Alexander Mirza is a seasoned global executive and entrepreneur in the travel, hospitality, and entertainment industries. He has worked in senior management roles in publicly traded Fortune 500 companies and been the CEO of both private equity and venture capital backed companies in the U.S. and Asia.
Alexander has 25 years’ experience as a management consultant & C-suite executive in corporate development and hospitality operations at leading publicly traded and PE backed hospitality and entertainment brands including Starwood, Hilton, and Caesars. As a management consultant, he worked on M&A and growth, advising CEOs, Heads of State and international organizations. He also spent years collaborating with scientists in Shell’s Game changer Program that generated $3 billion of new businesses addressing climate change. After consulting, he joined Starwood as head of Strategy, reporting to CEO/CFO, as well as leading brand turnarounds and corporate strategy for the board. Alexander Mirza subsequently became SVP of Operations at Hilton Worldwide and member of the senior operating team reporting to the CEO. At Hilton he revamped a $2 billion food and beverage business, integrated Hilton International and launched the Waldorf Astoria luxury brand and developed the first wellbeing division.
After Hilton, he joined Caesars Entertainment as Chief of Staff to the Chairman and was promoted to SVP of Hospitality. At Caesars, he spearheaded service improvements and new hotel, restaurant and nightlife developments including Gordon Ramsay, BR Guest, Nobu Hotel and branded non-gaming resorts. In 2012, Alexander Mirza co-founded Cachet Hotels in Shanghai and became among the first foreigners to successfully scale a hotel brand in China. Under his leadership as CEO, Cachet built China’s first Carbon neutral hotel and opened 10 lifestyle hotels, branded residences and celebrity-chef restaurants in Asia and the Americas. Cachet hotels also raised several rounds of capital from family offices, won design awards, and was recognized as “Asia’s Up and Coming Management Team.”
In 2018 he co-founded Mogul Hospitality, a venture-backed technology company that built the industry’s first AI-powered talent marketplace, implemented in over 800 hotels and developed an “AI hotel of the future” concept. The company has been ranked one of the top 30 global travel tech start-ups and top 10 hospitality tech start-ups by Harvard Rock Center, Phocuswright and Hotelmize. He has been ranked as a Top 100 Global Hospitality Executive and has published books on human capital, artificial intelligence and sustainability in travel and hospitality. He currently serves on the Advisory Boards of Cornell’s Center for Innovative Hospitality and Employment Relations (CIHLER).
Alexander Mirza received his MBA from Harvard Business School where he was awarded the John A. McArthur Fellowship. He holds Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees from Queen’s University at Kingston (Canada), where he was an Aga Khan Foundation Scholar and graduated First Class (top 5%).
Alexander Mirza has authored three books, “Reimagining Global Hospitality: Envisaging the AI Hotel of the Future” (Archway 2024), “Talent Disruption: People Are the Brands” (Business Expert Press 2024), and “Peacekeeping, Peacemaking, & World Order” (Library of Canada) and authored several publications featured in Harvard Real Estate Review, Entrepreneur Magazine, Phocuswright, HR Executive, the World Economic Forum.
Alexander Mirza was raised in Toronto, Canada where he was awarded the Mayor’s Volunteer Creed for his work integrating new immigrant communities and recognized as one of the top 10 international Canadian executives by Canadian business magazine. He has been named Top 100 most powerful hospitality executives by the Global Hospitality Institute, one of Canada’s top international executives and been awarded Toronto’s Mayor Volunteer Creed.
Alex is an advisory board member of Cornell Innovative Center for Hospitality and Employment Research (CIHLER), Collins College of Hospitality Management at CalPoly Pomona, and Kiwitech, a technology company. He has been a Board director at Mogul Hospitality, Cachet Hotels, Ticketmaster China and Australia, Jay Godfrey Design and Wahlburgers Asia-Pacific. To know more about Alexander Mirza, visit his “Everybody Wiki” page.