NEWH - Winter 2013 - (Page 20)

Q&A Meet David Tracz Partner of Studio3877, and president of the Washington, DC Metro chapter Why/how did you become involved with NEWH? I became involved with NEWH after we had a project tour at one of my projects, the Courtyard Marriott Chevy Chase; it was a LEED building and NEWH wanted to do a tour. The chapter's sustainability director, Ryan Langlois and I worked on the project together-it seemed like an interesting group and everyone was very welcoming. I enjoyed working on hospitality projects and this seemed like a good way to get to know other people in the industry. The next year, Ryan was moving out of the country, so he suggested that I join and run for his position. The rest is history. What has it done for you? NEWH has been very instrumental in helping me to get to know people and see hospitality from a different view. The Leadership Conferences and the meet and greet events have helped me build my network. There is a lot of respect in the industry for NEWH and people are very impressed when I tell them I am the chapter president. I am constantly amazed at the camaraderie amongst members across the country and the number of people that have been heavily involved for a very long time. Lastly it has really helped me sharpen my leadership skills. There are some really awesome people involved in NEWH and they are all very willing to coach, push, and help you into whatever role you would like. You still have to work hard for it, but they are all there to support you. Did you set any goals as president? Th is last year has been all about shoring up some really great big events, like our golf tournament. I think next year, I would really like our chapter to have a better selection of small and simple programs. Whether it's a restaurant happy hour or CEU or hotel tour, we just need to get some more granular regular events. Some should cost to attend, but a couple should be free to members. I want to build this chapter to be bigger and stronger; we have some of the biggest hotel brands in the world and some really big hotel owners all in our grasp so we need to draw some energy from that. Highlights of the year so far? Th is year's biggest event so far has to be our 20th Anniversary Gala, held aboard the Odyssey cruise ship here on the Potomac. We had some amazing speakers: Stephen Perkins of Aggate, Rebecca Jones of RDJones, John Leary of Hilton, and of course Sister Mary Bader from St. Ann's Center for Children, Youth and Families. We have been working with St Ann's for a very long time, supporting them as part of our community service, donating children's clothing and gifts. The event was a massive success: 20 www.newh.org the speakers offered some great advice to the crowd and everyone enjoyed dancing and fun for the remainder of the evening. It was a true celebration of our chapter. Why was it time to start your own firm, Studio3877? Can you tell us about the name? It was just a good time to get out there. I had always been pushing myself to be better and drive design and my business partner, David Shove-Brown, had always been trying to get me to join up with him. I could sense the market was improving, and we had a lead on a great restaurant project, Matchbox. As soon as we got the project, I knew it was time to get out and push our firm out to a new level. I really loved the place I worked, but wanted the opportunity to control and push it all in a new direction and truly work on what I wanted to work on. As for the name...Dave (my business partner) and I sat down one day and batted around a couple names. The usual: our last names, some initials, a couple racy ones that made us sound like consultants like Accelerated Design. In the end we really liked the idea of tying into the city where we met, so the Studio part is obvious, but the 38 and 77 are the latitude and longitude of DC, If you round up of course, otherwise we would have a lot more numbers for minutes and seconds. What are you currently working on? It is pretty amazing to say that we have a very wide variety of work. We have been collaborating on a new brand for Europe with Marriott. We had worked on the exterior design and have recently been asked to create a concept for the public space. In addition to that, we have been working on a 40-room boutique hotel on Dupont Circle, which will use the Historic Patterson Mansion by McKim, Mead & White as its lobby and some select guestrooms. We also have some new and exicting bars and restaurants in the DC area: Policy, DC Noodles, and Utopia. Not to mention a couple select service hotels all across the country. What influencers are you paying attention to? Right now I am spending a lot of time paying attention to our youngest employees. They have helped me to start understanding the younger generation and what they want. We're a young company and we like the energy that youth brings. It has been interesting to hear from people doing tons of studies about what our youth is looking for in a hotel, and I can just turn around and ask. That can give a good sense of the feeling and amenities you want in a hotel, but paying attention to fashion has really broadened my horizons with a whole host of new ideas. ❙❘❚ http://www.newh.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NEWH - Winter 2013

NEWH - Winter 2013
Table of Contents
News
Who’s Who
Sustainability
Q&A: Trisha Poole
Q&A: David Tracz
Q&A: Stacey Berman
Product Know How
Have You Seen?
On the Scene
On The Cover: Seamus Bateson and Steve Cohen of Shelby Williams
Project: Refinery Hotel in New York
Project: SER Steaks + Spirits in Dallas
Save the Date
New Members
Partner Profiles
Ad Index

NEWH - Winter 2013