What do stealth bombers, spray paint, and hotels have in
common?They are all part of the
distinctive career story that led Zanne Saunders from industrial engineering to
her role as Vice President of Design and Construction for HVMG.Zanne shares some of her best advice and
unique experiences here.
What was your first job in hospitality?
I was part of a team that converted 100 Ameri-Suites
Hotels to Hyatt Place in 12 months, thus creating a new brand.It may be one of the only times critical mass
for a brand was reached in just a year.
If you weren't in the hotel business, what would you
do for a living?
I would be in construction for sure. As a little girl, I
carried around a Tonka dump truck instead of a baby doll.I was meant to be in this field!
You've got a free plane ticket and a complimentary
hotel stay anywhere in the world. Where are you headed?
Somewhere in the South Pacific like Bora Bora.I would stay at a resort with overwater
bungalows - those rooms on stilts in the water.
Aside from your current job, what position in your
career had the most profound impact on you?
In my first job out of college, I worked as an industrial
engineer on the B-2 Stealth Bomber project, which was classified at the time. I
had a secret clearance which was a big deal to a 22-year-old!While in the beginning, it was just a job, it
became so much more than that because I was working on a project that was going
to help keep us safe in times of war. That had an impact on me. I got
transferred to the final assembly plant at Edwards Airforce base in California,
and it was there that I saw the impact that just one person can have on
something much larger than just the one job I did.
The plane had never been flown before.There were only two planes at this time, and
we had another five planes in some form of production.The first test pilot came into our super
large secret hanger with no windows to speak to us about the impact we were
making for our country.To hear his
confidence in us, these young kids right out of college, was incredible.I was impressed by the courage he had to take
that leap of faith to be the first pilot to test this plane that we all were
making. I felt very patriotic and honored to be an American.To this day, I have never witnessed it in flight
personally; that is a bucket list thing for me.When I left the program it was still classified and so none of the
planes flew out in the open.It was
still a secret.
What pandemic-era change are you most eager to get
back to normal? What change are you planning to hold onto?
I'm ready to meet in person and make connections with
people.I do enjoy working from home a
few days a week.
What is the craziest thing that ever happened to you
in a hotel?
I am in construction and renovate and build hotels (I'm
not in operations so do not have that perspective).During one of my renovations, I walked into a
room that was under construction, and one of the workers was spray painting his
car bumper on the new carpet.This
project was in Denver in the dead of winter, and he wanted to use the heat of
the room to keep him warm.Crazy!
Who is your business hero?
My Dad.He passed
away in 2004 and, as I've gotten older, I've discovered things he accomplished
in his career that are amazing.He rose
through the ranks at Dupont where he worked his whole career.He had no formal higher education yet ended
his career at the top position in engineering and an industry leader/expert in
all things "piping."Most of
his work applied to manufacturing plants/facilities that use piping to carry
liquids to make products such as gas, oil, paints, and even radioactive elements
like plutonium. You see, he had a top-secret clearance at one of his first jobs
and worked at one of the only plants in the USA that made plutonium, the
Savannah River Site.Maybe like father,
like daughter?
