Name: Brigitta Witt
Title: Vice President, Environmental Affairs
Company: Hyatt Hotels & Resorts
My primary responsibilities: “I oversee Hyatt’s environmental programs across the entire company. I work with our offices around the world in helping to develop a sustainability strategy. I am also responsible for providing our 90,000 employees with the tools and information they need to make environmental responsibility a part of their everyday jobs.”
What keeps me motivated each day: “I am motivated by having an opportunity to do something I am fundamentally passionate about.”
Company’s most significant environmental accomplishment so far: “Having so many employees who are so engaged and motivated to do the right things. Having green teams.”
Our biggest environmental challenge: “The reality is that a lot of the markets we are in don’t always support the best way to do things. Sustainable waste management is one example. It won’t succeed without a municipal system to support it.”
CHICAGO—November 1, 2007 was a big day for Brigitta Witt. It was her first day working as Vice President, Environmental Affairs for Hyatt Hotels & Resorts. Every day since has been even bigger because she has begun to tackle projects that few other hotel company executives have tried. One is the development of a corporate environmental policy; another is the development of green educational programs for all 90,000 employees. Fortunately for Witt, she is going to have a lot of help.
“Throughout our hotel operations, we have had people responsible for executing sustainability initiatives,” Witt says. “I have a tremendous amount of support at the corporate and regional level. At the individual hotel level, many of our hotels have been doing things on their own for a long time.”
Hyatt Hotels & Resorts now has more than 730 hotels in 45 countries and is growing rapidly, Witt says. Each location has had its own environmental challenges and successes. In Santiago, Chile, for example, there is no infrastructure for recycling. On the flip side, Hyatt’s new 267-room Andaz London hotel uses 80 percent less water than other hotels its size.
Quiet, Authentic Approach
Witt says Hyatt has selected a name for its corporate sustainability program but wishes to keep it internal at this point.
“We are very quiet about what we do,” she says. “We don’t talk a lot about our efforts. We are trying to do it very authentically.”
She adds that the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program is something Hyatt is very engaged in but the company is not yet ready to officially endorse it. The company’s focus this year is to determine what the best green building and operations standards are.
“Building hotels that are sustainable is important,” Witt says. “We already incorporate LEED standards. We are actively working to help define what is the right building standard. [In addition to LEED], Green Seal is a program we are looking at. We already have tools that we have been using for years that help us measure our energy and waste consumption. We measure these monthly and yearly. We also measure the waste our hotels produce each month.”
Witt says Hyatt is engaged in building hotels with the future in mind, exploring new alternative technologies that they eventually will be able to deploy.
“Challenging our suppliers is also a big focus for me,” she says. “With as much as we purchase, there is a huge opportunity there.”
Green Work History
Prior to working at Hyatt, Witt was senior director of business development and general manager for GreenDimes, an organization dedicated to reducing the production and eco-strains of junk mail. Her responsibilities included managing daily operations and establishing partnerships with global companies and organizations. Witt has spent the greater part of her professional career developing and implementing large-scale programs and initiatives at a variety of organizations.
In regard to Hyatt creating a sustainability position at the vice president level, Witt says it speaks volumes to the commitment the company has made to operate sustainable hotels.
“I work for a management team that is fully supportive of what I do,” she says. “A commitment to sustainability starts at the top.”
Go to Hyatt Hotels & Resorts.
Glenn Hasek can be reached at editor@greenlodgingnews.com.
