Barry Sternlicht is chairman & chief executive officer of Starwood Capital Group, the private investment firm he formed in 1991 that is focused on global real estate, hotel management, oil and gas, energy infrastructure and securities trading. Sternlicht also serves as chairman of Starwood Property Trust, the largest commercial mortgage REIT in the U.S. (NYSE: STWD); Starwood Waypoint Residential Trust (NYSE: SWAY), one of the largest publicly traded investors, owners and operators of single-family homes in the U.S.; TRI Pointe Homes (NYSE: TPH), one of the U.S.'s largest homebuilders; hotel operator Société du Louvre; and crystal maker Baccarat S.A.
For the past 24 years, Sternlicht has structured investments with an asset value of approximately $68 billion. Starwood Capital's funds have invested in approximately 87,000 multifamily/condo units, 2,600 hotels, 62 million square feet of office properties, 50 million square feet of retail and 49,000 lots of land in residential subdivisions. The firm currently manages more than $44 billion of assets on behalf of its high net worth and institutional partners. Starwood Capital currently has more than 1,300 employees, plus over 17,400 employees at externally managed public companies and portfolio operating companies. The firm maintains offices in Greenwich (headquarters), Atlanta, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Chicago and Miami, and affiliated offices in Hong Kong, London, Luxembourg, Paris and Frankfurt.
From 1995 through early 2005, Sternlicht was Chairman and CEO of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide (NYSE: HOT), a company he founded in 1995. During his tenure, he built Starwood Hotels into one of the leading hotel and leisure companies in the world, employing more than 120,000 people with 895 properties in 100 countries. Starwood Hotels is a fully integrated owner, operator and franchiser of hotels. Sternlicht created W Hotels, perhaps the world's most successful "boutique" brand, and built the St. Regis Hotels brand from a single hotel to a global brand.
In 2013, Sternlicht was named the Most Important Person in Commercial Real Estate Finance by The Mortgage Observer. In 2010, Sternlicht was named Executive of the Year and Investor of the Year by Commercial Property Executive. Sternlicht was also named America's Best Lodging CEO by Institutional Investor magazine. He is a member of the Interior Design Magazine Hall of Fame. He has received the Preston Robert Tisch Distinguished Industry Leadership Award from New York University, the CEO Diversity Award from Diversity Best Practices/Business Women's Network, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association of Travel Marketing Executives, the Hospitality Heritage Award from the American Hotel and Lodging Association, and the Marketer of the Year Award from Brandweek. Sternlicht's humanitarian efforts have garnered prestigious national honors such as JDRF's Man of the Year, JDRF's Living and Giving Award and JDRF's Chairman's Award.
Sternlicht is a trustee of his alma mater, Brown University. He is also on the Board of Directors of The Estée Lauder Companies, and the Real Estate Roundtable. Additionally, he serves on the Boards of The Robin Hood Foundation, the Dreamland Film & Performing Arts Center, and the Executive Advisory Board of Americans for the Arts. He is a member of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Foundation Trustee Council, the World Presidents Organization and the Urban Land Institute.
Sternlicht received his BA, magna cum laude, with honors from Brown University. He later earned an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School.
