Sarah Jane Curran is the Director of Food & Beverage for the U.S. and Canada at Marriott International, where she helps guide beverage strategy, menu development and guest experiences across the company’s diverse hotel portfolio. Her work brings together creativity, commercial performance and operational execution, helping properties build beverage programs that are relevant to guests and scalable across multiple locations.

Sarah developed her passion for beverages while studying at The Culinary Institute of America. She later earned a master’s degree from New York University, where her research focused on beverage history and education. Her hospitality career has included serving as Beer Director at Eleven Madison Park in New York City and General Manager at ChurchKey in Washington, D.C. She has also taught beverage classes through Cornell University and Ana G. Méndez University.

With extensive experience in beverage selection, menu development, costing and multi-property hospitality operations, Sarah brings a valuable national hotel perspective to the Sommeliers Choice Awards judging panel. She understands how wines must combine quality, value, food compatibility and commercial appeal to succeed in restaurant, bar and hotel beverage programs.