The new head of global communications for Bill Marriott

[underpants]

In addition to being a longtime leader of the $14 billion company -- and member of Forbes' list of the 500 richest Americans -- Marriott is an elder in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or the Mormon church. The suburban Maryland resident provides lay counsel for much of Virginia. He visited the Cogbill Road congregation in Chesterfield County on Saturday.

Marriott, 75, recalled that when he was growing up, there were few Mormon churches in Virginia. Now, there are more than 80,500 Mormons in the state, including about 9,000 members in 27 congregations in the Richmond and Tri-Cities areas, according to local church leaders.


Q. Mormonism is in the news a lot now with Mitt Romney running for president. Is that good PR for the church?

A. It has raised the level of interest in the church. That's good. We want people to understand us. We want people to have a sense of who we are and what we believe.

Q. Are you involved in his campaign?

A. I'm the chairman of his finance committee in Maryland. He was on the board at Marriott for 10 years. I also knew his father and mother well.

Q. You have a blog. How long has that been running?

A. About a year. We a new head of global communications, Kathleen Matthews (wife of TV host Chris Matthews.) She was excited about blogging and what it provided me and the company, a way to connect with people and tell them about our beliefs.

Q. On the blog, you say you're frustrated with Congress for not passing immigration legislation. Is that because almost half of your workers are foreign-born?

A. On immigration, obviously we believe in upholding the law. But we believe people should be given a chance. In our church, we believe Jesus gave us all a chance to repent our sins and return to him. We should give people a chance for citizenship. This country couldn't exist without immigrants.

http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/search.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2007-12-04-0115.html