Hilton’s CFO on interacting with employees around the world: ‘It makes our culture better, and ultimately drives our business’

“Every opportunity I get, if I’m in one of our hotels, I either formally—in the form of town halls—or informally speak with team members around the world,” Kevin Jacobs, CFO and president of global development at Hilton, told me. “I think it’s an imperative part of the job. And I love engaging with and being with our team members. They’re amazing. And you also learn about the business.”

All senior leaders at the company are encouraged to engage with employees when traveling, according to Jacobs. “You’d be surprised at what you can learn,” he added. “And the feedback that we get continuously from our team members helps us run the business better.”

“Culture is everything,” Jacobs added. “It’s our responsibility as senior leaders to drive culture. We’re a very purpose-driven company.” That sense of purpose was created by founder Conrad Hilton, he said. 

For the annual list, Fortune‘s partner, Great Place To Work, surveyed companies employing more than 8.2 million people in the U.S. and received more than 1.3 million survey responses. Hilton rose to the top spot this year after coming in second in 2023. (Hilton also ranked no. 1 on the Fortune World’s Best Workplaces list released in November.)

Some 95% of employees at Hilton said it’s a great place to work, compared with 57% of those surveyed at a typical U.S.-based company. CEO Chris Nassetta leads the McLean, Va.-based company. Hilton’s full-year revenue for 2023 was $10.24 billion, up from $8.77 billion in 2022.

In his role as finance chief, Jacobs partners with Laura Fuentes, EVP and chief human resources officer, in broadly allocating company resources and investing in talent, he said. “I think one of the most important things in running a business is how you allocate resources,” he explained. “Your primary resources are human resources, in the form of talent, and financial resources, in the form of money. And, of course, those two things are connected.”

By 2030, Hilton has said it wants to create 5 million learning and career growth opportunities for employees and communities, with a focus on underrepresented groups. “If team members feel like the company is giving them the resources to grow their careers, and grow themselves as people and as leaders, they’re going to be more engaged, it makes our culture better, and ultimately drives our business,” Jacobs said.

Another potential perk is what Hilton calls a “Thrive Sabbatical.” Ten team members from Hilton’s corporate office and managed properties can apply to receive one month of paid time off and $5,000. Hilton also has a “Thrive Reset” program where 10 select employees receive a week off and $2,000. 

The company also has a global mental well-being program, Jacobs added. “And there’s a ‘Go Hilton’ travel benefit, which enables our team members to access discounted rates,” he said. “Not only can they reset and recharge by going on holiday themselves, but they get to experience the products around the world.”

Have a good weekend.

Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com

María Soledad Davila Calero curated the Leaderboard and Overheard sections of today’s newsletter.

Big deal

Navigating the Industrial Metaverse: A Blueprint for Future Innovations, a report by the World Economic Forum and Accenture, forecasts the metaverse as a $100 billion global market by 2030. It highlights integrating digital and physical realities through advanced technologies like AI, spatial computing, and blockchain, especially in sectors such as manufacturing, automotive, and health care.

One of the key findings of the report relates to industrial and enterprise applications. A total of 634 metaverse announcements made over 100 large companies across the world were analyzed. The goal was to better understand what parts of the world are investing in the metaverse, which sectors are seeing the most activity and in what areas, and what is the outlook for the industrial metaverse. 

The analysis finds that the growth markets—a region comprising of Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East and Africa—are most active in industrial enterprise metaverse applications, with 37% of total activations, compared with 36% and 27% for North America and Europe, respectively.

Leaderboard

Some notable moves this week:

Christian Luiga was named CFO at Spotify (NYSE: SPOT), joining the company at the end of the year. Ben Kung, Spotify’s VP of financial planning and analysis will be interim CFO during the second and third quarters of 2024. Luiga is currently the CFO and deputy CEO at the European defense and security company Saab AB, where he will stay until Oct. 3 to facilitate a transition period. 

Christa Davies, EVP and CFO at AON (NYSE: AON), has decided to retire from the global professional services firm. Davies, who has spent 16 years at AON, will remain in her role until the third quarter to then become an advisor during a transition period. Her official retirement will begin in 2025. AON has started the process of finding a successor.

Claudia Jaramillo, CFO at Jacobs Solutions, Inc. (NYSE: J), has stepped down from her role, effective March 29, to pursue other opportunities, according to Jacobs. Jaramillo began her tenure as CFO on Aug. 14 after joining Jacobs in July 2022 as EVP of strategy and corporate development. She succeeded Kevin Berryman as finance chief when he became a special advisor to CEO Bob Pragada. Berryman is serving as interim CFO as the company searches for a successor.

Lorenzo Flores will serve as CFO for Intel Foundry, Intel’s (Nasdaq: INTC) chips-making unit, effective April 8. With more than 30 years of experience in the semiconductor sector, Flores appointment accompanies Intel’s new financial reporting model that is “designed to drive increased cost discipline.”

Robin Harries was appointed CFO of Trivago (Nasdaq: TRVG), the hotel booking platform. Harries previously worked at Trivago from 2012 to 2018, where he was part of the team that handled Expedia acquiring a stake of the company and later entering the public markets. 

Lee Kalowski was appointed president and CFO of Q32 Bio Inc. (Nasdaq: QTTB), a clinical stage biotechnology company. Kalowski has spent over two decades in the biopharmaceutical sector. His experience includes serving as CFO of Bicycle Therapeutics and of Tokai Pharmaceuticals. 

John Griek was named CFO of Farmers Insurance Group, the American subsidiary of Zurich Insurance group. Griek comes from the insurance company Allstate where he served several roles, most recently VP of finance operations in the property and casualty insurance sector. 

Jerry Letter was appointed CFO and head of corporate development at Noventiq Holdings PLC, a cybersecurity provider for businesses. Letter brings over 25 years of experience in areas such as public markets, capital markets, and M&A. Letter has worked with Noventiq for over a year helping with proposed business combination and Nasdaq listing.

Philip Schlom is set to retire as CFO of AZZ Inc. (NYSE: AZZ) upon completion of his current agreement that ends on Nov. 4. Jason Crawford, SVP of finance of AZZ Precoat Metals, has agreed to transition into the role of CFO of AZZ Inc.

Going deeper

Here are a few Fortune weekend reads:

“$2.8 billion startup cofounded by Navy SEAL to buy Australian firm that’s helping upgrade its drones: ‘We’re building the world’s best AI pilot’” by Luisa Beltran

“The new retirement is no retirement: Baby boomers are keeping jobs well into their sixties and seventies because they ‘like going to work’” by Alicia Adamczyk

“‘Craziest talent war I’ve ever seen’: Elon Musk says AI is hitting a new frenzy—and he helped set it off 9 years ago with Larry Page and Sam Altman” by Dylan Sloan

“The secret to getting more done at work—and home—according to Google’s productivity expert” by Laura Mae Martin

Overheard

“If we collaboratively build on the work from each other, we can reuse resources and money spent [training AI].”

— Philipp Schmid, a technical lead at AI firm Hugging Face told Fortune about the future of AI training. While the cost of training AI models continues to grow exponentially, a workaround for some companies would be to build smaller models.