Kathy Ploof

Kathy Ploof is the Vice President of Payments and Loyalty Financial Technology Products within Global Technology at Marriott International.  She is an accomplished IT executive with over 25 years of experience driving innovation, operational efficiency, and enterprise-wide transformation.

In her current role, Kathy leads the strategy and delivery of payment, fraud, and loyalty technology capabilities while partnering with Finance, Digital, Hotel Operations and Continent technology teams. She oversees a portfolio of above property and hotel technology products by aligning product roadmaps and solutions with digital and operational priorities while fostering strong partner relationships to ensure seamless service delivery.

During her tenure at Marriott, Kathy has held several leadership positions. She previously led Enterprise Products for Hotel Operations, focusing on technology to support Mobile Guest Services and other back-office solutions. Prior to that, she directed Business Partnership Planning for Corporate Systems, supporting Global Finance, Workforce Management, HR, Procurement, and Communications. Her work has included managing multi-million-dollar IT transformation programs and cultivating stakeholder relationships across diverse disciplines. She also played a pivotal role in advancing machine learning algorithms and AI in support of property resourcing initiatives.

Kathy holds a master’s degree in technical management from Johns Hopkins University and a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Jacksonville University.