As director of hospitality and contract design, Nina Gotlieb brings over a decade of experience in the hospitality world to help build two new businesses for West Elm.

Gotlieb started her career in New York working in the luxury private residential sector. The desire to create beauty and experience in a more public and democratic way led her to renowned design firms AvroKO and Roman and Williams, where she worked on award-winning projects around the world, ranging from restaurants and nightclubs to spas and ground-up hotels. Her tenure at Starwood Hotels on the global brand design team brought with it invaluable insight into the bigger picture—an understanding of everything from the creation and implementation of brand strategies to the nuts and bolts of how hotels operate. At Starwood, Gotlieb oversaw the design, construction and opening of hotels around the world within the luxury brand portfolio, focusing mainly on St. Regis and the Luxury Collection.

In her current role, Gotlieb builds on two years of learning the ins and outs of retail to lead interior design and product development for West Elm’s two new hospitality businesses. In addition to the budding B2B contract sales partnerships and in-house contract product assortment, West Elm is launching their own hotels across the U.S., with the first one slated to open in 2020.

Gotlieb holds a bachelors degree in cognitive and environmental psychology from Cornell University and a masters degree in architecture from the University of Pennsylvania.