Jean Smith

Jean (Montgomery) Smith is a 1990 graduate of the University of Massachusetts Amherst where she earned a degree in Hotel, Restaurant and Travel Administration. She started her hotel career as a front desk clerk at a Marriott Fairfield Inn in Burlington, Vermont. After working for 5 years in various assistant manager roles in Tennessee and Massachusetts, Jean earned her first General Manager position at a Courtyard by Marriott in Foxborough, Massachusetts. Jean left Marriott International two years later, when she was recruited to join Colwen Hotels, a new franchise management company. She was the opening General Manager of its first hotel. As the company quickly grew, Jean's responsibilities expanded and she developed into a key manager with Colwen, leading in a variety of roles from corporate operations management to hotel development. In 2010, Jean accepted a career opportunity with White Lodging as a Regional Vice President overseeing hotels in Michigan and Florida. Two years later, Jean took charge of the lifestyle hotel portfolio for McKibbon Hotels, based in Tampa, Florida. In this position, she also served on the franchise advisory council for AC Hotels for Marriott International. Jean rejoined Colwen in 2016 as the Executive Vice President overseeing the Procurement and Interior Design division of the company. In 2018, the company opened 11 hotels. Jean is currently the Chief Operating Officer for Colwen Hotels and Colwen Design and Purchasing.