Harris Rosen

Born and raised on New York City’s lower Eastside, Rosen received a Bachelor of Science in 1961 from the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University. He served for three years in the United States Army as an officer in Germany and South Korea. Afterward he completed the Advanced Management course at the University of Virginia’s graduate school of business on a Hilton Corporate Scholarship.

Rosen began his career at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City as a convention salesman. He continued with the Hilton Hotels Corporation occupying various management positions in some of the larger Hilton properties. He worked as the Director of Food and Beverage Operations at the Pittsburgh Hilton, the Assistant General Manager at the Buffalo Statler/Hilton, New Yorker Hotel and the Dallas Hilton and as the General Manager at the Cape Kennedy Hilton in Florida.

Rosen then joined the Post Company of Dallas as Director of Hotel Operations where he was involved in the development and management of one of its finest resort properties in Acapulco, Mexico. He left the Post Company after several years to join the Disney Company in California in 1968 as Director of Hotel Planning for Walt Disney World in Orlando. During his tenure, he was intimately involved in overseeing the design and development of the Contemporary Resort Hotel, the Polynesian Village Hotel, and the Fort Wilderness campground as part of the team that opened Walt Disney World in 1971.