MICHAEL BROWN

PRESIDENT & CEO, TRAVEL + LEISURE Co., ORLANDO

Since 2017, Michael Brown has led a team of more than 19,000 associates around the world, who help deliver more than 6 million vacations each year at more than 280 timeshare resorts worldwide. Travel + Leisure’s leading brands include Club Wyndham, WorldMark by Wyndham, Margaritaville Vacation Club, Accor Vacation Club, Sports Illustrated Resorts and the timeshare exchange network RCI. Brown is the former chairman of the American Resort Development Association.

EDUCATION: University of Virginia (BS)

FIRST JOB: My first job out of college was as an internal auditor at Marriott International, but my first job as a kid was digging clams in Fort Fisher, N.C., in the summertime.

HOBBY: I am very active, averaging about 12,500 steps a day. Something that I have done in every city I have lived in is run a half marathon or full marathon. I’ve gotten races in Paris, Orlando, Washington, D.C., and London under my belt.

NONPROFIT PASSION: I was fortunate to connect with the late Harris Rosen, founder of Rosen Hotels & Resorts, who first started the Tangelo Park Program in Orlando more than 30 years ago. The success of that program and the work of Harris Rosen inspired me and encouraged us to launch the Travel + Leisure Charitable Foundation and our Travel + Leisure Scholarship Program. By investing in education, we give young children the foundation they need to succeed and, in turn, create opportunities, empower individuals and strengthen families.

DREAM ALTERNATE CAREER
“I would choose to be an astrophysicist.”