Laurent de Kousemaeker is the Chief Development Officer for Marriott International Inc. in Latin America and the Caribbean (CALA) region.

He has 20+ years’ experience in the hospitality industry - from hotel operations, marketing, finance, valuation, transaction and development experience.Based in Miami, Mr. de Kousemaeker leads the growth strategy and transactions for all 30 of Marriott’s brands in the region.

His team comprises of experienced, talented regional transactors located in Miami, Mexico City, Bogotá, Santiago de Chile and São Paulo.Prior to his current position, Mr. de Kousemaeker was Senior Vice President Development for the same region based in Marriott Headquarters in Bethesda Maryland and, prior to that, Vice President Development for EMEA, based in Madrid.

Before joining Marriott in 2005, Mr. de Kousemaeker was managing director of HVS International’s Madrid office, which he opened in 2002.

From 1999 to 2002, Mr de Kousemaeker was a senior associate at HVS International’s office in London. Prior to that, he worked in a range of hotel operations departments for several years in Europe and the Caribbean.

Having lived in different 12 countries, his cross-cultural exposure and language skills (French, Dutch, English, Spanish and basic understanding of Portuguese) are well suited to the task of crossing cultural divide among stakeholders from different continents.