Mike Dickersbach is chief information and digital officer at Highgate, a global real estate investment and hospitality management company in many U.S. markets from New York to Honolulu, with a rapidly expanding presence in Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean. His illustrious career has been rooted in hospitality since the very beginning, when he began his first job as restaurant manager at a DoubleTree hotel in 1997.

Dickersbach earned his master’s degree in information systems and has held several senior-level positions in technology strategy and management during the past 25 years for hospitality investment groups including Highgate, Brookfield Property Group LLC, Thayer Lodging Group and HEI Hotels & Resorts, as well as leading industry tech companies like Infor and RipplePoint. He has also engaged on several occasions with industry and professional advancement outside the workplace: as a member of the Advisory Board and Franchise Technology Advisory Council for Marriott International, past member of the Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition and Conference (HITEC®) Advisory Council and HFTP Certified Hospitality Technology Professional (CHTP®) designee.

These various experiences have shaped a uniquely impressive understanding of different sectors within a divaricated industry. “Working on both the brand and owner-operator sides [in the accommodation space], for private and public management companies, as well as for vendors, has given me a great perspective on the various technology lifecycles and nuances that exist within our industry,” says Dickersbach.

Throughout his career, Dickersbach has prioritized digital strategy, business integration and innovation. Fortunately, his current role at Highgate grants him the invaluable opportunity to lead digital innovation and strategy on a global scale. “The mission was clear when I began,” he recalled. “We needed to transform how we do business, from manual or overly complex human interactions to platforms that can automate the tedious work, empower our teams and shift them to more meaningful tasks that can help the company grow.

“We have just completed a large-scale migration and systems upgrade from HCM (human capital management) to ERP (enterprise resource planning), via a new, modern cloud data warehouse.

All [systems] have their own unique challenges — but we’re now set to grow with modern architecture. We built the foundation so that, moving forward, we can properly inject AI and improve workflows from a digital perspective.”

When looking to the future, Dickersbach plans to shift focus from implementation to optimization. “The next year is going to be focused on using all our new tools and honing in on how to do so most efficiently — while continuing the process of adding in automation wherever we can.”

Mike's Best

• Hobbies: Skiing. “I grew up learning how to ski on ice in the Poconos. Luckily, these days I can make it out west.”
• Favorite Movie: “SO many, but Ghostbusters is at the top.”
• Music: “Easily, Yes and Genesis. But since I have a young daughter, apparently Taylor Swift, as well.”
• Travel Destination: “Prague has been one of the most fun places to visit — the food, the culture, and the history. [It has] a lot going on.”
• Advice to Young People: "Listen, comprehend and challenge your coworkers."
• Dinner With: All three Stooges