Ann founded Maywood Marketing & Communications in 1999. Since then, she has worked with companies in start-up mode and with Fortune 500 corporations, helping clients define their communications and marketing strategies and assisting with the implementation of those strategies. Her clients include companies in a range of industries: consumer products, hotels and resorts, retail/franchising and interactive marketing.

Ann's 30-plus years of experience include two decades with InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), one of the world's largest hotel companies, and three years with ITT Sheraton Corporation (now Starwood Hotels & Resorts). At IHG (whose portfolio includes InterContinental Hotels, Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza), she held a succession of leadership roles in communications, marketing and brand development/management, eventually serving as Global Brand Vice President for the Holiday Inn brand. At Starwood, she was Vice President of Marketing for the Franchise Division,  overseeing marketing for all franchised Sheraton properties in North America. She also directed the  marketing effort for the launch of Sheraton's successful mid-scale brand, Four Points Hotels by Sheraton.

She has won numerous awards for her clients for her marketing programs and communications concepts and writing. She graduated magna cum laude from the University of Mississippi with a Bachelor of Science degree in journalism and advertising.