Michelle Roman is a human trafficking expert specializing in the hospitality and travel industries, with more than a decade of experience addressing how businesses can identify, prevent, and respond to sex trafficking and child exploitation. Her expertise includes hotel anti-trafficking policies and procedures, employee training, trafficking indicators, reporting and response protocols, and industry standards and practices.
Michelle spent much of her career working directly with the hospitality industry to strengthen its response to human trafficking. As Director of Private Sector Engagement at ECPAT-USA, now PACT, she built and led the organization’s private sector engagement strategy and advised major hotel and travel companies on the development and implementation of anti-trafficking policies, training, and prevention initiatives. Her work included engagement with companies such as Marriott International, Hilton, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, Hyatt Hotels Corporation, Choice Hotels International, InterContinental Hotels Group, Accor, Red Roof Inn, G6 Hospitality, Carlson Companies, Delta Air Lines, and Uber.
Michelle developed and launched human trafficking training for the hospitality industry that became an industry-standard resource endorsed by the American Hotel & Lodging Association. She worked with hotel companies and industry leaders to identify trafficking indicators within hotel environments, establish appropriate employee responses, develop reporting protocols, and strengthen corporate policies and practices. She also presented at multiple American Hotel & Lodging Association programs focused specifically on preventing and responding to human trafficking in hotels.
Her expertise has been sought by government, industry, and international organizations. Michelle has contributed to government testimony and presented on human trafficking and private-sector responsibility before the White House, the World Economic Forum, the Institute of Medicine, and other national and international audiences. She also served on the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Advisory Committee on Human Trafficking and the Global Business Travel Association’s Women’s Travel Safety Task Force.
Michelle’s work has been featured by CNN, The New York Times, Thomson Reuters, Forbes, the World Economic Forum, Skift, Hotelier Magazine, NBC, Travel Weekly, and other national and industry publications. She has also received numerous industry recognitions for her work, including being named a MeetingsNet Changemaker, a MeetGreen Hero, one of BizBash’s Top People in Events for Sustainability and Social Responsibility, a Connect Association 40 Under 40 honoree, and one of Northstar Meetings Group’s Top 25 Influencers of the Meetings Industry.
Michelle now applies this specialized experience as an expert witness in matters involving human trafficking in hospitality settings. Her expert work focuses on the anti-trafficking standards, training, policies, protocols, and trafficking indicators relevant to hotel environments, including the measures available to hotel companies and employees to identify and appropriately respond to potential trafficking activity.
