The Amazing Race – Navigating Through Contracts with Your Partners

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Gerilyn Horan - Vice President Group Sales & Strategic Accounts, Hilton Worldwide Sales

Gerilyn has had a 25+ year career in leadership roles in global hotel sales & marketing beginning with Hilton Hotels at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York, then moving on to re-open the Hilton National Sales Office in San Francisco. From there she joined Four Seasons in their New York Worldwide Sales Office, marketing the hotel brands portfolio to the New York corporate segment.  She then spent five years at Meadowood Napa Valley, leading the luxury resorts group sales efforts. Gerilyn then joined Langham Hospitality Group where she was Director of Global Sales-North America, responsible for bringing this new, Hong Kong based luxury hotel brand to market in North America and building their US global sales organization. Gerilyn joined HelmsBriscoe, the leading global event procurement firm in 2011 as Director where she was responsible for leading the company’s efforts to establish their procurement solutions in the global marketplace.  In 2013, she was promoted to Vice President and in 2017 to Vice President-North America, where she led the 700+ associates in the Eastern and Western Regions.  She was responsible for client acquisition and retention, as well as ensuring the support and growth of the HelmsBriscoe associates. In June of 2018, Gerilyn rejoined Hilton Worldwide as Vice President-Group Sales, overseeing the Hilton Worldwide Group Sales teams.  In this role she is responsible for the growth of the group segment for Hilton brands and ensuring our team members are a collaborative partner and trusted advisor to our customers.

In July 2020 her role expanded to include the management of Hilton Worldwide's Global Strategic Accounts team, who provide a total account management approach to Hilton’s largest customers. Gerilyn is a graduate of the University of San Francisco with a degree in Organizational Behavior.

Ruth Katz - Executive Director, Morgan Stanley Corporate Events Marketing

Ruth is an Executive Director in Morgan Stanley’s Corporate Events Marketing division, and works in its global corporate headquarters in midtown Manhattan.  She oversees and is responsible for all design, planning, execution, strategy, budget and personnel matters relating to event marketing and production for the Institutional Securities Group in the Americas.  This includes Investment Banking, Prime Brokerage, Research and Corporate Access, as well as Board of Directors and C-suite events. Ruth has been at Morgan Stanley for fifteen years, performing a wide variety of event planning and management functions.  Ruth received her BA and MBA from Clark University.

Dyhalma J. Torres - Regional Vice President, HelmsBriscoe

Dyhalma J. Torres joined HelmsBriscoe as Regional Vice President in 2013. Based out of Miami, FL, Torres’s primary focus is to support, further develop and strengthen both partner and Associate relationships in South Florida, the Caribbean and Latin America.

Dyhalma is a strong bilingual marketer and sales professional with more than 20 years of industry sales experience who holds a Bachelors in Business Administration from the University of Puerto Rico. She held management positions within Starwood Hotels both in Miami and Puerto Rico as well as a long tenure as Director of Sales for Discover Puerto Rico’s SE Office, formerly known as PRCB. She has belonged to many industry associations including MPI, SITE, PCMA, IAHMP and SGMP. Dyhalma accepted the “Destination Partner of the Year” Award at HB’s ABC 2012 held in Reno, NV and being part of HelmsBriscoe in 2018 she accepted HB’s “Associate of the Year” Award in Orlando, FL. She has also been recognized by Collaborate Magazine as one of the “40 under 40” future industry leaders. 

Her enthusiasm and passion for building relationships and partnerships alike, her creative solutions and attentiveness to details, makes her perfectly suited to support Associates as well as assist her valued Clients. These qualities have enabled her to forge long lasting relationships with her Clients and peers alike.