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Heather Turner, CEO & Co-founder, Tamarack Capital Partners, interviewed by Lan Elliott - It's Personal Stories, A Hospitality Podcast (1)

Length
37 min
Language
English
Text from
the audio
Transcribed
1 October 2026
Read the full transcriptOpen on Web
Notes in English.

Summary

In this DEI Advisors podcast, Lan Elliott interviews Heather Turner, CEO and co-founder of Tamarack Capital Partners, about her career journey from a first job in Kyoto to hotel real estate investing. Turner shares stories about risk-taking, networking, self-advocacy, and finding win-win outcomes in negotiations. She offers advice for women and underrepresented groups on advancing in the hospitality investment industry.

Key points

  • Heather Turner's first job with the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kyoto taught her to take on challenges even without full confidence.
  • Tamarack Capital Partners was founded after about a year of planning, with a structure that kept responsibility for prior deals with old capital partners intact.
  • Turner prefers smaller networking groups and volunteering within organizations over large events, though she finds large conferences effective for seeing many people quickly.
  • She advocated for herself by going back a second time to ask for a piece of a deal's promote, even after an initial rejection.
  • A ground lease buyout from a city was resolved by paying more for the land in exchange for a higher convention center management fee, creating a win-win.
  • Tamarack has a flat organization where team members were invited to join as partners to keep them motivated long-term.
  • Turner encourages young women to stay on the investment side of the business rather than stepping out early.
  • Her final advice is to take as many negotiation classes as possible and negotiate in a way that preserves relationships.

Questions it answers

00:00Career Inflection Points

What were the key turning points in Heather Turner's career?

Her first job with the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kyoto taught her to take on challenges without full confidence. She then worked at Disney twice, went to business school, and moved into hotel real estate investing with Merritt & Wolf, where she has been for about 22 years.

  • Don't wait until you feel 100% confident to apply for a job.
  • A scary first job in a foreign language made later challenges feel achievable.

03:07Approaching Challenges

How does Heather Turner approach challenges?

She thinks about who else in the organization or the deal can add value and pulls people together to solve problems as a team, tapping into brands, capital partners, and other exceptional professionals.

  • A teamwork approach lets the firm punch above its own weight.
  • Surround yourself with intelligent, professional people.

04:32Risk-Taking and Founding Tamarack

How did Heather Turner prepare for and manage big professional risks?

She went skydiving before job interviews to reset her sense of risk. Starting Tamarack took about a year of planning and six to nine months of negotiating a friendly exit, and the firm structured its spinout to keep responsibility for prior deals so old capital partners weren't alienated.

  • Tamarack raises capital deal-by-deal as an operating partner.
  • The first three Tamarack deals were with repeat capital partners from the prior firm.

07:31Developing Your Network

How does Heather Turner build a network that suits her personality?

She favors smaller forums like the AHLA Roundtable and Hotel Asset Managers Association, finds large conferences like NYU and ALIS effective for efficiency, and advises volunteering in organizations rather than just being a member.

  • Break networking into smaller groups to build meaningful relationships.
  • Stay at uncomfortable events so the next generation gets invited too.

11:48Overcoming Self-Doubt

How does Heather Turner handle self-doubt?

She believes a little self-doubt is positive and keeps you measured, but it shouldn't incapacitate decision-making. During the pandemic, stepping back to look at global capital flows helped counter myopic, deal-level doubt.

  • Some self-doubt prevents running headstrong into mistakes.
  • The industry stayed collaborative during the pandemic despite competition.

15:51Advocating for Yourself

How did Heather Turner succeed in advocating for herself?

After being denied a share of a deal's promote she wasn't contractually owed, she went back a second time, disagreed firmly, and offered to bring capital partners to support her case, which ultimately worked.

  • Going back a second time felt better than accepting the first no.
  • It took her a week to make an uncomfortable phone call asking someone to advocate for her.

19:02Assertiveness and Win-Win Negotiation

How does Heather Turner balance assertiveness with kindness in negotiations?

She describes her natural range as somewhere in the middle emotionally, and worries that being called diplomatic means she's too soft, so she pushes a little harder. Her ground lease story shows how she found a win-win by paying more for land in exchange for a higher convention center management fee.

  • She doesn't get emotional about work but is firm.
  • The win-win structure got the firm a fee simple hotel and a better fee stream.

25:05Leadership Style

What leadership style does Heather Turner look for and practice?

She co-founded Tamarack partly to create a structure that keeps a motivated team together financially, inviting team members to join as partners. She prefers a flat organization where everyone can make decisions, contrasting with Disney's hierarchical stationery and chair system.

  • She couldn't name the company after herself, preferring a team environment.
  • Giving people exposure beyond their silos develops holistic real estate investors.

Notes

Career Journey and Inflection Points

  • Heather Turner's first job out of college was with the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kyoto, negotiating government contracts in Japanese despite limited fluency.
  • She learned early not to wait until feeling 100% confident before applying for a job.
  • She worked at the Walt Disney Company twice, then moved into hotel real estate investing with Merritt & Wolf about 22 years ago.

Risk-Taking and Founding Tamarack

  • She went skydiving as a college senior to reset her sense of risk before job interviews, calling it "level two fun."
  • Starting Tamarack Capital Partners involved about a year of planning and six to nine months of negotiating a friendly exit from her prior firm.
  • Tamarack raises capital on a deal-by-deal basis as an operating partner, bringing a small portion of capital while doing most of the work.
  • The founding team brought along responsibility for prior deals, keeping old capital partners' interests at heart; the first three Tamarack deals were with repeat capital partners.

Networking

  • She doesn't play golf but favors smaller forums like the AHLA Roundtable, Hotel Asset Managers Association, and ULI.
  • Large conferences like NYU and ALIS are effective for seeing many people quickly, though networking isn't always fun.
  • She once stayed at an industry dinner with only three women among 200-300 people, feeling she had to stay for the next generation.
  • Advice: volunteer to organize events or become an officer in associations rather than just being a member.

Self-Advocacy

  • Early in her investing career, she asked twice for a piece of a deal's promote she wasn't contractually owed, eventually bringing others to support her case.
  • Going back a second time after a "no" felt better than accepting the first rejection.

Leadership and Inclusion

  • Tamarack has a flat organization; team members were invited to join as partners to keep them motivated.
  • She couldn't name the company after herself, preferring a team environment over a pyramid.
  • When candidates are equally qualified, she prefers to do business with the more diverse candidate.
  • She encourages young women to stay on the investment side and not step out early.

Final Advice

  • Take as many negotiation classes as possible, since negotiating matters for deals, salary, and career.
  • Negotiate for all parties at the table and don't cut off relationships by going for the kill.

Transcribed automatically from the audio. Summary and notes written by AI from the transcript, so check anything important against the recording.

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Heather Turner, CEO & Co-founder, Tamarack Capital Partners, interviewed by Lan Elliott - It's Personal Stories, A Hospitality Podcast (1) — transcript & summary · Blumify