So Scottsdale January 2019

Tami Henry
Lead Concierge, Hyatt Regency
Scottsdale Resort & Spa at Gainey
Ranch
In the life of Tami Henry, necessity has
been the mother of invention, or, more
accurately, reinvention.
Born in Kansas in the 1960s and raised
in New Mexico in the 1970s, Henry got into
banking after high school, which eventually
took her to Colorado in the early 1980s.
“While engaged, my fiance was transferred
to Arizona,” says Henry, who moved
to the Valley sight-unseen in 1987. “I distinctly
remember interviewing for a banking
job in Gainey Ranch and having to ask for
directions home afterward, given we’d only
been here a week.”
Though she stayed in the industry a
few more years, banking never fed her soul,
so in the late 1980s she enrolled in a travel
school, which trained people on how to
handle all areas of travel for individuals and
families.
“This led me to working in the rental
car industry, assessing transportation
needs,” Henry says.
She stayed in the Valley until 2004,
when her brother passed away. Once that
happened, Henry dropped everything and
moved back to New Mexico to reconnect
with her mom.
“While there, I noticed a new hotel had
gone up called Hyatt Regency Tamaya and
applied for a position so I could stay with
my mom,” she says.
Henry was hired in the housekeeping
department. There, she paid her dues for
nearly a year before earning her first concierge
position in 2005. She excelled.
“But in 2007 my father – who lived in
Arizona – developed a brain tumor. I knew I
had to come back and be with him,” Henry
says.
Her team helped get her transferred
to the Hyatt Regency Scottsdale Resort &
Spa at Gainey Ranch.
Being a part of the resort since 2007,
Henry finally feels like she’s found her
forever home. Today, she serves as the
resort’s lead concierge.
“From arranging gondola boat rides
to helping guests charter private jets, this
is what I was put on this earth to do, and I
was meant to do it here,” Henry says.
54 So Scottsdale! January '19