ANDIAMO - Heather Ciszczon

Chief Development Officer at NuovoRE

Throughout your career, you've managed projects across various sectors including healthcare, hospitality, and residential. How did you adapt your approach to suit the specific needs and challenges of each sector?

Great question. My passion is hospitality, and it’s where I started, so right or wrong, I treated healthcare, and residential as hospitality too – how would a patient, a family want to feel? How do we use details to address emotional needs? I also started in healthcare when the industry was looking to hospitality for inspiration. When I got back to hospitality, my experience in healthcare brought a strong grounding in technical needs and coordination.

For you, what are the key elements of an exceptional hotel experience?

I absolutely need top-notch execution of service and design. I don’t have a favorite design style, I just want to be impressed by craftsmanship, and attention to details. Also, something memorable. My pet peeves are wrong color temperature and not getting bar/barstool dimensions right. 

Transforming communities through adaptive re-use is your company’s specialty: can you talk about the process to discover the right properties to bring to new life and how you work with the local municipalities?

Got an hour? Ha! We don’t have a magic matrix when we look at potential properties. There are so many factors that need to come together and each property (given that it’s historic and/or re-use) can weight the entire proposition differently. We do a lot of listening tours, talking to local leaders, and spend time in the market to understand neighborhood needs – that’s what we’re solving for in the end. Each municipality is different and that is challenging. We navigate each city one-by-one, and through our community impact lens.

Your most recent opening is the 21c Museum Hotel in St. Louis, a beautiful building with great character: what were the most difficult challenges you faced on that project?

AAGGHH! This project was such a toughie. We started pre-COVID, and we went on hold for one year to patiently (and successfully) wait out a historic state tax credit award. As we got into construction and started to peel back layers, we found old houses in the sub-basement, the building condition was worse than we anticipated. Container prices for FF&E went through the roof. Preserving  historic fabric and intent was difficult. The list of challenges was long, but we had a strong, amazing team (21c, JLL, PWWG Architects, Bill Rooney Studio, Hufft Design) with persistence.

Who has been your biggest inspiration throughout your career?

Gosh, I’ve worked with a ton of inspiring people, but I look to brands, properties, and companies for inspiration. The list is always changing, but I’ll steal from Frank Lloyd Wright and say “the next project.”

As the Chief Development Officer, what are your key responsibilities in driving the company’ strategy and how do you envision the company's growth in the next few years?

Historic adaptive re-use is extremely challenging, and I think a key responsibility is keeping my team motivated, on track, and ready to collaborate. They need clear, timely decisions with background intent to empower them. It’s also key to maintain the long-term view.

What is your favorite Bellino product and why? 

Como Luxury sheets. Looooove them. They are so soft, they repeatedly wash well and still look great, and they are sustainably resourced.

What activities or hobbies do you engage in that help you maintain a healthy work-life balance?

I am a Pilates fanatic. I’ve been practicing Pilates for almost 20 years. I typically try to find a local studio when I’m traveling. I’m also a fan of taking the stairs on my jobsites, but I have an altitude advantage being from Denver. ☺

Can you reflect on a time in your career when you faced a setback or challenge? How did you overcome it, and what did you learn from that experience?

Setbacks and challenges happen all the time. I think anyone in hospitality has to be resilient, like a rubber-ball. The best way to get through is to detach, but that’s so hard when you’re passionately engaged. I think you just gotta persevere, things tend to work themselves out.



What was the most memorable lesson or insight you gained from your experience at Hyatt that you continue to apply in your current role at NuovoRE?

Good technical services are the foundation of a good project, and you have to speak up when these more invisible/less sexy needs aren’t being incorporated.

3 favorite hotels and travel destinations around the world?

Top 4 ☺: San Ysidro Ranch (Santa Barbara), Rowland House, part of Inns of Aurora (Finger Lakes, NY), Six Senses Douro Valley (Portugal), Nine Orchard (NYC). 



What advice would you give to someone new to the hospitality industry?

You have to travel to really be able to design great hospitality experiences. Don’t get entrenched in trends, being timeless and memorable will take you further.