Jolyon Bulley, CEO, Americas & Group Transformation Lead, Luxury & Lifestyle, IHG Hotels & Resorts

Rachel, thank you. Great, good afternoon. Looking forward to spending a little bit of time today. You've had an incredibly exciting and accomplished journey so far, and I get to hear about a few of the things that you think have really been pivotal in that journey for you. So we will jump right in. I always wanted to be in the hospitality industry. My grandparents on my mother's side were innkeepers in England many years ago, so maybe that's where it came into my genes. As a young boy growing up in Australia, I really enjoyed the opportunity of staying in a hotel on holidays. I was fascinated by hospitality, the home away from home, and how a hotel worked. I used to pester my father to take me on business trips so I could follow the staff around the hotel. There was no question that when I graduated from school, I'd go to hotel school, which I did in Melbourne. Then I joined Hilton, one of our formidable competitors, and did their management development program for three years, working around the hotel in different functions. That was a great extension of my educational learning to get practical experience. The industry provided opportunities to work in other locations, and I've lived in eight countries and worked across probably a hundred countries. Here I am in the Americas. One pivotal moment was the opportunity to work internationally with IHG. I moved from Australia to Southeast Asia to set up our business there, which was intrepid territory. That triggered off a whole lot of other elements, and I pinged around Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, China, and eventually to the US. I've been fortunate that people have seen potential in me, and I've had flexibility and support to take on roles that required relocation. A big platform for my leadership journey has been my family and their support.

Yeah, well, I see our industry as a passport to the world. We are a global business, and the principles of hotel operations are pretty consistent across the globe. But it's a big step to make internationally, especially to countries completely foreign in culture. I took my first step to Southeast Asia, to Malaysia, an exotic island destination. Once there, reality steps in with cultural adaptation, different methods, philosophies, and regulatory environments. But the principles of our industry remain the same. That was a big learning curve, and I took it on the chin and learned from my mistakes. After Malaysia, we went to Thailand, then back to Australia for five or six years to start a family, which I advise for infrastructure and support. We set off again to Southeast Asia, and I moved from being an assistant GM to a hotel GM, a big milestone. Then I pivoted to the corporate environment in sales, marketing, revenue, and hotel operations. Living in Singapore, stepping into corporate was foreign turf, but it gave broader exposure to different countries. I looked after Southeast Asia, India, Southwest continent, and Korea, diverse cultures to work in. You build muscle by respecting local environments, contributing to local business, developing local talent, and playing within the rules. It's challenging but stimulating, providing a deeper appreciation of the industry and a big learning curve. You need courage, conviction, and an open mind to adapt.

One of the big learnings, Rachel, was dealing with unpredictability. There are different factors like regulatory, cultural, or business environments, political influences, natural disasters—things you don't foresee. In that part of the world, there was always unpredictability and uncertainty. Being prepared, but also making sound advice, decisions, or directions for the owner, guest, community, brand, and country was important. Being decisive in a very measured manner was key. You learn that countries move at different speeds. Some are more bureaucratic, others like China have rapid change. You had to move with the speed of the country to succeed, keeping the balance of strategy, execution, speed, and what's best for stakeholders. Learning fast but not being careless in decisions that could disrupt the environment, while growing business within opportunities. So, decisiveness, measured speed, and understanding core values.

Thank you again. I'm in the advanced stage of my career and have had opportunities where someone believed in my potential or invested time to provide candid feedback. There was someone I met, familiar to IHG and our industry, Keith Barr. I met Keith probably 20 plus years ago. His wife Diana is from New Zealand, and he was working in the US while I was in Australia. We had an affiliation, working for IHG at the time, and it created a great friendship and partnership. He moved to Australia, I moved to Southeast Asia, and we kept in touch on the Asia-Pacific team. He was a rising star at IHG. Over the years, we developed a mentor-coach friendship. When Keith went to China as CEO for Greater China, he encouraged me to consider China, providing learnings. Then he asked me to be his Chief Operating Officer in Greater China, and we worked together for years. That mentor-coaching relationship built into a big career step. A couple of years later, Keith went to the UK as Chief Global Marketing and Commercial Officer. When the opportunity came for me to be COO in the Americas, he played a big role in providing counsel and reassurance. Later, Keith became Global CEO, and during transformation in 2016-17, he asked me to take on the CEO for Greater China, our fastest growing region. That's an example of being coached and mentored by Keith. We built a great rapport as peers, bosses, developing careers together. Communication was two-way, with valuable feedback. The key message is it's got to be two ways, informal but structured, with the power of listening and thoughtful conversations. I've played that role for others, reflecting on experiences. Keith played a big part in my development, giving me courage and conviction for transpacific opportunities.

Wow, we are in such a dynamic environment. Coming out of the pandemic, seeing the post-pandemic surge in our industry, but it's changed mindsets about professional and personal life, work-life balance. That level of change keeps me curious. There are things to deal with daily, monthly, yearly, and this year has unforeseen events globally. Having that level of what does this mean, how can I influence elements short-term or long-term to build our business best for guests, owners, stakeholders, shareholders. That curiousness, you can ponder or analyze, but you need agility, decisiveness, fact-based decisions to look over the fence and not ponder too much. Being acutely aware that short-term is important, but play the long game because fundamentals of our industry are great through demographics, rising middle class. Our industry has a great future, so never underestimate the potential. Be curious but don't ponder.

It's a good question. We're always looking to develop or strengthen skills. I'm a hotel guy, grew up in operations, building leadership or general management skills, very execution-focused. When I moved into the corporate environment, two things were needed. First, thinking more strategically. That's not a skill you learn from a book, but building muscle and awareness, thinking longer-term, getting an end state in mind. I took external learning, followed examples, but self-awareness and discipline were important. I still question myself: am I thinking strategically, emotionally, short-term? The second thing is a strong appreciation of data—getting the right level, one version of truth, insights for decisions. I use data and facts to inform insight and action, but I never drown in data points, as we can get too much and miss outcomes. These are areas where I've received feedback and built muscle, imparting qualities on others.

I think in the youngest stages of our career, we probably put work over life harmony. Our industry never closes, open 24/7, 365 days a year. A room lost is a room lost. It's a daily business, very demanding. One lesson was having a supportive family willing to change schools, countries, homes, friendship bases, and come along the journey, building a stronger family. Regarding work-life harmony, when I went into new environments, I didn't spend enough time settling them in for success—I'd run off to start the new role. That's natural for growing careers. It gave me a greater appreciation of family. My three children are adults now in the US, some in Atlanta and New York. When I was in China during the pandemic, I got stuck for 10 or 11 months, couldn't leave. I had moments of reflecting on work-life balance decisions—why not just come home? They were very understanding, and video conferencing helped. When I came home, it gave me a greater appreciation of work-life harmony, time for yourself, partner, and family, doing it naturally without overburdening. It took me a long time to appreciate that, and now I keep balance. I'm very selective on travel for professional and personal reasons, thoughtful about when, why, and how to travel at my best, and being present for family. I've learned hard lessons, some I didn't learn from, and it took me a while to realize importance for individuals and loved ones.

Look, coming back last year into familiar territory, but our business and environment were different. It's been difficult for owners, hotels, us personally, with headwinds hurting stakeholders. I was on a relearning curve, listening to people, and it comes back to thinking the long-term game. I got back to asking what can I do to change the course, realizing there are external factors I couldn't change. So, how can we help constituents and stakeholders navigate this? Ensure business stabilization, provide right support to hotels, right organization and employment, then think the long term. I went back to fundamentals—the industry is great, we'll come through together stronger. This unpredictability and headwinds are cyclic. As CEO, I tell myself to think the long term, believe in the future, and ensure we come through uncertain times bigger, better, stronger as an organization and industry. Playing a role in advocating for the industry through owners' associations, AHLA, and other networks, what we can do together stronger to advocate for the future and potential ahead.

Some of it comes back to work-life balance, but me giving advice to a 21-year-old about that is probably dad talk. There are three things that resonate. First, never underestimate your potential. People will tell you the good, bad, and ugly; some won't. That was one thing for me. Second, courage. My mother says to me all the time when I pick up the phone about new jobs, 'You're a courageous young boy, Jolyon.' She's 91, and I'm not far behind, but that resonates: don't underestimate your potential, be realistic, but when opportunity comes, have courage in yourself, confidence that someone recognizes you, and underlying courage will help push you along. Third, recognize the potential of others. Early in my career, it was very Anglo-Saxon male-dominated. Today, we're developing talent throughout the organization, modeling the way in developing, recognizing, appointing talent, and having courage around that. I've had examples in the last five to ten years, like in China, where it's a male-dominated culture, but I brought balance of female talent. When I left China, leadership was 50/50 male-female. Localization of talent is important. I'm committed to leaving a legacy of modeling that way and making a difference to people's lives and careers. So: don't underestimate yourself, have courage, and develop and support others.

First, thank you for advocating this agenda for our industry and the broader agenda. We are a people-serving people business, and people's lives matter. We're there to serve customers, providing the most personal needs to eat, sleep, be recognized. It's not complicated, but we rely upon people to provide services to guests and owners. Think about the environment you live in, the role you need to play in your community, and principles that set the foundation of your organization and personal values. My commitment is to model the way and provide opportunities for people, whether interns, our summer intern graduation program, people joining for the first time, growing and developing careers. Everybody has a role and a right to play.