A novel approach to inclusion and outreach to be tested at the Hilton Chicago O’Hare Airport hotel

Author's Biography

Gregory Rockett was a member of the Hilton Development team from 2004 to 2018 as Vice President of Development. Initially, he held the responsibility for hotel expansion in Latin America and the Caribbean and later assumed responsibility for Corporate Development in North America with a focus on public-private hotel initiatives. Gregory’s previous experience includes nine years with the Hotel Development group of Marriott International. While based in Madrid for three years, he led the expansion efforts in Spain, Portugal and Italy and prior to that, he was based in Washington, DC, as Director of Feasibility and Market Analysis in Latin America and the Caribbean. He has been involved in the hotel and tourism industry for more than 30 years, mostly focused on international markets. He has a bachelor’s degree in hotel and restaurant management from the University of Houston, Conrad N Hilton College, and a master of business administration from the University of Maryland University College. Gregory has served as Adjunct Professor of the Masters in Professional Hospitality Management Programme at Georgetown University. Currently, he is serving as Professor of Practice at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University School of Hotel and Tourism Management.

Michelle Yokoyama is an attorney at Chico & Nunes, PC, in Chicago, Illinois. She started her career as a corporate attorney at Jonesday where she was a member of the mergers and acquisitions and capital markets practice. Michelle has extensive international experience, including practicing corporate law at Morrison & Foerster at its Tokyo office. During her time in Japan, she represented publicly and privately held companies in transactional, corporate and securities matters, including cross-border mergers and acquisitions and the representation of fund sponsors and institutional investors in connection with the formation of venture capital and other private equity funds. Prior to joining Chico & Nunes, Michelle spent over seven years working as in-house counsel at the Chicago Department of Aviation where she handled the Department’s transactional matters. In this role, she provided legal counsel with respect to a variety of issues including: procurement, contract compliance, regulatory compliance, real estate, trademark and intellectual property, inter-governmental relations, concessions, planning and development, construction, insurance and airport operations. Michelle focuses her practice on aviation industry transactions, government contracting, procurement, regulatory compliance, supplier diversity and corporate matters.