The Westin Alumni Association (WAA) was established in 1991, and is dedicated only to maintaining an accurate database of former Westin colleagues who meet a membership criteria as mentioned under "eligibility". There is no cost attendant with membership, however, goodwill contributions are welcome and help to defray costs for maintaining the web site and member database.
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Volunteer WAA Officers & Board
Current Officers
President: Ray Sylvester
Treasurer: Michael Horrocks
At Large Board Members
Bill Dougherty (U.S.)
Andrew Jones (Asia)
Bill Moyer (U.S.)
Silvio Berron (Mexico & Central America)
Nancy Peel (U.S.)
Dick Whaley (U.S.)
Past Board Members
Sue Brush
Pat Carey: Past President (FD) (D)
Charles D. Comstock: Past President (FD) (D)
Larry Dustin, Past Past President (FD)
William D. Ellis: Immediate Past Treasurer (FD)
Wm. H. (Bill) Ellis: Founding Director (Deceased)
Denis Forristal
Christine Gildow
Doug Hales
J. Wm. (Bill) Keithan: Past President (FD) (D)
C.R. (Bob) Lindquist: (FD) (D)
Dan McClaskey (FD)
Chris Marker
Jorg Neuenhaus (Mexico & Central America)
Russ Nickel: Past President
Cherie Ohlson
Ron Spellecy
(FD) Founding Director
(D) Deceased
Thank you for visiting the Westin Alumni Association (WAA) website! From its founding in 1991 the sole purpose of the WAA was to provide means for former Westin associates to stay in touch, i.e., friends keeping in touch with friends. That remains our purpose to this day. With the purchase by Starwood in 1998 the company, Westin Hotels & Resorts, founded in 1930, ceased to exist, thus the association focuses on the years that Western Hotels operated as a company, namely 1930-1998. Until May of 2018 membership was restricted to those who had worked in the corporate, regional sales, and affiliate offices such as Westin Service & Supply, which was later named FORMA. Within hotels membership was restricted to General Managers, Executive Assistant Managers and Division Heads. Then, with the concurrence of the WAA board in March 2018, potential membership was expanded to include those who had worked in any capacity for the company for 5 or more years. The group selected five years as a time period that would allow an associate to learn the history of the company and to understand its culture and values.
Over the years various groups of alums dispersed around the globe have arranged to meet for lunch, dinner or even for a weekend. Events have taken place in Tokyo, Oslo, Denver, Mexico City, Guadalajara, Johannesburg, Vancouver, Ottawa, Seattle, Denver, Phoenix, Washington, D.C., Bellevue (2006) and Las Vegas (2016 & 2019). The latter three were weekend events that drew hundreds of members from around the globe.
We hope that you will enjoy the history, photos, stories and trips down memory lane as you view the website content.
Western Hotels, later Western International Hotels, Westin Hotels, and Westin Hotels & Resorts was an innovative and storied company populated with outstanding people!
Yes, people did make the difference!
Sincerely,
Ray Sylvester
President
Westin Years 1965-1998
Stay connected using platforms such as Zoom. Skype and WhatsApp.
Top L to R: Dick Whaley, Ray Sylvester, Michael Horrocks, Nancy Peel, Roger Young, Jim France, Andrew Jones, Russ Nickel, Chris marker, Larry Dustin, Chuck Brown and Jean Spaulding
PRUDENTIAL
Annuity Plan
Effective August 1, 2021 Prudential will become the administrator of the SERP Plan for employees of Westin Hotel Company under group annuity contract number GR=4704, issued by Connecticut General Life Insurance Company (CGLIC) and reinsured by Prudential Retirement Insurance and Annuity Company (Prudential).
Questions on or after August 2, 2021, call 1-800-621-1089. Hours 8AM to 9PM Eastern time, Monday through Friday
If you want to set up an online account you can do so at this link: http://www.prudential.com/retirementgateway
Marriott
The mHUB Service Center at 1-833-900-6482. Representatives are available M-F from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern time. Ask for retirement benefits.
Retirees covered by the SERP are paid through Nothern Trust PO Box 1405 Lincolnshire, IL 60069; 1-312567-9700
Take a look at some of the past Front magazine covers. Jay Aven saved 59 Front magazines and has contributed them to the Westin Collection.
Prior to May of 1941 the Western Hotels employee communication publication was WHEM, Western Hotels Employees Magazine. In April of 1941, a company-wide contest was conducted to select a new name for publication. FRONT was the winning entry.
The Hospitality Industry Archives (HIA) at the University of Houston has over 330 of the combined publications.
The annual message to members indicated the Board's decision to begin a project, in conjunction with the HIA, to digitize these publications. On February 6, 2019 WAA Treasurer, Michael Horrocks, presented a check for $2,500 to HIA Director Dr. Mark Young as a first installment to begin this process.
The outcome will be the ability for any interested party to go on line and connect to the U . of H. servers to explore the history of the Company.
Click here for a sample FRONT Magazine in digitized format.
Your donation of $100 will help to make this a reality. Send your check to: WAA | 5130 Chevy Chase Drive| Houston, TX 77056 THANK YOU!