Alexander Mirza (entrepreneur)

Alexander Ahmar Mirza is a Canadian American social innovator, entrepreneur, investor, and author. He has worked in the hospitality industry for over two decades, having held senior positions at the largest hotel chains and consulting firms, including Accenture, Hilton, Caesars, and Starwood. Mirza is the co-founder and CEO of the venture-backed Mogul Hospitality, and was the co-founder of Cachet Hotels. He is the first foreigner to create and grow a hotel brand in China.

Early life and education

Mirza was born in New Delhi, India.

He holds a master’s in Business Administration from Harvard Business School, where he was awarded the McArthur Fellowship for Canadians. He also has an M.A. in International Relations and a BAH from Queen's University in Kingston, Canada, where he was an Aga Khan Foundation Scholar and graduated with First Class Honors.

Career

Management consultant and entrepreneur

With a management consultant and C-suite executive career spanning 25 years, Mirza has advised CEOs, heads of state, and international organizations. He has collaborated with scientists in Shell’s Gamechanger Program that generated $3 billion of new businesses addressing climate change. His consulting background includes years of project management at Deloitte/Braxton Associates in the areas of value-based management and growth strategy.

Mirza was a senior principal at Strategos, an innovation consultancy formed by one of the world’s leading corporate strategists, Gary Hamel. At Strategos, Mirza led client teams creating new businesses, products, and services in the consumer, financial services, and oil and gas industries.

After offering consultancy services, Mirza joined Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide as Head of Strategic Planning, responsible for brand positioning, development planning, and business innovation, reporting to the CFO and CEO. Subsequently, Mirza worked as Senior Vice President of Hilton Hotels Corporation, reporting to the COO. At Hilton, Mirza revamped a $2 billion food and beverage business, integrated Hilton International, established the Waldorf Astoria luxury brand, and developed the first well-being division.

Before Hilton, Mirza was a senior executive in the travel and transportation practice at Accenture.

In 2010, he served as Vice President and Executive Associate to Gary Loveman, then chairman and CEO of Caesars Entertainment. Caesars subsequently named Mirza the head of Caesars Hospitality Ventures and Caesars Global Life. Mirza led service improvements and new hotel, restaurant, and nightlife developments, including Gordon Ramsay, BR Guest, Nobu Hotel, Drais nightlife, and branded non-gaming resorts.

In 2012, Mirza founded Cachet Hospitality in Shanghai. Under his leadership as CEO, Cachet acquired and grew China’s first carbon-neutral hotel and developed luxury lifestyle hotel and restaurant brands in China, Southeast Asia, and North America. Cachet’s global hotel brands are differentiated by sustainability and east meets west design, art, and food. Cachet hotels received global recognition for its branding, hotel management, and interior design, raising four rounds of capital with international investors in China, the U.S., and UAE.

In 2018, Mirza founded Mogul Hospitality, In 2018, Mirza founded Mogul Hospitality, a venture-backed software, and branding company. Mogul hospitality has been recognized as a top start-up by Harvard Alumni Ventures, Phocuswright, and named one of the 28 most innovative travel tech startups around the world in 2022.

Mogul’s applications include MogulRecruiter, the industry’s first two-sided talent marketplace; StayMogul, a service-driven reservations platform; and Mogul Hotels, an employee-first, ESG luxury brand. All of these applications use data science to propel technology and service innovation.

Speaker

Mirza was a speaker at the 2021 Phocuswright Conference, HEDNA- Global Distribution Conference, YJP NewYork 2017, BLLA Events, and the Independent Lodging Congress. He has also spoken at other major events (only invite C suite speakers), including NYU Hotel Investment Conference, China HVS Hotel Investment Conference, and Harvard Real Estate Conference, where he was also a moderator.

Author

Mirza is the author of two books, Peacekeeping, Peacemaking, & World Order: A Study of the Post-Cold War UN System and Moguls of Hospitality: Talent, Diversity & Innovation In a Turbulent Market.

He is a contributing author on several platforms, including Entrepreneur, Medium, Harvard Real Estate Review, and Thrive Global.

Recognition

Mirza was recognized as one of the top 100 most powerful hospitality executives by the Global Hospitality Institute in 2022. Harvard Business School wrote a case study on Mirza’s career in organizational development in March 2020.

Mirza was listed on Canada’s Top 40 under 40 and awarded Toronto’s Mayor Volunteer Creed. He was named one of the top 10 international Canadian executives by Canadian Business Magazine in 2006.