LOS ANGELES — "You'll be working for a long time, so make sure you love what you do.”
That was the advice Leeny Oberg's father gave to her about choosing a career.
Now, after years of work in finance and hospitality — and 26 years at Marriott International specifically — she nears her retirement at the end of March, feeling like she listened carefully.
Oberg, chief financial officer and executive vice president of development at Marriott, sat down with CoStar News Hotels at the 2026 Americas Lodging Investment Summit to reflect on her career, her experiences and the lessons she has learned.
When first joining Marriott, Oberg said she was fortunate both to take on a finance role, something she already loved, and to learn that hospitality was a business she could become immersed in.
“Fortunately, I had an opportunity to try my hand at a number of things, including international, and ultimately become [chief financial officer,]” she said. “I think for many people, the reality is, it's not a certain plan, but your career evolves over time, and [I] ended up being here and loving it."
Looking back, two things from her time at Marriott that stood out to Oberg were the company’s focus on growth and its focus on talent development.
Having a hunger for further growth puts people in a position to keep looking around the corner, to become more adaptable, she said. It makes work more motivating.
“Frankly, it brings you the best talent when there is this clear desire to win in the marketplace, to beat the competition and do more,” she said.
Oberg said she’s a big believer in that having a long-term successful business requires a major emphasis on developing talent. It requires more than just standing and watching it happen, though. There needs to be proactive discussions with associates about how to grow their careers, gain experiences and learn from the people who’ve gone before them.
“That's probably one of the most satisfying things is to watch great young associates move up through the ranks, get a variety of experiences and then watch them take on bigger and bigger leadership roles, which again, makes me excited for the company going forward,” she said.
Another milestone in Oberg’s career came nearly 10 years ago, when Marriott closed on its acquisition of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. There were big integration challenges and regulatory ones as well, and it’s imperative to win the deal at a price that is fair and will create value for the constituents, she said.
Along with that, though, are ah-ha moments that are lessons, Oberg said.
“One of them is about teamwork, and when you're an organization as large as Marriott, when you watch the team pull together to be able to make sure that you are catching all the pieces to then put together the whole package to move forward, the critical component of how well a team works together and is willing to all get in the rowboat and row in the same direction has never been more apparent to me as during that, and similarly during COVID, for that matter,” she said.
Another such moment was when Marriott's Starwood deal ended up costing more in terms of transition costs, she said. At the same time, the value created out of the entire transaction was meaningfully more than originally anticipated. Among others, the company was able to transform its Bonvoy loyalty program into something much bigger much faster than previously expected.
“So, I think there were the obvious learnings and experiences that we take with us to make us better going forward, but I also think there were some unique ones that everybody experienced that made us realize that it was even better than we thought,” she said.
For more from Marriott’s Leeny Oberg about her career and plans going forward, watch the video or listen to the podcast embedded above.