Kevin discusses his transition from his long-time corporate career to association executive, how he identifies talent and builds teams around him, and the progress the hospitality industry is making towards becoming more diverse at all levels. He shares his insights on everything from leading during the pandemic to his strategies for trying to find his balance in his personal and professional lives. He also discusses the role of mentors and champions and ways to keep growing your skillset to best position yourself for career advancement.
Kevin discusses his transition from his long-time corporate career to association executive, how he identifies talent and builds teams around him, and the progress the hospitality industry is making towards becoming more diverse at all levels. He shares his insights on everything from leading during the pandemic to his strategies for trying to find his balance in his personal and professional lives. He also discusses the role of mentors and champions and ways to keep growing your skillset to best position yourself for career advancement.
Good afternoon. I am Rachel Humphrey with d e i advisors, and I am delighted to be joined today by Kevin Carey of h l a. Kevin, welcome
Kevin Carey:to the show. Hi, Rachel. Good to see you. Happy Friday.
Rachel Humphrey:Thank you so much. We are gonna jump right in. We've got about 30 minutes to spend together today, and we wanna hear a little bit about your path to leadership and some of the lessons and insights you've learned along the way. But one of my favorite things about the hospitality industry is how. unique. Everyone's path to leadership is, and that's especially interesting for me with you because when you and I first met, we held very similar roles, leading operations of two of the most impactful associations, trade associations in the hospitality space. Yet our paths are completely different into how we got there. Yes. So tell us a little bit about your path to H L A and how you got to
Kevin Carey:where you are. Sure. I'd be happy to. And it may come as a surprise to you or others. But I'd but I had what I'd say was a. Corporate upbringing in some respect. My father was a career at and t financial executive. We grew up in New Jersey, which was effectively at and t land at the time. And my whole frame of reference about the working world was viewing it through the observations I had of my father many of my friends', parents, and otherwise and while in college at Penn State, and I know Rachel, you're a Penn State fan, quietly but maybe a little more overtly these days. So I got a summer position at and t for one year while I was. A sophomore in college. And then really had a what turned out to be a very significant impact on my career and my life in many respects. When I got another summer internship at American Express Company and wound up being there for two summers and then. You'll blink your eyes in 27 years have gone by and Amex was just a phenomenal organization. It is a phenomenal company. And had just a range of experiences over that timeframe. I worked in Washington DC in the government affairs role. But then transitioned over to the business side of the company and had the opportunity to grow my career and really grow up in a lot of respects in, in leading teams and organizations leading regions and having global responsibilities including with teams up to 500 people. I also had through that experience a phenomenal set of outstanding leaders that I had the chance to work with and had a chance to view senior executives, including several CEOs at American Express confront issues from September 11th to the financial crisis o overall, but also saw how the company really put a premium on. Community service around culture and around diversity as well. That as I left American Express and looked at a set of opportunities I started to get some outreach from search firms who saw my Washington experience as well as commercial experience. that led to the discussion ultimately had with Catherine. About joining a H L A and saw very quickly. It was a very different organization that I was, one I was familiar with when I was in dc and saw the commitment of the industry, senior most leaders to driving this industry and it, the phenomenal people and associates forward.
Rachel Humphrey:That is again, different from mine, but so interesting to see how that summer internship led to a, an unexpected career. And then a pivot over to H l A. You mentioned in there talking about culture and diversity at American Express, and that's really interesting to me because, that precedes the timing right now where the hospitality industry is heavily focused in those areas. How did that time at American Express with a focus on community service values diversity impact you as a leader and. and ways that you may implement that today in your role
Kevin Carey:at H L A? Yeah. Yeah. I, I made the reference to the experiences I had, but I think I also said I largely grew up in American Express which is accurate through that timeframe, In the company's history, if you know a little bit about it it was traditionally seen as it emerged, and the card was issued in 1958 as commonly referred to as a white shoe firm. the timeframe I was there, you saw the transition from that legacy and historical background and context to where I had the opportunity to work closely with A C E O. Who was Jewish and then ultimately also who followed him. The CEO o Ken Alt who is black and was one of the only black CEOs of a Fortune 100 company. The majority of my time at American Express, I also had women who were leaders and of. Of who I reported to. And two of them were women of color as well. I saw this transition in the company. I saw more of the transition in the Fortune 100 world. And it always had a very significant impact on me, on how I viewed my career, the experiences and relationships I had and was very formative in terms of my own development and emergence as.
Rachel Humphrey:It's incredible to see how the experiences we have both as young careerists and then as we progress really impact our roles in leadership. One of the things you mentioned at American Express is having the opportunity to lead not only very large teams, but very successful teams. And you've continued to be able to do that over your years at H L what do you look for when you're trying to identify talent? Yes. What are you looking for during. the resume process, the interview process. Yep. As you're, we can all look at a job description, but how do you really identify, okay, this is the person for this role.
Kevin Carey:Yeah. And, everyone's resume lists an outstanding set of accomplishments or experiences. I think as you get into discussions with prospective new hires, some of the things I look for are people who are really dialed in? I think you can see that almost initially in the conversation. Are they leaning in? Have they done their homework? On the company. So many people come to interviews just ready to bombard you with information about how great they are. But have they really looked at the industry? Have they looked at the organization they're trying to become a part of? Have they looked into your background and do they come with. Questions. Do they also bring a point of view to the discussion where they start to give you a sense of how they might perform in the role and or as a people leader if that's the nature of the job? I think you always look for a track record of results but also making sure that you see people whose career is progressing over time. Are they taking on greater responsibilities? Have they taken any lateral roles as well? To broaden or diversify their experiences. And one thing that's always important to look for is when they talk about their experience or their competencies are they just talking about it from a individual results perspective or do they also bring forward the impact they've had on others? If they're a team leader or a people leader, that dimension is an essential one that you can look for and that I look for as.
Rachel Humphrey:Those are some great insights and I love the idea of someone leaning in and being prepared not just to talk about themselves, but what they can actually contribute to the greater team. You talk about coming from a company that ha, that exhibited a lot of diversity and then working now to. Develop the team around you at the association. There's obviously a lot of talk in hospitality right now about the need to build more diversity within the industry, at the leadership level. What are you seeing from your perspective and what do you think other leaders need to be doing to maybe move that needle a little bit farther and
faster?
Kevin Carey:Yeah, I would start by saying we're nowhere near the point of arrival at this stage. But even in a relatively short period of time since I joined h l A and really stepped into the lodging industry in full five years ago. I've seen some pretty, what I'd say are significant or material strides that are being made. I can tell you how as a team and then as an organization how we really emphasize and prioritize diversity in our. Developments of slates for open positions and as we look at candidates and people to join whether it's the association or our foundation certainly as we look annually at the board of directors, the executive committee and there's been real progress made there over the last several years. But it extends on to the 17 committees that we have within A H L A, that making sure that we have people of color, women in leadership positions how we look at our events and who's on stage ensuring that we have representation from. What the industry looks like from an employment standpoint, but also what the industry looks like from a customer standpoint. So really across all those fronts and next year obviously is gonna be a very significant year with Leslie Hale as ALA's national Chair along with women in a number of key roles as officers of our foundation's, board of trustees in leading some of our key committees. I'm certainly. Enthusiastic and continue to be focused on this area as I know our overall governance is. And certainly chip and I work very closely on this together.
Rachel Humphrey:that's great to hear and definitely can see the progress being made. I agree. We're not there yet, but definitely feeling the momentum right now. Yeah. As I mentioned, you and I had similar roles at leading operations and coming out, hopefully coming out of. One of the most disruptive periods, if not the most disruptive ever in hospitality, which was to be leading an association that had so much pressure that our stakeholders had so many dire needs for. what do you think the character traits are that you have as a leader that helped you during the pandemic, whether it was your internal team or your external stakeholders in really getting to where HLA needed to
Kevin Carey:go? Yeah. It's interesting in thinking about this conversation and really reflecting a little bit over the last several months about the last two years look at it as a block of time, but th there were certainly at the, in the early days of the pandemic where. Some of that, that leadership didn't kick in initially. Talking more personally we all had to come to grasp with what we thought was happening. Was this gonna be two weeks? No, it was gonna be two months. No, no one knew it was gonna be two years. But over time the. Engagement that we helped to deliver the rallying the industry and acting as a convening entity. Whether it was the frequency of board meetings, whether it was communications that went out to the industry whether it was. Organizing our committees. What became clear was that that h l a was not only giving people a sense of reality, but a sense of hope as well. Whether it was lobbying for government support or organizing around key initiatives like safe stay and health. Standards. I think we all probably had our own individual experience. Another area as a leader was it was really important for me recognizing I had colleagues and team members who were in a very different situation. My kids two were outta college. One's in college I had. Mothers, young mothers working with me and Foria who were at home with their kids, trying to balance all of those demands along with being a high performing team and leader of people. So all of those areas. Focusing where we could from a communications, recognizing the vital role we played at an industry level, but making sure that we were also being very mindful and cognizant of our people and our team's needs as well. Were the, certainly the things I tried to lean on and in retrospect, hopefully we did a good job over that timeframe.
Rachel Humphrey:I think you, you've mentioned something great, which was that it was a constant work in progress as we figured out both external and internal needs. As leaders, we were able to continually develop or pivot or evolve what we needed to be providing as leaders. Yeah.
Kevin Carey:You talk about that, Rachel. I, I know. Last year we did a five year strategic plan for hla I think it was supposed to come up in 2020, was we were supposed to do it. We obviously pushed pause on that effort during calendar year 2020. But in many respects it felt like we were doing a strategic plan a day or or a week in trying to determine. What was needed? How do we pivot? In that environment no one cared what your title was everyone was pitching in. And even if you didn't have a deep skillset set in a certain area or otherwise you jumped in and you took on a role, whether it was leadership or a contributor to it. That pitching in factor was huge. And certainly something I tried to do and notice some of our top team members doing as well.
Rachel Humphrey:I could not agree more. I think that rolling up your sleeves and just saying what, what's needed and how can I help with such a huge part? And we'll eventually lead I think also yeah, to the career advancement for a lot of people who really took advantage of that opportunity to grow skills. you mentioned. When you were talking about identifying team and talent, this idea of lateral moves, and we've heard that from a lot of leaders on these interviews for D E I advisors is how for them expanding that that skillset is so important, and I think a lot of people had an opportunity to do that during the pandemic.
Kevin Carey:I I've always found that as a leader to be something that I've tried to be intentional and purposeful about. There are members of my team who I've Engaged in conversations and identified for them opportunities to move laterally within a H L A. I think it not only has individual benefits for giving them a broader set of experiences and track record and relationship, but you know what? It's great for the organization as well. I think that's how you build. The future leaders of a team is giving them a range of experiences where they can gain that, those insights, those relationships, and that track record. And those are the folks who are gonna lead h l a and other organizations over time.
Rachel Humphrey:Yeah, no, I could not agree more. I wanna talk about mentors and champions in one minute, but since we're talking about growth whether it is developing knowledge or skills within a company to learn more about different aspects of the company. I know I've told a lot of people when I started at the association, I had only come from a law firm. So there were all these subject matter experts of all these different areas that I had never had the pleasure of working with before, and I was able to learn. Business development and marketing and communications and governance and all these things I'd never heard of at a law firm. but there are a lot of ways, and you and I are both committed to continuing to grow ourselves and to grow our teams. What do you do personally when you're trying to either identify, you know what, I need to really develop this skillset, or, I'd like one of my team members, I noticed they're maybe not as strong here. How do you. identify resources. There are so many out there, obviously within HLA and outside. where do you identify those resources and look to, to continue to develop your skills and those of others?
Kevin Carey:Yeah. In terms of with others it, it links back a bit to the conversation we just had about lateral movements and other roles and assignments. I think you can always look at special projects and ways for people to take on a leadership assignment within their organization. In De I, we've got a, an employee based d e i task force that looks at our organization. We have a team that's organized around looking at events and engagement that we can have in the community, a culture team within our organization. So there, there's always those task forces and other areas that an organization can develop. But also looking uh, if you can highlight opportunities for top talent it may be. A new initiative that, that's getting off the ground or a new potential partnership discussion. Trying to pull those people into these project teams, I think gives them a fresh perspective a new way to contribute. And again, ultimately it, it leads to their professional development as well. So being open-minded. And also being willing to take a risk the, those are areas personally that I've tried to be open to over the course of my career. In some respects, it's been great not always a hundred percent but looking at new assignments being open to those I can think of several occasions in my career where I said yes, where others said no. And it took me down a different path.
Rachel Humphrey:Saying yes more than you say no is another consistent theme we hear from a lot of the leaders we've been interviewing. Let's turn to mentors, champions, advocates. There's a lot of sponsors. There's a lot of different names being used today. You mentioned having some working for some exceptional leadership at American Express and having the opportunity to grow and develop there from college, intern Kevin up until executive. How important have mentors and champions been in your career? And what advice would you give to those coming along as either how to identify folks or how to use mentors and champions to help them with their career
Kevin Carey:mobility? Yeah. Yeah. First and foremost is being willing to ask to, to work with someone in that capacity. I think you naturally look at a leader or your first boss or someone in that respect. I've always tried to maintain ongoing relationships with the people I've reported to or worked with over time. But there's certainly a number of leaders that I've had the opportunity to work directly for or work with from a support or a colleague perspective. And I've always tried to keep an eye out for. Things they do and ways that I can emulate their behaviors or their leadership experience, but also watch bad leaders as well. You can learn as much in that respect as, as well of what not to do. But keeping it on the positive side of. Again, I had the good fortune of having a lot of exposure to some of the top leaders and CEOs at American Express and how they would interact with people at any level of the organization or with customers or people at junior levels in other companies was always trying to just soak in those learnings. And looking at not only people you work with, but customers and colleagues that you work. Alongside and, one area that I can reference that kind of connects the, how I got to h l a little more specifically was when I left American Express, one of the first conversations I had was with my friend Jonathan Tish who I had known for 20 years through American Express. He gave me some great input and counsel and picked up the phone and said you sh you need to go talk to Jeff. Be. And so I t trooped over to Parsippany. And Jeff didn't know me at all. And we wound up sitting down and we spent a full hour talking about my background, what I wanted to do and he said two things. One he said, email me your resume and two, I want you to go down to DC next Tuesday to talk to Catherine Luger about what's going on at H L A. Not only did Jeff get my resume, but he emailed it back with handwritten comments and suggestions. I've never seen that to this day from anyone I interacted with. But it was certainly, the relationship I had with John the connection I made with Jeff and him identifying an opportunity where, Right time right person. Where h l a was looking to create this COO role to help drive the resource growth that the organization was embarking upon with its renewed mission and new direction.
Rachel Humphrey:That's such a great story about Jeff and I think really goes to show that the hospitality industry, I never hear people say, no, can you help me? Can I ask you a question? Do you know someone who does this? And I think that story you shared just as a perfect example of being willing to reach out and ask. And then where that takes you and following that path along is so incredibly important. I,
Kevin Carey:I think that oftentimes gets overlooked a, a bit that, that, at least in my the vast majority of my interactions people are happy to help. It's getting the backbone or willingness to ask in, in that respect. Need not always be at a c e o level or otherwise, but I've often found, particularly in hospitality, I think you're right on that front Rachel that people have a service mindset are looking to help people advance because you know what they've probably had that experience in their career as.
Rachel Humphrey:I also think a really special thing is how many advocates we have behind the scenes that we don't even know that we have. Yeah. So there may be people who champion for us. We may reach out to mentors, but there tends to also be people behind there that are advocating in ways we might not advocate for ourself. And I, I don't know that it's unique to hospitality, but it's certainly, I find incredibly evident across the board. So speaking of important things you mentioned that you have four children. I do. And of varying ages. And you've obviously had global roles. The HLA role is very demanding both of time. And I know you commute as well in my least favorite city for traffic When
Kevin Carey:we talk about Atlanta or DC No, I'm talking about dc.
Rachel Humphrey:When I left DC I still to this day will say, Terrible. But you know what we hear work-life balance talk so much about with women and, but it isn't just women. My husband struggles with it. You have to figure out a balance as well. What are some of the strategies or ways, and I'm not saying that you've managed, I'm not drawing any conclusions. What are some of the ways, maybe over time it changes as the kids' needs change, as they get older? But some of the ways that you've found have been successful for you in feeling satisfied in your personal life, but also the career that you're looking for.
Kevin Carey:Yeah. Yeah. First of all I am still a major work in progress on this front. We all are I dunno, that we'll ever declare victory. And in, in some of the global roles I had I'd be away for. A week to 10 days at a time with small children at home. And it was difficult. And my wife, Jillian, obviously did a phenomenal job, continues to do that in supporting our family in that regard. But I think you need to continuously work at this. And I think of even recent examples where sometimes the schedule's so busy on a day-to-day basis I get in real early and tho those tend to be the only times where I can kind. Hammer through things and do the work that I need to do. An area that I know I need to work on and my team will point this out to me is stop sending me emails on Sunday. And there's like a little window before the N F L Games kickoff or otherwise they know when when I'm doing things, but I'm trying to get better on hitting the old delay delivery. So things start to come in on Monday. It's a great tool on outlook. Thank you Microsoft there's things you need to just be more mindful of in that respect. But again, work-life balance is tough. One thing I do recently I've tried to do and is go in a week before and just block time. Might be random, might be intentional in certain days of the week, but just go in and just block time. Cuz you know what, if you leave it open, it's gonna get full. People on your team or otherwise are going to jump on those time slots. Being more specific around respecting the work-life balance of others is important as a leader but also being continuously looking for new tricks or tips to make yourself a little more balanced in that respect.
Rachel Humphrey:I love the word intentional. I think that's such an important part of trying to figure that out. One of my favorite questions, and if you've heard me speak before, you know this, but it's always to ask what advice would you give to your younger self? And the reason I think it's so important is we are all a work in progress and I love the idea of. Taking a step back and reflecting and saying, what do I wish my 21 year old self knows that I, that my I know now. What would you tell 21 year old Kevin Carey that today that you wish you'd known about yourself or about life back back
Kevin Carey:then. Definitely being open to taking some of those, career risks at the time when you're in your twenties or even thirties, they, they may not seem like risks but being open to walking down the non-traditional paths I, I was one of the only. People that I knew of at American Expresso went from working in a government affairs role to ultimately leading businesses in the company. So that kind of reverse path was one and or taking tough assignments in, in that regard. Any Person early stage in their career. Be open to those opportunities that if there's a difficult assignment if a senior leader is asking you to think about a new role that's you should certainly listen intently and be open to taking some of those non-traditional paths or risks in your.
Rachel Humphrey:I love that. As we wind down on time, Kevin, we've covered a lot of great content, a lot of great lessons that you've learned. Keeping in mind the d e i advisor's mission of empowering personal success for the individuals. Yeah. What is some piece of final advice that we haven't talked about so far that you want people to hear?
Kevin Carey:Yeah. One of the themes in that respect would be it. Hundred percent appropriate and legit for you to think about your personal success and look for those opportunities of new roles and otherwise, but I think it's also important particularly as a leader to think about the success of others as well and help them a ask what their career aspirations are work with them to help develop. pathways relationships, assignments that they can get there. It should be a two-way street a as a leader of any organization or team you can be focused on your own personal success, but you should also be thinking about the personal success of your colleagues and your team members as well.
Rachel Humphrey:That is a great place to wrap up, but I am not gonna let you get away without telling me. Where is Kevin Carey's happy place these days?
Kevin Carey:I, if you could see off to my left here out on the waterfront Annapolis we've lived here for five years since we moved over to h l a and it's it's great. It's a little cold today. I don't know that I wanna be out there in the boat in the chop in the bay. But we really enjoy it here and it's a great we're very fortunate to be able to uh, get home from work and run down and jump on the boat and get out on.
Rachel Humphrey:Given your earlier comments, I thought you might mention Happy Valley, but Well, Kevin, on behalf of an industry myself personally, thank you for your leadership in the industry your leadership with through h l A as well, and for sharing some time with our viewers today for d e I advisors. We really appreciate it.
Kevin Carey:Fantastic. Rachel. Thanks and everyone happy holidays. Merry Christmas. Thanks, Kevin. Okay.