Washington, D. C. (September 12, 2022) —Terry Dunbar, general manager of Park Hyatt Washington, D.C. is pleased to announce the appointment of Ilemona Salifu as director of sales, marketing, and events at Park Hyatt Washington, D.C. Salifu has worked with Hyatt for over 15 years, on both the East and West Coast. The Park Hyatt Washington is the seventh Hyatt property and the fifth brand within the Hyatt portfolio of hotels for which he has been a leader in the sales and marketing efforts. Since May 2019, he most recently served as the area director of sales, marketing, and events at the Hyatt Regency Baltimore. In his role here, Salifu was instrumental in guiding and leading the sales and events teams through the pandemic and recovery efforts. He also assisted with facilitating partnerships with local African American small businesses, giving each a solid platform, while also helping the Hyatt Regency maintain its 25-year relationship with the Baltimore Ravens. Frequently spotlighted in the media on behalf of the Hyatt brand, Salifu has also been a mentor to area colleges, promoting five sales and events associates during his tenure in Maryland.
Salifu originally pursued a career in security and finance. He graduated in 2008 from San Diego State University with a Bachelor of Science, Accounting and Finance degree, after serving his country from 1999 to 2006, in the U.S. Navy as an aviation electronics technician and in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. He began his hospitality career in May 2007, where he started at the position of security officer and became a corporate management trainee (CMT) in 2011, before moving his focus from accounting to sales, at the Hyatt Hotels Corporation of Greater Los Angeles, as a meeting connections sales manager. He remained on the West Coast with Hyatt Regency Century Plaza until January 2016, when he relocated to the Grand Hyatt Atlanta in Buckhead as associate director of sales. A year later Salifu was promoted to director of sales & marketing at the Hyatt Regency Morristown, a position he held for two years until being tapped to relocate to Maryland as the area director of sales, marketing, and events with the Hyatt Regency Baltimore.
A native of Pittsburg, PA, Salifu also lived in Nigeria from the age of three to 15, and then moved Los Angeles, CA, where he graduated from high school to join the U.S. Navy. He enjoys travel, physical fitness pursuits, mediation, and spending quality time with his wife Vera, and their three daughters.
