Barry Sternlicht

Early life and education

Sternlicht was born in New York City in 1960 and grew up in Stamford, Connecticut. He is the son of a Holocaust survivor from Poland, Maurycy Sternlicht. His father worked as a plant manager; his mother, Harriet, was from New York and worked as a biology teacher and stockbroker. In 1982, he graduated magna cum laude, with honors, from Brown University. He then worked as an arbitrage trader on Wall Street. In 1986, he received his MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School. After graduation, he went to work for JMB Realty, a real estate investment company, in Chicago where he learned the real estate business. In 1989, after the real estate market collapsed, he was laid off and went into business on his own.

Career

In 1991, at the age of 31, Sternlicht launched Starwood Capital Group to buy apartment buildings that were being sold by the Resolution Trust Corporation, created by the federal government to hold and liquidate the real estate assets owned by failed banks after the savings and loan crisis. Sternlicht was able to raise $20 million from the families of William Bernard Ziff, Jr. and Carter Burden of New York to fund these purchases.

In 1993, Sternlicht sold the apartment portfolio to real estate magnate Sam Zell in exchange for a 20% stake in Equity Residential, which turned out to be a very profitable investment.

Hotels

In 1994, in partnership with Goldman Sachs, Sternlicht's company purchased Westin Hotels & Resorts in a $561 million transaction. Sternlicht's innovations included the "W" brand of hotels and the Westin Heavenly Bed. The bed was modeled after the bed in Sternlicht's home.

In January 1995, Sternlicht purchased Hotel Investors Trust, an almost-bankrupt real estate investment trust, and took over as CEO.

In 1997, Sternlicht's company acquired ITT Sheraton in a $13.3 billion transaction, topping a bid by Hilton Worldwide.

Awards

In 2004, Sternlicht was named "America’s Best Lodging CEO" by Institutional Investor magazine.

In 2005, Sternlicht was inducted into the Interior Design Magazine Hall of Fame.

In 2010, Commercial Property Executive named Sternlicht "Executive of the Year" and "Investor of the Year".

Board positions

Sternlicht serves on the Board of Directors of the Estée Lauder Companies and Baccarat S.A. He serves as Chairman of the Board of Robin Hood Foundation and is on the boards of the Dreamland Community Theatre, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation’s National Leadership Advocacy Program and the Business Committee for the Arts.

He has previously served on the board of directors of the Pension Real Estate Association and the Real Estate Roundtable. He is a past trustee of his alma mater, Brown University.

Philanthropy

In 2007, Sternlicht funded a $1 million grant to the Harvard Stem Cell Institute to support research for a cure for diabetes.

Political contributions

In 2012, Sternlicht contributed $70,800 to the presidential campaign of Mitt Romney. In 2016, Sternlicht contributed $125,000 to Right to Rise, the political action committee created to support the 2016 election of Jeb Bush.

Sternlicht also contributed $1,000 to oppose California Proposition 8 (2008), which would have banned same-sex marriage in California.

Personal life

Barry Sternlicht was married to Mimi (née Reichert) Sternlicht, who he met at Brown University, but they separated in 2016.

In 2016, Sternlicht moved to Florida.