Helping Marriott Grow Worldwide

Marriott International executive Falisha Alie knew she wanted to work in the hospitality industry when she started college in the 1990s. “It seemed quite glamorous,” she says. 

Even before she finished her undergraduate degree at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, she landed her first position at Marriott. “Working in hospitality is so fun, and the people at Marriott are great,” she says.

Nearly 20 years later, Alie is still at Marriott and advancing within the company. She enrolled in the Smith Executive MBA program to boost her skills shortly after Marriott announced its merger with Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide.

As vice president of financial contracting compliance, Alie is in charge of the revenue accounting team, which swelled from 11 to nearly 40 members within the first few months of the merger. Alie says the disruption made her coursework at Smith especially relevant.

For example, she learned teambuilding exercises that she quickly applied to her own growing team, as she worked to break down existing silos across the two brands. She also learned cross-cultural communication skills from her international counterparts at Smith.

“Working with others from different cultures and in a global environment helped me lead others whose backgrounds are quite diverse, not only from accounting and finance but cultural norms,” Alie says.

Smith’s Office of Career Services also helped Alie learn hiring and negotiation tactics from the hiring side, including working with recruiters and how to find talent. She says exposure to diverse perspectives is especially important for someone who has worked so long in the same organization.

“I didn’t want blinders to fall down over me without my being aware,” Alie says. “Learning about strategic thinking, design and innovation helped me exercise that part of my brain and exposed me to thinking about the bigger picture outside my organization.” 

The executive MBA, designed for working professionals, meets on alternating weekends in College Park, Md.

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