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Barry S. Sternlicht is Chairman and CEO of Starwood Capital Group and Chairman of SH Hotels & Resorts. For the past twenty-four years, he has structured investment transactions with an asset value of more than $65 billion. From 1995 through early 2005, Sternlicht was Chairman and CEO of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc., a company he founded in 1995. Starwood Hotels employed over 120,000 people and was one of the leading hotel and leisure companies in the world with more than 895 properties in 100 countries. Starwood was a fully integrated owner, operator and franchiser of hotels with nine brands, including: St. Regis, The Luxury Collection, W Hotels, Sheraton, Westin, Le Meridien, and Four Points.

Sternlicht has been credited as a dynamic and innovative hotel leader, creating new products and programs with immediate global appeal. He created W Hotels, perhaps the world’s most successful "boutique" brand, and grew the St. Regis brand from a single property to a global luxury hotel chain. Some of his innovations include the creation of Westin’s "Heavenly Bed," "Heavenly Bath," and "Westin Workout," and Starwood Preferred Guest, the world’s first frequent traveler program with "no blackouts."