Martha Poulter, ’88, was named executive vice president and chief information officer for Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide.

A 25-year technology veteran, Poulter most recently served as Vice President and Chief Information Officer, GE Capital, with global responsibility for IT strategy and operations leading a 4,000-person global organization. Since joining General Electric in 1995, Poulter held a series of senior information technology leadership positions such as eBusiness Vice President, Quality Leader, and regional Americas Chief Information Officer for GE Capital, where she was responsible for many operational excellence improvements and the completion of key digitization projects, including the Company’s first customer mobile apps for commercial businesses.

She graduated with a B.S.E. degree in Computer Science and Engineering.

“My experience at UCONN prepared me to approach problem solving situations from many different perspectives,” she said. “The classes, the projects and the environment were so foundational for me to ‘learn how to learn.’  Learning in the technology domain is so critical since it is such an ever evolving area.”

Asked what advice she’d give any recent grads interested in following a similar career path, Poulter offered the following tips:

– Be a life-long learner

– Actively seek feedback on very concrete areas

– Take accountability for both successes and failures

– Learn from your own and others mistakes so you don’t repeat them

– Actively team with others, nobody succeeds or wins alone

Poulter is a Board Member of the Hispanic Federation and the Norwalk Community College Foundation. In addition to her UConn degree, she completed her M.B.A. at the University of New Haven.