Leonard Gooz serves as global brand leader of Hilton Hotels & Resorts. In this role, Gooz is responsible for global brand strategy, portfolio-wide execution, customer experience, and the overall financial and commercial performance of the company’s flagship brand.
Gooz has been with Hilton since 2016 and formerly served as the global brand head of Home2 Suites By Hilton. Under his leadership, Home2 Suites expanded into new global markets, became the #1 brand in guest experience relative to its compset, the #1 brand in the US hotel construction pipeline, and has earned several awards, including being recognized as the #1 extended stay brand by the Entrepreneur magazine. In his previous roles at Hilton, Gooz led the Customer Experience and Innovation function, where he was responsible for brand prototype and product development, food & beverage, brand innovation, brand service delivery, communications, and events for Hilton’s Suites and Focused Service brands with a distribution of 4,700 hotels globally.
Prior to Hilton, Gooz served as the market leader at Ernst & Young (EY) where he led go to market strategy, quality and execution in EY’s Mid-Atlantic market and as a senior managing consultant with Gallup Consulting, where he led client engagements with Fortune 500 organizations, including Hilton. His insights have guided organizations in enhancing internal systems, processes, and produced top industry benchmarks in customer loyalty and related earnings growth.
Gooz’s studies include an M.B.A. from American University’s Kogod School of Business in Washington D.C., Asset Management from Cornell University, and a B.A. from Dordt College, IA, in Political Science.