Our featured guest has always loved hotels and restaurants. It is not something that came from his meteoric rise in one of the world's most iconic luxury brand hotel chains, the Ritz-Carlton. In fact, it is because of his lifelong appreciation of the industry that has catapulted him in his career.

You see, Erich Steinbock grew up in Vienna, Austria: a place where people stop and visit with friends over their morning espresso instead of racing to the office with a "to go" cup in hand. Vienna, where dinner is an event with family and friends, not a quick bite grabbed on your way home or eaten from a paper bag. Erich learned early on as he joined his father at the finest restaurants in Austria that dining is an art, a culture all its own, that a restaurant is judged on being "good" or "bad" not just on how good the food is and that the best places are those that become a second home to their customers.

Little did Erich's father know then that he was giving his son the experience of a lifetime that would propel his career in the hospitality business for 40 years. Since his first job as an apprenticeship server in Vienna to his current position as general manager for the Ritz-Carlton St. Louis, Erich Steinbock has made it his goal to make every customer feel like they just walked into their second home. His expertise in the industry has made him a sought after lecturer at several institutions including the International School of Hotels and Tourism in Vienna, the Harvard Business School...and most recently at Webster University in Vienna, Austria, where a recap of his teaching there will appear in the 2009 NotaBene Magazine.

Erich's vision is to provide every Ritz guest with what they want while still giving them a feeling of discovery. Anyone who has walked through the doors at the Ritz-Carlton St. Louis and has been greeted by staff intent on making every aspect of the experience "perfection" knows that Erich Steinbock is fulfilling that vision every day.

It brings me great joy to welcome to the Maritz Success to Significance Speaker Series my good friend, and I ask that you join me in giving a warm welcome to the general manager of the Ritz-Carlton, Erich Steinbock.

""We were all born originals, but most of us spend the rest of our lives trying to be copies. It's your originality that will set you apart." "

- Dr. Benjamin Akande