood Hotels & Resorts

Rachael is a Brand Integration Manager on the Global Brand Management team at Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, where she leads cross-branded initiatives. Starwood's nine hotel brands include The Luxury Collection, St. Regis, W, Le Meridien, Sheraton, Westin, Four Points, Aloft, and Element. She got her start in hospitality working in hotel operations during the summers while earning her bachelors degree with distinction from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration. Upon graduation in 2006, she joined RLJ Lodging Trust, a Bethesda, MD based hotel investment company with over 100 franchised hotels across the United States. As a project manager for RLJ, Rachael’s responsibilities included due diligence, capital budgeting, risk assessment, site visits, and renovation and capex oversight across the multi-billion dollar RLJ portfolios. Managing these capital projects involved coordination with third party consultants, hotel operators, contractors, architects, and hotel brands. In May 2011, Rachael graduated with an MBA from Harvard Business School, where she was a co-president of the Hospitality & Travel Industry Club.