Hilton has tapped former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer to join its board of directors, potentially succeeding longtime director Judith McHale.
Mayer will stand for election to the board at Hilton’s annual shareholders meeting in May, the company announced in a Tuesday release. If elected, Mayer will succeed McHale, who had previously expressed intention to retire.
Mayer would bring “deep technology expertise” to Hilton’s board, according to the company. From 2012 to 2017, Mayer served as Yahoo CEO and held a seat on the IT company’s board of directors. She also has more than a decade of leadership experience at Google, per Hilton.
In 2018, Mayer went on to co-found Sunshine Products, a technology startup that uses artificial intelligence to develop consumer-facing applications for automating everyday tasks, per Hilton.
“We look forward to welcoming Marissa Mayer given her extensive consumer and technology expertise in a time when new technologies are presenting a wide array of opportunities for companies to grow,” said Jon Gray, chairman of Hilton’s board of directors, in a statement. “Marissa’s track record as a technology innovator, entrepreneur and Fortune 500 CEO makes her well-suited to support Hilton in its next chapter of growth.”
If elected, Mayer will replace McHale, who has served on the Hilton board since 2013 as a member of the Audit Committee and Compensation Committee. She became chair of the Compensation Committee in 2018. Other board members include Hilton CEO Christopher Nassetta, former Sweetgreen COO Chris Carr and Revlon executive Elizabeth Smith.
Mayer currently serves on the boards of AT&T, Walmart and Nextdoor Holdings, per Hilton.
Other hospitality companies to recently make board changes include Marriott International, which elected Taco Bell CEO Sean Tresvant as an independent director in January, and the U.S. Travel Association, which selected MGM Resorts International CEO Bill Hornbuckle as national chair last month.
