RICHARD C. BELL-IRVING

Richard Bell-Irving received his degree in Hotel Management from the British Columbia Institute of Technology in Vancouver, Canada.  A Canadian native (now a U.S. Citizen), he began his twenty-five year career with Marriott in Amsterdam and has held subsequent operations positions in Barbados, Dallas, Marina del Rey, Anaheim, Newport Beach and Atlanta Airport hotels.

Immediately prior to his move to Marriott HQ in Bethesda, Maryland he held two General Manager positions in Atlanta; at the Atlanta Northwest and Perimeter Center Marriott hotels. In 1989 Richard left operations for a staff role as the Vice President of Human Resources overseeing Human Resources operations, policy, and strategy for Marriott's Worldwide Lodging brands, playing a lead role in business redesign and process transformation.

Working with each Marriott Lodging Regional Vice President of Human Resources, Mr. Todd Clist, the President of Marriott Lodging, United States & Canada and the Senior Vice Presidents of each region, he created and aligned processes to enhance the working environment at each property in accordance with the overall Human Resources strategy. He played a lead role in creating this strategy, integrating Marriott products from an independent business structure to a "Brand Management" leadership concept and the resultant re-engineering of processes to gain lodging leverage.
His most recent focus within Marriott was as leader of a team tasked with implementing a Human Resources Information System (PeopleSoft HRMS 7.5) for Marriott International and the subsequent redesign of HR Processes. For many years, he was the voice of human resources with other re-engineering teams to ensure the vision, values and beliefs of Marriott were imbedded with each design.
In 1998 he was promoted to the position of Senior Vice President of Human Resources, Service Delivery and Support.  Responsible for a team of 75 managers and 30 associates, he was instrumental in designing and developing the implementation of the concept of Shared Services for Human Resources processes for all of Marriott International businesses, worldwide. In January of 1999, Richard accepted retirement after 25 years dedication to Marriott in order to utilize his talents and pursue his passion of assisting companies in the transformation of their businesses processes, with Insolv being the first of these new passions!

Richard was recently appointed to the Board of Directors of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).  In addition he is a member of the American Hotel and Motel Association (AH&MA) - Human Resources and Diversity Subcommittee and the AH&MA - Education Institute's Human Resources Executive Forum, Board of Directors. He was recently working with the California School of Professional Psychology, Board of Directors; and the HR Planning Society.

Richard has attended numerous Marriott executive development programs as well as the Executive courses offered at Harvard University and the University of Maryland. He is married to Danielle and they have two daughters: Nathalie and Claire. Richard's interests include leading edge technology, skiing, tennis and most outdoor sports.

His Guiding Principles:

• You must always have the highest level of integrity and confidentiality.

• Expect the best from yourself and others --you may be surprised!

• If you say you are going to do something; then do it - otherwise say no.

• Be accountable for your actions and say what you believe. We need lots of varying and different perspectives to make the best business decisions.

• Utilize your resources, seek to understand, work as a team.

• Be a "straight shooter". If you ask my opinion - I'll give you the "straight answer".

• Use technology to increase your productivity: work smarter, not harder.

• Be honest: it's OK to make a mistake but learn from your experiences. Just don't make the same one twice!

• Always focus on your customer. Your expertise is critical to their success.

• Be a risk taker and leader, but look behind you to ensure you are not all alone.

• Work hard, but have fun!