About Thunderbird Executive Inn

Our Glendale hotel is located on the scenic campus of Thunderbird School of Global Management. The graduate school was built on the site of Thunderbird Field, an historic airbase where American, Canadian, British, and Chinese pilots trained during World War II. Several landmark buildings, including the airfield control tower and airplane hangars can still be seen on the modern campus.

The school was founded by Lt General Barton Kyle Yount, the commanding general of the U.S. Army Air Training Command, who recognized a growing demand for international executive talent and envisioned a business school that would focus on international management. On April 8, 1946, Yount’s dream was realized when the school received its charter, and he became its first president.

Today, Thunderbird School of Global Management is the world leader in international business education. Thunderbird’s cutting-edge curriculum draws the brightest globally minded students from cultures throughout the world, and has graduated more than 38,000 students who live and work in more than 140 countries. Thunderbird’s unique global focus is based on the principle that to do business on a universal scale, executives need to understand much more than trade and industry. They must also identify with the customs of other countries and be able to communicate in different cultures.