Roger Dow
Senior Vice President
General Sales Manager for Marriott International
Roger Dow was an executive-on-campus in October of 2001.
He is Senior Vice President, General Sales Manager for Marriott International. As Marriott's lead customer advocate, he works with a 5,000-person sales force for over 2,000 properties worldwide. Sales and Marketing Management has named Marriott to its "Top 25 Sales Forces in the U.S." list for the fourth consecutive year.
Starting as a lifeguard at Marriott's sixth hotel, he learned the service business from a "hands-on perspective." During his 30 years with Marriott, he has directed every aspect of sales and marketing, including: advertising, public relations, promotion, sales training, compensation and succession planning.
Mr. Dow has earned a reputation as one of the most creative and innovative people in sales and service. He developed what is now known as the Marriott Rewards Program, which is ranked as the nation's leading Frequent Traveler Program. Believing that customer and associate retention are the key factors of long-term success, Mr. Dow introduced the Quality Improvement Process at Marriott.
Roger co-authored TURNED ON--Eight Vitael Insights to Energize Your People, Customers and Profits and THE TRUST IMPERATIVE--The Competitive Advantage of Trust-Based Business Relationships.
Roger Dow is Co-Founder of "The Leadership Forum 2000." The members are from America's most respected values driven organizations and are committed to customer satisfaction, quality and team empowerment. The Forum is dedicated to building competitive advantage through service/quality leadership principles and practices.
Mr. Dow has worked with the Tom Peters Group as an executive consultant. He is dedicated to helping multi-unit organizations achieve long term differentiation and sustained growth by empowering their associates to understand and exceed customer expectations on a consistent basis. His high energy presentations are laced with humor and practical "real-world" examples.
Meeting Professionals International recently named Dow the industry's top leader. The American Society of Association Executives honored him as the twelfth industry recipient of their prestigious Academy of Leaders Award. He has served on the board of directors for
- the American Society of Association Executives;
- Professional Convention Management Association;
- ASAE Foundation; and
- Meeting Professionals International Foundation.
Roger Dow has lectured on leadership and management at the following business schools:
- Arizona State University,
- George Washington University,
- Northwestern Kellogg School,
- Rochester Institute of Technology,
- Texas A&M,
- University of Southern California,
- University of South Carolina,
- Utah State and
- Tulane.
From 1969 to 1971 he served in the United States Army with the 101st Airborne Division in Vietnam where he received the Bronze Star and other citations. In 1968, Mr. Dow received his B.S. in psychology from Seton Hall University, where he was senior class president, captain of the varsity wrestling team and secretary of Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity. He was named TKE alumnus of the year for 1991 and was presented with the award by President Ronald Reagan.
Roger resides in Bethesda, Maryland with his wife and two children.