Barry Sternlicht

Barry Stuart Sternlicht (born November 27, 1960) is an American billionaire and the co-founder (with Bob Faith), chairman, and CEO of Starwood Capital Group, an investment fund with over $60 billion in assets under management.[3] He is also chairman of Starwood Property Trust.[4] He is the co-founder of Starwood and served as its CEO from 1995 to 2005.[4]

Barry Sternlicht
Born (1960-11-27) November 27, 1960[1]
New York City, U.S.
EducationBrown University (BS)
Harvard University (MBA)
Known forFounding of Starwood Capital Group, Starwood, and W Hotels
Net worthUS$3.3 billion (January 2021)[2]
Spouse(s)Mimi Reichert (1980s–2016)

Sternlicht is on the board of directors of Invitation Homes, the Estée Lauder Companies[5] Baccarat Crystal,[4] Robin Hood Foundation[6] Dreamland Community Theatre,[7] the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation’s National Leadership Advocacy Program,[8] and the Business Committee for the Arts.[9]

He has previously been on the board of directors of the Pension Real Estate Association[10] and the Real Estate Roundtable.[11] He is a past trustee of his alma mater, Brown University.[12]

Sternlicht's style has been described as "intense and impetuous".[13]

Early life

Sternlicht was born in New York City in 1960[4] and grew up in Stamford, Connecticut.[8] His father, Maurycy Sternlicht, was a plant manager and a survivor of The Holocaust from Poland.[14][15] His mother, Harriet, was from New York and worked as a biology teacher and stockbroker.[15] In 1982, he graduated magna cum laude, from Brown University. He then worked as an arbitrage trader on Wall Street.[16][4][17] In 1986, he received a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School.

Career

After graduation, he went to work for JMB Realty, a real estate investment company in Chicago. In 1989, at the start of the savings and loan crisis and the early 1990s recession, he was laid off.[18]

In 1991, at the age of 31, with Bob Faith, 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.[3] Sternlicht raised $20 million from the families of William Bernard Ziff Jr. and Carter Burden of New York to fund these purchases.[18][19]

In 1993, Sternlicht contributed the apartment portfolio to Sam Zell's Equity Residential in exchange for a 20% stake in the company.[20]

In 1994, at the age of 36, in partnership with Goldman Sachs, Sternlicht's company purchased Westin Hotels & Resorts in a $561 million transaction.[19] Sternlicht's innovations included W Hotels and the Westin Heavenly Bed.[21] The bed was modeled after the bed in Sternlicht's home.[22]

In January 1995, Sternlicht purchased Hotel Investors Trust, an almost-bankrupt real estate investment trust,[17] and took over as CEO.[4]

In 1997, Sternlicht's company acquired Sheraton Hotels and Resorts in a $13.3 billion transaction, topping a bid by Hilton Worldwide.[23]

Barry Sternlicht also makes venture investments out of his family office, JAWS Capital - which has also engaged in two separate SPACs.[24]

Awards

In 1998, Sternlicht received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.[25]

In 2004, Sternlicht was named "America’s Best Lodging CEO" by Institutional Investor magazine.[26]

In 2005, Sternlicht was inducted into the Interior Design Magazine Hall of Fame.[27]

In 2010, Commercial Property Executive named Sternlicht "Executive of the Year" and "Investor of the Year".[28][16]

Personal life

Barry Sternlicht was married to Mimi (née Reichert) Sternlicht, who he met at Brown University, but they separated in 2016. They have 3 children together.[29]

In 2016, Sternlicht moved to Florida.[30]

Wealth

According to Forbes, Sternlicht had an estimated net worth of $3.2 billion as of October 2020, making him the 260th richest person in the United States.[2]

Philanthropy

In 2007, Sternlicht funded a $1 million grant to the Harvard Stem Cell Institute to support research for a cure for diabetes.[31]

Political contributions

Sternlicht is a Republican. He is a "self-described friend and golf partner" of Donald Trump but was disappointed Trump did not move to the political center as President of the United States.[32] In 2008, Sternlicht donated first to the Hillary Clinton 2008 presidential primary campaign and then to the Barack Obama 2008 presidential campaign.[33] In 2012, Sternlicht contributed $70,800 to the presidential campaign of Mitt Romney.[33] In 2016, Sternlicht contributed $125,000 to Right to Rise, the political action committee created to support the Jeb Bush 2016 presidential campaign.[33] Sternlicht also contributed $1,000 to oppose 2008 California Proposition 8, which would have banned same-sex marriage in California.[34]

References
  1. Corporate Yellow Book: Who's who at the Leading Listed U.S. Companies. Monitor Publishing Company. 2008.
  2. "Barry Sternlicht". Forbes. Retrieved 2021-01-22.
  3. "Starwood Capital Group: Business".
  4. "Starwood Capital Group: Team".
  5. "Board of Directors". Estée Lauder Companies.
  6. "Robin Hood Board of Directors". Robin Hood Foundation.
  7. "Dreamland Theater: BOARD OF DIRECTORS". Nantucket Dreamland Foundation.
  8. "Stamford Native, Chairman & CEO of Starwood Capital Group To Be Honored At MS Dinner Of Champions". National Multiple Sclerosis Society. August 29, 2013.
  9. "Business Committee for the Arts Executive Board".
  10. "Pension Real Estate Association: Past Directors".
  11. "Board of Directors". Real Estate Roundtable.
  12. "Brown University: Leadership". Brown University.
  13. Sellers, Patricia (May 10, 1999). "Divorce Corporate Style". Fortune.
  14. MCDOWELL, EDWIN (September 7, 1997). "Hiltons They Aren't: 2 Guys In a Hurry". The New York Times.
  15. Roth, Daniel (September 17, 2007). "Barry Sternlicht: Revenge of the Hotel King". Condé Nast.
  16. Rosta, Paul (April 27, 2011). "Renaissance Man: As Starwood Capital Turns 20, Founder Barry Sternlicht Explores New Paths". Commercial Property Executive.
  17. WARNER, MELANIE (December 8, 1997). "HOW BARRY STERNLICHT BECAME THE KING OF HOTELS". Fortune.
  18. LEONARD, DEVIN (May 29, 2010). "Barry Sternlicht, the Real Estate Bargain Hunter". The New York Times.
  19. MCDOWELL, EDWIN (November 26, 1994). "Westin Hotel Co. to Be Sold To Starwood and Goldman". The New York Times.
  20. Goldfarb, Jeffrey (October 26, 2015). "Keep one eye on Sam Zell's "For Sale" sign". Reuters.
  21. Beirne, Mike (October 10, 2005). "Barry Sternlicht, Starwood Hotels and Resorts". AdWeek.
  22. Borcover, Alfred (November 14, 2004). "Hotel bed wars: The undercover fight". Chicago Tribune.
  23. SANCHEZ, JESUS (October 21, 1997). "ITT to Be Acquired by Starwood Lodging". Los Angeles Times.
  24. "Barry Sternlicht's second SPAC Jaws Spitfire Acquisition prices upsized $300 million IPO at $10". Renaissance Capital. Retrieved 2021-01-19.
  25. "Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement". www.achievement.org. American Academy of Achievement.
  26. "The best CEOs in America". Institutional Investor. January 16, 2004.
  27. Kaiser, Laura Fisher (May 31, 2014). "Barry Sternlicht: 2005 Hall of Fame Inductee". Interior Design.
  28. Silverman, Suzann D. (November 30, 2010). "Sternlicht Named CPE Executive of the Year". Commercial Property Executive.
  29. Johnson, Richard (January 5, 2016). "This billionaire just became New York's most eligible bachelor". Page Six.
  30. Clark, Patrick (September 14, 2016). "What Good Is a $20 Million Mansion if You Can't Walk to Dinner?". Bloomberg News.
  31. "Sternlicht gift to support diabetes research". Harvard University. Winter 2007.
  32. Celarier, Michelle (October 27, 2017). "Billionaire Republicans Privately Diss Trump". New York.
  33. "Barry Sternlicht: Political Campaign Contributions 2012 Election Cycle".
  34. "Proposition 8: Who gave in the gay marriage battle?". Los Angeles Times.
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