Alumni Feature - Jared Dayton '08

If Jared Dayton ’08 knows one thing, it’s how to accommodate people and make them feel welcome. It’s actually his specialty as General Manager of The Dossier Hotel in downtown Portland, Oregon; but Jared’s commitment to support and hospitality doesn’t just stop with his guests and clients.

“The best part about my job is my ability to impact every one of my employees’ daily lives as well as shape the future of our guest experience. I am proud to set a culture of employee first and have the power to shape that destiny,” says Jared. “The hotel industry also offers a very unique vibe and company culture because you have a fair amount of entry-level positions and nice growth opportunities. The biggest aspect of the job that reeled me in was the people. When you work with people who are passionate about making guests happy, the environment is engaging and fun. With the right people, the right attitude, and a lot of hard work, you are able to quickly climb the ranks!”

While Jared’s path into the hospitality field was unexpected, it was incredibly exciting. As a student at Lewis University's College of Business, Jared was able to uncover his love for business and travel in a unique way through an internship opportunity back home in southern California. It was his experiences at this internship that showed him he could mesh together his personal passions and develop his skills.

“Since I lived in southern California, connections to Lewis were harder to come by. In my search for an internship, I found a resort hosting an international delegate group from Taiwan and worked with the resort for a summer. I have found through my experiences and education that I was more prepared to step into management in hospitality even without majoring in the field directly.”

After completing this internship, Jared returned to Lewis and finished his undergraduate career with high honors, earning his bachelor’s in International Business and Business Administration with a minor in Accounting. After graduation, Jared returned to the same hotel he interned at this time as an entry-level employee and then as a department manager. Later, Jared had the unique opportunity of transferring to San Diego to continue his career and then onto Portland, where he works now.

Prior to receiving his degree and climbing the hospitality industry’s ladder, Jared was a talented men’s volleyball player, co-captain of his team, and named multiple times to the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association. He was also a multi-year recipient of the Brother David Delahanty Award for excellence in his role as a student-athlete and a participant in multicultural clubs on campus. Jared is grateful to Men’s Volleyball Coach Dan Friend and credits him for his own growth and helping others, saying “Dan challenged me to be a leader at a young age. This gave me the opportunity to work with a large younger class and assist them in their own personal growth while furthering Coach Dan Friend's vision for the team. If the classes shaped how I thought, my sports experience shaped how I acted.”

While Coach Friend shaped his athletic experiences at Lewis, Jared says he is grateful to many others who inspired him in the classroom like Dr. Ian Gladding, Professor of International Business and Business Administration at Lewis, his mentors in the industry Justin Simpson and Nathan Davis, and most importantly, he says, his wife. "My wife continues to push me to take risks, believed in my abilities and talents when I didn't and has stuck with me through multiple moves around the west coast for the job.”

In his free time, Jared enjoys traveling with his wife, trying new eats around the Portland area, checking out the local theatre for plays, and watching Lewis Men’s Volleyball live streams, of course!

Jared aspires to one day achieve hotel ownership through investment in existing hotels or by running his own bed & breakfast on a picturesque vineyard. He reflects fondly back on two pieces of advice that he says he will carry with him as he works to achieve these goals. “Do not let go of the friends and contacts you made in school. Your paths may cross again, even if you don’t believe it. And in a growing and changing world, the best trait an employee and an employer can show is humility. A humble and hard-working attitude will take you far.”