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Kevin Ketschek
Senior Director Focused Service Design at Hilton
Professional Background
Kevin Ketschek is a distinguished professional in the field of interior design, boasting an extensive career that spans over two decades. As the Senior Director of Design Focused Service Brands at Hilton, Kevin has been at the forefront of innovative design strategies that enhance the guest experience in hospitality. His career path has been marked by a consistent elevation in responsibility and influence, marking him as a leader in design within the hospitality industry.
Prior to his current role, Kevin held the position of Director of Design Focused Service Brands at Hilton Hotels Worldwide. In this capacity, he was instrumental in shaping design initiatives that align with Hilton's brand philosophy, ensuring a seamless integration of functional and aesthetic considerations. His keen eye for detail, coupled with a strategic approach to design, has earned him recognition as a thought leader in the field.
Earlier in his career, Kevin served as Associate Vice President at CallisonRTKL, where he contributed to high-profile projects that transformed cityscapes and improved the functionality of spaces. His tenure at Marriott International was equally impressive, where he played multiple roles including Interior Design Director, Brand Liaison, and Quality Assurance for The Americas. Here, he blended creativity with operational excellence, striving for designs that not only meet but exceed guest expectations through innovative and brand-aligned solutions.
Education and Achievements
Kevin Ketschek earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.) in Interior Design from the prestigious Pratt Institute, a program renowned for producing some of the best talents in the design world. This foundation in arts and design has empowered Kevin to delve into complex design challenges and produce exceptional results that reflect both artistry and practicality.
Throughout his professional journey, Kevin has led numerous successful design projects for renowned hotels and brands, infusing them with a unique blend of style and functional elegance. His multifaceted approach to design has made him a sought-after expert, influencing both emerging and established designers in the industry. Kevin's roles have consistently involved collaboration with architects, engineers, and stakeholders to realize designs that not only meet aesthetic goals but also ensure safety and compliance within the hospitality space.
Notable Achievements
Kevin's commitment to excellence has been recognized throughout his career. His work has significantly contributed to numerous brands under the Hilton umbrella, directly impacting guest experiences in various ways. Kevin has thrived in challenging projects, delivering innovative interior solutions that bring brands to life. His strategic vision and leadership skills have made him an influential figure in the development of design practices in hotels.
In addition to his notable projects, Kevin is also known for mentoring budding designers, sharing knowledge gained from a rich career that highlights the importance of both creativity and business acuumen in the design field. His profound understanding of the intersection of design and branding allows him to lead teams effectively, fostering an environment of creativity and collaboration.
As Kevin continues to forge a path in the interior design landscape, he remains committed to pushing boundaries, achieving excellence, and nurturing the next generation of design professionals. His journey exemplifies how passion and expertise can drive transformative results in the hospitality industry.
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Clay works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Clay offers several powerful features including:
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
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- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Clay is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
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Clay takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Clay encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Clay work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Clay is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Clay is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Clay is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Clay offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Clay offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Clay for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Clay accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Clay offers extensive integration capabilities. Clay introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Clay supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Clay also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
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Clay is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Clay stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Clay excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Clay is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Clay offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Clay's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Clay has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Clay is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Clay beneficial.
Clay offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Clay offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Clay's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Clay offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Clay focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Clay also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Clay offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
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Clay's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Clay's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Clay has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
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