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Ritzy Job Hotel chief Elizabeth Mullins '89 makes memories By Jim Graham

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Elizabeth Mullins '89 remembers exactly how she felt that day when she was 5 years old, dressed in her Sunday best, and sitting in The Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Boston enjoying high tea with her dad after watching "The Nutcracker."

Elizabeth Mullins as a child

Just like a queen.

Afternoon tea at the elegant old hotel was the perfect punctuation to a long day trip from her hometown in Durham, N.H., to the hustle and bustle of the big city during the holidays.

"After that afternoon, I knew that's what I wanted to do the rest of my life. Or, at least in my 5-year-old's mind, that that's how I wanted to feel," says Mullins, who earned a bachelor's degree in hotel management and business administration from UNH in 1989. Mullins decided she wanted to work inside that world someday, too, and help others feel just the same.

So, six days after graduating, she went to work for The Ritz-Carlton in Boston. Eleven moves, 20 years, and many promotions later, she is vice president and area general manager for The Ritz-Carlton in Washington, D.C. Her office is at the heart of one of the legendary chain's most prominent properties, which earned accolades for its work during inauguration celebrations for President Barack Obama. She also oversees four other Ritz-Carlton hotels in the area.

The hotel's behind-the-scenes efforts were featured in a Washington Post slideshow depicting the painstaking lengths the staff took "to cater to diplomats, politicians, CEOs, and the deep ranks of the unfamously successful possessing money and taste to spare," the newspaper reported. Among the perks: Each guest received an inauguration "Survival Kit" in a Ritz-Carlton canvas tote bag embroidered with the inaugural seal, a pashmina scarf with the inaugural seal, a stainless steel coffee mug, gourmet peanuts, mints, detox organic tea, tissues, and chewing gum.

"We're trying to make a memory," Mullins told the Post. "People are here to celebrate this amazing inauguration and we're part of that memory. Everything we do during the four days has to solidify this great experience."

Such attention to detail helped Mullins become a general manager before she was 35, a rare accomplishment within the industry's highest-ranking hotels. Mullins has also been recognized nationally, winning two Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Awards. The award is the only formal recognition for performance excellence for U.S. organizations given by the President of the United States.

"I attribute a lot of my success to the foundation that UNH gave me in all aspects of the industry; not just in the hotel management side of things, but also in the business management side," Mullins says.

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