About Mitch Johnston

Hi, I'm Mitch.

I'm a hospitality brand and commercial strategy leader with more than a decade shaping some of the West Coast's most recognized independent hotels. The work sits where culture, revenue, design, and guest experience meet, so a brand ends up profitable as well as beautiful.

I started in theatre at Northwestern, which is where the storytelling and production instincts come from — a show opens on time, the audience feels something, and the box office matters. Hotels run on the same physics. Since then I've built one brand in its entirety at The Garland, led a five-property portfolio at Casetta through three openings, and now shape brands for resort and residential clients at Wicked+.

Where I've been

A career folio, line by line.

Career № 001 — M. Johnston2011 → Present
2026 — Present

Director of Brand Strategy & Content

Wicked+ · Los Angeles

Brand strategy and narrative development for resort and residential clients across the U.S., Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean — positioning, verbal identity, and go-to-market for projects moving from vision to opening.

Agency chapter
2024 — 2025

Director of Marketing → Head of Strategy & Marketing

Casetta Hotels · CA · NM · NY

Portfolio-wide brand and commercial strategy across five properties, with three 2025 openings that ramped above forecast, 20% YOY revenue growth, and the Surfrider Malibu's 10-month post-fire recovery ahead of its sale at nearly $2M per key.

+20% YOY
2014 — 2023

Director of Creative Development & Marketing

The Garland, Rio Vista Development · North Hollywood

Full brand authorship of a former Holiday Inn that became a six-time Condé Nast Traveler Readers' Choice hotel — with The Front Yard, The Store, a $1M+ media program at 23:1 ROAS, and The Tangerine Room, a private dining space I delivered from concept to construction that produces $1M+ a year.

Flagship
2011 — 2013

Technical Director

Arts Alliance · Northwestern University

Theatre production leadership — where the storytelling instincts, the deadline discipline, and the belief that every show must open came from.

Origins
How I lead

High standards, delivered with warmth.

Clear creative direction

Teams do their best work when the vision is specific. I set the standard, show the reference, and stay close enough to keep quality high without slowing anyone down.

Growth over telling

I lead junior creatives toward their own answers rather than handing them mine, and I build small, high-output teams that punch above their headcount.

No job too small

I've styled gift shops, run press trips, negotiated with overseas manufacturers, and presented to ownership in the same week. Rolling up my sleeves is the job.

Education & certifications
Northwestern University B.S., Theatre & Business Institutions
Cornell University · eCornell Certificates in Digital Marketing, Integrated Marketing 360, Strategic Hospitality Marketing, and Marketing Analytics
Professional certifications Agile Project Management · Google Ads Search & Display · Project Planning
Systems I work in
Revenue & distribution Duetto·SynXis·Opera·Cloudbeds·Triptease
Marketing & CRM GA4·Revinate·Meta Ads·Yext·Resy·OpenTable
Creative & production Adobe CC·Figma·Canva·WordPress·Monday.com

The full resume, ready to send.

The complete record — roles, results, and references on request — in one PDF.

Download resume (PDF)
Start a project

Let's build something worth staying for.

Tell me about your hotel, your market, and what you want to solve. I'll come back with next steps and a suggested path forward.