From hotels (Groupe Lucien Barrière and Hilton) to a design firm. Why?
To have a more ‘entrepreneurship’journey-a new experience in a global luxury brand, and to bring my operational experience to the best interior design firm in hospitality. I have opened about 40 luxury properties in my career, mainly Waldorf Astoria, Conrad, and Hilton, as general manager, SVP operations, or international brand head. I am not a designer, not an architect, but I know what the guest needs.
Plans for Wilson Associates
To create the most prestigious, innovative, and luxurious global interior design brand. Our DNA and pillars (are?) being built on the legacy left by Trisha Wilson over the last 45 years.
Favorite place
My summerhouse in St Brevin, between La Baule and Nantes in Brittany, France. It’s my secret heaven, maybe the only place on earth where I have the ability to completely switch off.
Best advice I’ve ever received
Always spend 100 percent of your time doing your job, 15 percent networking, and 15 percent benchmarking. That’s 130 percent.
When I travel, I can’t live without
My Philip Stein sleeping bracelet. I can fly from Dallas to Shanghai and sleep 14 hours. I generally don’t even see take off.
I collect
Watches. I have about 30 different brands and I always travel with three different models.
Food I crave
Has to be French food. Snails with garlic, frog legs, and foie gras. A bit cliché, not healthy for the diet, but amazingly good and tasty.