THE SUSTAINABILITY INTERVIEW
Jean Garris Hand grew up between two worlds that would later define her career: hospitality and energy. Her aunt’ s family owned a resort outside Bogotá, Colombia, where she spent summers watching a hotel operate like a small city, employing everyone from chefs to housekeepers to finance staff.
At the same time, her father, an engineering professor, taught energy classes. Jean would sit in the back of his classroom with colouring books, listening and trying to contribute.
Those early experiences planted a seed that eventually led her to her current role as Vice President and Global Head of Sustainability and Responsible Business at Hilton.
Scaling sustainability across a franchised empire Jean spent over a decade advancing the US Environmental Protection Agency’ s Energy Star programme for the hotel and healthcare sectors, where she was Hilton’ s account manager from day one, 25 years ago. Later, she served as Senior Advisor to Blackstone, the private equity firm that once owned Hilton, advancing utility cost reduction and sustainability across its hotel real estate portfolio.
After running her own environmental, social and governance consultancy, she joined Hilton in 2022 to rebuild and reimagine the Travel with Purpose strategy following the pandemic.
Hilton operates 9,400 hotels across 144 countries and territories, opening an average of three new properties per day.
“AT HILTON’ S SCALE, ONE SMALL DECISION, IF ADOPTED EVERYWHERE, HAS THAT MASSIVE IMPACT”
Jean Garris Hand VP, Global Head of Sustainability
and Responsible Business Hilton
Jean explains:“ As we grow, we want to make sure that we’ re growing responsibly.” But Hilton’ s business model complicates sustainability efforts. Most hotels are franchised, meaning independent owners pay to use Hilton’ s brand name and standards while retaining control over financial investment decisions. Hilton operates about 11 % of its portfolio directly.
Jean continues:“ We can’ t snap our fingers and say,‘ Okay, everybody, you must install LED lighting tomorrow.’ We actually don’ t make the financial investment decisions – the owners of the real estate do.”
Instead, Hilton develops turnkey programmes for measures such as LED lighting, waste reduction, water efficiency and food waste reduction that deliver proven, low-risk, high-return savings.
“ We have to work in collaboration to influence, to show the core business value and to partner with them, with our owners, with the operators,” Jean says.
24 October 2026