Title
Former SVP Global Sales
Company
Marriott International
Bio

David Townshend is a forward-thinking and results-driven business professional.  His 38-year career with Marriott International is distinguished with success and recognition.  David joined Marriott in 1976.  For the first 11 years, he worked in a variety of on-property operations and sales & marketing positions.  The remaining 27 years were spent in numerous national and global account sales leadership roles.  In 1997, David, as Vice-President, developed and launched Marriott’s Alliance Accounts Sales Organization, the lodging industry’s first true strategic/total account management selling model. His work resulted in the company receiving the 2004 Strategic Account Management Program of the Year award from the Strategic Account Management Association (SAMA). This new and innovative sales approach paved the way for how Marriott (and the industry) deploys much of its sales force today.  From 2011 - 2015, David was Marriott’s Senior Vice President, Global Sales, responsible for providing strategic leadership and management oversight to Marriott’s worldwide global accounts organization.  With offices in more than 60 countries, a team of 450 sales professionals manage strategic, business-to-business relationships with Tier-1 multi-national corporations, international trade and professional associations, and third-party intermediaries that produce over $10 billion in system-wide sales to Marriott’s global brands, annually.  Over his years at Marriott, David was known for his passion for the business and for always putting the customer first, and for his proven track-record in building and leading high-performing global teams.  David has been active in several national industry associations including the Professional Convention Management Association and the Global Business Travel Association. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Virginia Hospital Center, the Virginia Hospital Center Foundation, and Meeting Play, LLC.  He graduated from the University of Denver with a Degree in Business Administration, majoring in Hotel & Restaurant Management.  David enjoys golf, snow skiing and water sports.  He lives in Arlington, Virginia with his wife and three adult children.