greatEvent adds former Marriott president Liam Brown as strategic advisor

greatEvent has named former Marriott Group President, U.S. & Canada Liam Brown as a strategic advisor as the company expands its Real-Time Booking platform in meetings and events. The move gives the Rockville startup added hospitality credibility as it pushes EventBank and seeks faster hotel and venue inventory sales.

Why it matters: - greatEvent is trying to scale in the meetings and events market, where most space is still sold through manual RFPs, phone calls and email. - Brown brings decades of hotel leadership experience and owner relationships that could help greatEvent win more hotel and venue partners. - The appointment comes as greatEvent rolls out EventBank and looks to turn unsold meeting inventory into a faster, bookable sales channel.

What happened: - greatEvent named Liam Brown, former Group President, U.S. & Canada at Marriott International, as a strategic advisor. - Brown will provide guidance on growth, industry positioning, and engagement with hotel owners, operators and other hospitality stakeholders. - Brown’s role is independent and personal, and it is not affiliated with or endorsed by Marriott International. - The announcement was made Oct. 20, 2026, from Rockville, Maryland.

The details: - greatEvent built a patented Real-Time Booking platform for events. - EventBank applies the bedbank model to meeting and event space. - Participating hotels and venues contribute live, bookable space into a shared inventory. - Planners, agencies and distribution partners can search and confirm space in real time through greatEvent’s RTB platform. - The company says its system compresses a process that can take days into minutes by replacing RFPs, calls and email threads with instant confirmation and pricing. - greatEvent says the model gives hotels and venues a new sales channel for inventory that often sits empty. - Brown retired from Marriott in June 2026 after 37 years with the company. - He served as Group President, U.S. & Canada through March 2026, then remained through June in a transition advisory role. - In that job, Brown led Marriott’s largest region, which included more than 6,000 hotels. - His prior Marriott roles included Group President, Europe, Middle East & Africa; President and Managing Director, Europe; and President, Select Brands and Owner and Franchise Services, North America. - Brown started his Marriott career in hotel operations in 1989. - Brown sits on the boards of Chatham Lodging Trust and EPR Properties, where he chairs the Compensation & Human Capital Committee. - Brown served as chair of the American Hotel & Lodging Association until June 2026. - Brown earned a degree from Trinity College Dublin and an MBA from the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business.

Between the lines: - greatEvent is signaling that industry relationships matter as much as product development in a market shaped by legacy sales habits. - Brown’s background in hotel operations, ownership dynamics and franchising could help the company speak more directly to the concerns of property owners and operators. - The advisory role also gives greatEvent a high-profile validation point as it tries to build trust with a conservative hospitality sector.

What's next: - greatEvent will use Brown’s guidance as it expands its presence in meetings and events. - The company will continue rolling out EventBank and its RTB platform to more hotels and venues. - greatEvent will also pursue broader opportunities across the hospitality sector.

The bottom line: - greatEvent wants to pair product innovation with deep industry experience as it tries to modernize how meeting and event space gets sold.