Marriott was born in Washington, D.C., the son of Alice and J. Willard Marriott, the founder of Marriott International. He attended St. Albans School in Washington, D.C., and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in finance from the University of Utah, where he became a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity. He served on an aircraft carrier as an officer in the United States Navy Supply Corps. He is also an Eagle Scout and recipient of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award.
Career
Marriott has described how he learned a lifelong management lesson from an offhand remark made by President Dwight D. Eisenhower when he and his wife, Mamie, were guests at the house of Marriott's father in 1954. When Eisenhower was given the option to either go outside and shoot quail in the cold or stand by the fire, he turned to 22-year-old Bill Marriott and simply asked, "What do you think we should do?" Says Marriott, "So I tried to adopt that style of management as I progressed in life by asking my people, 'What do you think?'...The four most important words in the English language are, 'What do you think?'" Marriott joined the Marriott Corporation in 1956, was elected executive vice president and member of the board of directors in January 1964 and president of the company in November 1964, chief executive officer in 1972, and chairman of the board in 1985. During his tenure at Marriott, Bill introduced the practice of Revenue Management to the hotel industry. Marriott is actively involved in various boards and councils including, the U.S. Travel and Tourism Promotional Advisory Board, the executive committee of the World Travel and Tourism Council, the National Business Council, the board of trustees of the National Urban League, a director of the National Geographic Society, and a director of the Naval Academy Endowment Trust. He serves as chairman of the President's Export Council, a group that advises the president on matters relating to export trade, and serves as chairman of the Leadership Council of the Laura Bush Foundation for America's Libraries. On December 13, 2011, Marriott announced that he would assume the role of executive chairman of the company and relinquish the role of chief executive officer, effective March 31, 2012, to Arne Sorenson.
Awards
In 2001, J. W. Marriott, Jr. was recognized as The Industry Leader of The Year by , Broad College of Business, Michigan State University. On May 4, 2006, Marriott received an honorary doctorate of humanities from Weber State University during the university's 127th commencement. He also delivered the commencement address during those proceedings. Marriott was the recipient of the International Association of Business Communicators' Excellence in Communication Leadership Award on April 2, 2008. Cornell University School of Hotel Administration honored Bill Marriott on June 2, 2009, with the first ever Icon of the Industry Award during a ceremony at the Marriott Marquis in New York City. Marriott received the Foreign Language Advocacy Award in 2010 from the Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages in recognition of programs that provided language instruction to both non-English speaking and English speaking employees of Marriott Corporation and of training opportunities provided to young people entering the hospitality industry around the globe. Ernst & Young named Marriott the National/Overall Entrepreneur of the Year on November 19, 2016. Marriott received the National Maritime Historical Society's Distinguished Serve Award on April 25, 2018 at the Mayflower Hotel. Marriott served aboard the USS Randolph and provides corporate support to veterans. In 1993, J.W. Marriott received the Edison Achievement Award to honor his lifelong commitment to innovation.
Marriott has been married to Donna Garff for over 60 years and they have four children, fifteen grandchildren, and twenty great-grandchildren. Since 1978, the Marriotts have been supporters of the annual Festival of Lights on the grounds of the LDS Church's Washington D.C. Temple.
