Margaret Weir Manchik ’87 Margaret Weir Manchik started out as a marketing major, but found her true home when she joined the hospitality management department near the end of her junior year. Program director John Wolper helped her craft a contract major, carefully picking hospitality courses to complement her business background.
Paul Cahill ’88 Paul Cahill has been with Marriott International ever since his 1988 Mercyhurst graduation. Through almost 30 years, he says his average stay in a position is probably not more than two years. “I kept broadening my horizons and learning new things,” he says. “Marriott is a great company for that. If you’re doing well in your current role, you’ll be given the opportunity to try new things.” He says the Marriott culture, with its emphasis on putting people frst, is what attracted him during his frst interview and has kept him there ever since. For the frst 20 years, he held increasingly responsible roles in the company’s West Coast operations. He met and married his wife, Diane, there; they welcomed triplets Christopher, Courtney and Chelsea, who are now 17; and he loved his work. The challenge that fnally lured him back east came about seven years ago, when he was asked to reposition the fagship Marriott Hotels brand and to develop a new JW Marriott brand, named for the company’s legendary founder, J. Willard Marriott. He was based in Bethesda, Maryland, but traveled the world as he built a global brand that works with multiple cultures in 70 countries. When Marriott took over Canada’s Delta Hotels chain about two years ago, Paul was called on again to develop the right positioning for a new Marriott brand. Since Jan. 1 this year, he’s been the area vice president for Marriott-managed hotels in Canada. He still lives in Bethesda, though, where he enjoys following his kids’ athletic teams and is a big mountain biker. Paul said he felt well-prepared at each step in his career, thanks to Mercyhurst’s balance between academics and hands-on, real-life learning. His two internships at Marriott Hotels (in Marco Island, Florida, and Washington, D.C.) allowed him to apply what he learned in the classroom. He credits faculty members John Wolper and Daryl Georger and their widespread connections in the hospitality world that helped make internships and then job interviews happen. Today, he and many fellow Lakers have risen to senior positions, further building a network that’s hugely valuable for today’s students. When the Center for Academic Engagement was being designed a few years ago, Paul helped coordinate a gift from his company to sponsor the Marriott Café as a working laboratory for current students – and a recognition of the many Mercyhurst graduates working in management at Marriott.
She couldn’t ft in internships, but trips to hotel shows in New York and Las Vegas engaged her with the feld, and the department did a great job of arranging job interviews as she neared graduation in 1987. Her frst job was as a management trainee at the Hyatt Regency Bufalo. “You use everything you’ve learned in school in your frst six weeks out in the real world,” she says. “After that, you’d better have developed good study habits, good wits, a sense of humor and a strong work ethic, because you’re on your own.” Margaret says her Mercyhurst training prepared her for everything, from coordinating a sales blitz to less glamorous tasks. “Sometimes you fnd yourself sitting on the foor at 2 in the morning polishing brass in an elevator,” she laughs. Positions with Hyatt took her to Columbus and Chicago, followed by a stint at California’s Renaissance Esmeralda Resort. Then it was back to her hometown of Cleveland where she worked in hotels and later managed suite services for the Cleveland Cavaliers Gund Arena Company. When Chicago beckoned her back, she handled sales there for the Orlando Convention and Visitors Bureau and, since 2002, in National Sales for Disney. Most people associate Disney with leisure and vacations. Her job is to promote the company’s commitment to meetings and conventions, and book group meetings and conventions into Disney-owned and operated properties in Anaheim, Orlando and Hawaii. “The products are unique and
the resources for our clients are limited only by their imagination.”
One of her favorite experiences is encountering current Mercyhurst students at national conferences. “Our students stand out head and shoulders above all the rest,” she says. “They’re prepared, professional, they look you in the eye, they’re ready. If I were a hiring manager...” Margaret has a 10-year-old daughter, Maxine, who loves acting in plays, and a 7-year-old son, Michael, who’s a promising hockey player. The live in Northbrook, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. Margaret’s sister, Laura, and Laura’s husband, Jef Nicholson, both graduated from the Mercyhurst hospitality program in 1995. Laura worked in the restaurant business before switching to recruiting for EY. Today she’s director of executive recruitment and talent management for Capgemini. Jef is senior vice president, resident sales director for Aon. They reside in Rocky River, Ohio; their son, Jake, is a senior at the Ohio State University, Fisher College of Business, and daughter Maxine is a senior at Rocky River High School.
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