Myra deGersdorff began her hospitality management career with Hyatt Hotels in 1976, opening the 1,200-room Hyatt Regency New Orleans and the 1,000-room addition to the Hyatt Regency Chicago. After six years, Ms. deGersdorff left the company to join InterContinental, serving as director of training and management development in New Orleans. She was promoted to master trainer, then to director of human resources, and later moved to Washington, D.C., where she spent seven years overseeing human resources.
In 1989, Ms. deGersdorff joined Ritz-Carlton, helping to expand the luxury chain from just eight hotels, opening new properties in Pentagon City, Tysons Corner, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Cancun. She managed a total renovation and three years of food and beverage operations in Washington D.C., leaving when promoted to general manager in Kansas City, where she significantly improved guest and employee satisfaction and profit retention. She then returned to Pentagon City as general manager, leading 800 employees and guests through the 9/11 attacks on the Pentagon.
Following tenure as general manager in Philadelphia, she was promoted in 2005 to area general manager for the company's three hotels in New Orleans. Amidst the tragedy, with 1,200 guests and employees stranded in flood waters from Hurricane Katrina, her decisive crisis management saved lives. In 2006, Ms. deGersdorff received Ritz-Carlton's coveted President's Award. Two years later during the financial crisis when the hotels under her direction were the only U.S. properties to achieve budget, she was named "General Manager of the Year" by Where magazine.
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