Meet Chris Schilder

Design leadership and mba degrees put to work at Marriott

The Design Leadership (MA/MBA) launched Chris Schilder’s career and gave him the tools to land a job as Marriott International’s senior manager in operation innovations. This dual degree focuses on elements of design thinking, design leadership, and business. It is offered through the Carey Business School and the Maryland Institute College of Art.

Schilder combines skills from the MBA and Design Leadership courses to bring a holistic approach to the hotel customer user experience— what is Marriott doing for its guests, and how can they do better?

For Schilder, the design and MBA degrees hit the mark by preparing him with both creative design skills and analytic business acumen.

“Design is what makes it really fun because it’s about people. And I really appreciate that I’m not just crunching numbers. I’m not just building analytic models,” Schilder said. “I get to say, what really matters to people, and how do I bring that to life? How do I make an experience better at a hotel, for a guest, for an associate?”