Latest news with #ALISConference
NDTV
05-05-2025
- Business
- NDTV
Marriott CEO Receives 40,000 Emails From Employees Amid Trump Pushback
Marriott International CEO and President Anthony Capuano received over 40,000 emails from employees worldwide after he publicly backed the company's diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives even after political pushback from none other than US President Donald Trump. Speaking at the recent Great Place to Work for All Summit, Mr Capuano recalled what followed Donald Trump's DEI executive order and how it led to internal reflection at Marriott. "The day the [DEI] executive order came out, I sat with our senior leadership team and I said: given the industry-leading position we have, we ought to make sure we're all aligned on, not only philosophically, how we think about this, which was the easy part, but what words we use, what language we use. We should talk with the board a little bit about it," Mr Capuano said. Marriott's CEO said it straight: 'We welcome all… we create opportunities for all… that's who we are as a company.' He went back to his hotel hoping he got it right. Then 40,000 emails from Marriott associates from around the world hit his inbox saying 'thank you.' Plenty of… — Christopher Webb (@cwebbonline) April 22, 2025 His public comments came after Mr Trump, during his first week back in office, ordered the shutdown of all federal DEI offices and issued executive orders to undo several of Joe Biden's diversity-focused initiatives. These included eliminating the use of race and sex-based preferences in hiring and admissions and rolling back a Federal Aviation Administration policy that prioritized DEI hiring. Following these moves, Amazon, Meta, McDonald's, Walmart, Ford, Toyota, and others began scaling back their internal DEI programmes. The next day, Mr Capuano addressed the topic head-on at the ALIS Conference - one of the hotel industry's largest investment events - where DEI dominated discussions across eight media engagements, including interviews and a CEO panel. There, Mr Capuano said he leaned on Marriott's century-long values, shaped in part by his decades of learning under Bill Marriott, the company's Chairman Emeritus. "We've been around for almost a century, and political winds blow all different directions, particularly when you operate in almost 150 countries. I said, but there are some fundamental truths about this company that have guided us for those 98 years," he said. He said the company has always welcomed everyone to its hotels and strived to create "opportunities for all." According to him, those values won't change. "That's who we are as a company," Mr Capuno said. "In the next 24 hours, I got 40,000 emails from Marriott associates around the world just saying, 'thank you'," he said.
New York Post
04-05-2025
- Business
- New York Post
Marriott CEO says ‘the right thing' about DEI, gets 40K emails in response
A hotel industry's top exec has revealed the overwhelming positive support he's received after tackling diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) head on. During the Great Place to Work for All Summit last week, Marriott CEO and President Anthony Capuano spoke to the crowd about the cultural and workplace shifts on DEI and reflected on a moment he was met with unexpected encouragement from tens of thousands of emails from coworkers. Advertisement 'The day the [DEI] executive order came out, I sat with our senior leadership team and I said: given the industry-leading position we have, we ought to make sure we're all aligned on, not only philosophically — how we think about this, which was the easy part — but what words we use, what language we use. We should talk with the board a little bit about it,' Capuano said on stage. 'There's a very big hotel industry investment conference called the ALIS Conference,' he expanded. 'And so the next morning, I did a media breakfast. I did six one-on-one media interviews and then… we did the CEO panel. This was the first question in all eight of those interactions.' 3 Marriott CEO and President Anthony Capuano says he has received numerous support after tackling diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) head on. SPECIAL TO THE NEW YORK POST Advertisement President Donald Trump shut down all diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) offices across the federal government during his first week in office and signed a number of executive orders to quickly undo former President Joe Biden's efforts. Not only did Trump shut down all federal offices, he signed two other related executive orders in January: one that ended discrimination in the workplace and higher education through race and sex-based preferences under the guise of DEI; the other was a memo to eliminate a Biden administration policy that prioritized DEI hiring at the Federal Aviation Administration. 3 Capuano told the crowd at the Great Place to Work for All Summit last week that shifting from DEI policies was met with unexplained encouragement from thousands of coworkers. Christopher Webb, /X As a result, since then, top U.S.-based brands and companies have rolled back their number of DEI policies, like Amazon, Meta, McDonald's, Boeing, Ford, Harley-Davidson, John Deere, Lowe's, Nissan, Toyota, Walmart and others. Advertisement When it came time for Capuano to answer the public on Marriott's stance on DEI, he claimed he 'mentally phoned a friend.' 'I thought about what I'd heard from Bill Marriott all these decades. And what I said in response to those questions, we've been around for almost a century, political winds blow all different directions, particularly when you operate in almost 150 countries. I said, but there are some fundamental truths about this company that have guided us for those 98 years,' the CEO noted. 3 President Donald Trump shut down all diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) offices across the federal government not long after he was sworn into office as the 47th President of the United States of America. REUTERS Advertisement 'We welcome all to our hotels, and we create opportunity for all. And fundamentally, those will never change, right?' Capuano continued. 'The words might change, but that's who we are as a company.' 'Then I went back to my room and said, 'Gosh, I hope I said the right thing.' In the next 24 hours, I got 40,000 emails from Marriott associates around the world just saying, 'thank you.'' Fox News' Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
