Anna Marie Presutti
Vice President & General Manager
Nikko Hotels International
Tuesday, April 7th
2:00 PM
Plaster Student Union Theatre
When she was appointed Vice President and General Manager of Hotel Nikko San Francisco in 2006, Anna Marie Presutti made history as the first female vice president of Nikko Hotels International, a Japanese company that operates 79 properties worldwide.
Since then, Presutti has overseen major renovations at the luxury hotel including upgrades to its 532 guest rooms and suites, enhancement of the hotel’s 22,000-square-feet of meeting and banquet space, & the chic redesign of Restaurant Anzu in May 2011. Additionally, she was instrumental in the creation of Feinstein’s at the Nikko, a live-entertainment venue begun in partnership with well-known entertainer Michael Feinstein which opened in 2013.
The Nikko Hotel was selected by the SF Business Times as a Best Place to Work in the Bay Area for the past four years; and congruently this year overall Employee Satisfaction Scores reached a record 97%. Ms. Presutti’s passion for consistent excellence has also driven the Nikko San Francisco to gain its Forbes’ Four Star Award in 2013 – no small feat, as there are only five 4-star, 4-diamond hotels in the City of San Francisco.
COMMITMENT TO ENVIROMENTAL STEWARDSHIP & COMMUNITY SERVICE
Ms. Presutti has inspired hotel colleagues to share her passion for environmental stewardship and philanthropic service within the local community. For 10 years, Hotel Nikko has received the U.S. Energy Star Award for its green initiatives ranging from recycling to water and energy conservation. In 2011, the hotel’s comprehensive green program garnered the Innovation Award from the Hotel Council of San Francisco.
Presutti is the driving force behind Hotel Nikko San Francisco’s community service involvement. Hotel Nikko fundraising has benefitted Glide Memorial Church, the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Association, the Salvation Army, and Adopt-a-family. She jumped into action in 2010 when Haiti was devastated by an earthquake, and set up a fund where every dollar donated by guests to relief efforts was matched by the Hotel. In total over $15,000 was raised for Haiti Relief. Similarly, when the earthquake and tsunami hit Japan in 2011, Presutti took immediate leadership in raising over $92,000 for the Japanese Red Cross Fund by having fund-matching events which were anchored by a large Relief Banquet hosted at the Nikko within two weeks of the calamity. Presutti continued the Nikko’s efforts on behalf of Leukemia research well beyond the San Francisco Hotel Council’s Million Dollar Mission; in 2013 and 2014 Hotel Nikko raised an additional $17,000 for LLS, and for the past two Octobers, she turned the hotel’s pink lounge, Kan- Pai into a DRINK PINK lounge raising over $20,000.00 for breast cancer awareness.
ONE OF THE BAY AREA’S MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN
Consistently named one of “The Most Influential Women in the Bay Area” by the San Francisco Business Times, Presutti is a past President for NCC – PCMA and has been a member of the Board of the Hotel Council of San Francisco for several years, serving as the President of that organization in 2012. She is the only woman to serve on the Board of the Foster Farms Chicken Bowl, having done so for 5 years. Similarly, she has had a seat on the Board of Directors for SF Travel (formerly the San Francisco Convention and Visitor’s Bureau) for 6 years and in 2016, the year that San Francisco hosts Super Bowl 50, Anna Marie will be the organization’s Chairman of the Board.
Her career path has been punctuated by awards such as “Director of Sales & Marketing of the Year,” “Hotel of the Year,” and “Outstanding General Manager of the Year” from the California Hotel & Lodging Association. Most recently, she received The Legend award from PCMA in 2012, and received the Bob Begley Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014 from the Hotel Council of San Francisco. .
She began her hospitality career at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. During this formative period, she realized that pixy dust, smoke and mirrors, and fireworks may go a long way in creating a “wow” but the true magic comes through being genuine about customer service, truly listening to co-workers and guests alike, and serving both entities with compassion and dignity.
Before joining Hotel Nikko San Francisco as Vice President of Sales & Marketing in 2004, she served as Area Director of Sales & Marketing for Kimpton Hotels in San Francisco. Her experience also includes leadership positions with ITT Sheraton, Hilton Hotels and Sunstone Hotel Properties.
Presutti grew up in Kansas City and studied Communication Disorders at Missouri State University. Today, she lives in San Francisco and enjoys golfing, skiing and traveling to exotic destinations around the world.