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Senior Management
Kerry W. Boekelheide Executive Chairman of the Board
Mr. Boekelheide serves as our Executive Chairman of the Board and as a member of our board of directors. He has served as the Chief Executive Officer and as a member of the board of managers of our predecessor since its formation in 2004. Mr. Boekelheide has served as the Chairman and sole director of The Summit Group since 1991. The Summit Group, with its affiliates, developed and acquired 54 hotels from 1991 through 2004. Prior to forming The Summit Group, Mr. Boekelheide was President and a shareholder of Super 8 Management, Inc., which was responsible for the management of over 100 Super 8 Motels located across the United States and Canada, and held numerous other positions in various companies that developed, owned and operated Super 8 Motels in the United States and Canada. Mr. Boekelheide graduated with a B.S. degree in business from Northern State University.
Mr. Boekelheide brings leadership and extensive experience and knowledge of our company and industry to the board. As the founder and president of our predecessor, Mr. Boekelheide has the most long-term and valuable hands-on knowledge of the issues, opportunities and challenges facing us and our business. In addition, Mr. Boekelheide brings his broad strategic vision for our company to the board.
Daniel P. Hansen President and Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Hansen serves as our President and Chief Executive Officer and as a member of our board of directors. Mr. Hansen joined The Summit Group in October of 2003 as Vice President of Investor Relations. His responsibilities included leading the capital raising efforts for our predecessor’s private placements of its equity securities and assisting in acquisition due diligence. In 2005, he was appointed to our predecessor’s board of managers and was promoted to Executive Vice President, in which capacity he was part of the team that acquired over $140 million of hotel properties and led the development of over $240 million of hotel assets. He was appointed President of The Summit Group and Chief Financial Officer of our predecessor in 2008. His primary responsibilities included the development and execution of growth strategies for both companies, raising equity capital and hotel development and acquisition.
Prior to joining The Summit Group, Mr. Hansen spent 11 years with Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, or Merrill Lynch, in various leadership positions, culminating as a Vice President and Regional Sales Manager for Merrill Lynch in the Texas Mid-South Region, which included Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Oklahoma. Mr. Hansen graduated from South Dakota State University with a B.A. in economics.
Mr. Hansen’s service as our President and Chief Executive Officer provides a critical link between management and the board, enabling the board to perform its oversight function with the benefits of management’s perspectives on the business. Mr. Hansen also provides us with extensive experience in the hospitality industry as well as a capital markets background that will assist our board in analyzing capital raising opportunities and issues.
Craig J. Aniszewski Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer
Mr. Aniszewski serves as our Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Aniszewski joined The Summit Group in January 1997 as Vice President of Operations and Development. He became the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of The Summit Group in 2007 and has been a member of the board of managers of our predecessor since 2004.
Mr. Aniszewski joined The Summit Group following 13 years with Marriott International, Inc., where he held sales and operations positions in full-service convention and resort hotels. During his career with Marriott, he also worked in the select service sector, holding positions including the Director of Sales and General Manager for Residence Inn- and Courtyard branded hotels located in Florida, New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland and North Carolina. Mr. Aniszewski graduated from the University of Dayton with a B.S. degree in criminal justice and minors in business and psychology.
Stuart J. Becker Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Becker serves as our Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer. Mr. Becker joined Summit Green Tiger, an affiliate of The Summit Group, in 2007 as an Executive Vice President and Secretary where he focused on acquisitions, capital allocation, debt placement and strategic analysis.
Prior to joining Summit Green Tiger, Mr. Becker served as a principal of McCarthy Group, Inc. and its subsidiary, McCarthy Capital, Inc. from 2005 to 2007. McCarthy Group is a private equity company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, which focuses on diversified investments in growth companies. Mr. Becker was responsible for managing deal flow, acquisitions, underwriting and investment oversight. From 1984 until 2005, Mr. Becker was involved in finance and corporate banking for several regional and national banking firms, including First Interstate, First Bank (predecessor to US Bank) and most recently, First National Bank of Omaha, from 1997 to 2005, where he was Vice President for corporate banking, regional credit and syndications. Mr. Becker earned a B.S. degree in business management from the University of South Dakota and an M.B.A. from the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
Christopher R. Eng Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary
Mr. Eng serves as our Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary. Mr. Eng was appointed Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of The Summit Group and our predecessor in 2004. Mr. Eng was responsible for The Summit Group’s legal affairs and for guiding its corporate compliance, focusing on real estate acquisitions and dispositions, franchise licensing, corporate insurance coverage, corporate governance and securities industry regulatory compliance.
Prior to joining The Summit Group, Mr. Eng was an Assistant Vice President and Trust Officer for The First National Bank in Sioux Falls. Mr. Eng earned his B.A. degree from Augustana College and his J.D. degree from the University of Denver College of Law.
Board of Directors
Kerry W. Boekelheide Chairman
Mr. Boekelheide serves as our Executive Chairman of the Board and as a member of our board of directors. He has served as the Chief Executive Officer and as a member of the board of managers of our predecessor since its formation in 2004. Mr. Boekelheide has served as the Chairman and sole director of The Summit Group since 1991. The Summit Group, with its affiliates, developed and acquired 54 hotels from 1991 through 2004. Prior to forming The Summit Group, Mr. Boekelheide was President and a shareholder of Super 8 Management, Inc., which was responsible for the management of over 100 Super 8 Motels located across the United States and Canada, and held numerous other positions in various companies that developed, owned and operated Super 8 Motels in the United States and Canada. Mr. Boekelheide graduated with a B.S. degree in business from Northern State University.
Mr. Boekelheide brings leadership and extensive experience and knowledge of our company and industry to the board. As the founder and president of our predecessor, Mr. Boekelheide has the most long-term and valuable hands-on knowledge of the issues, opportunities and challenges facing us and our business. In addition, Mr. Boekelheide brings his broad strategic vision for our company to the board.
Wayne W. Wielgus Presiding Director
Mr. Wielgus has worked in the hospitality industry for more than 30 years. In August 2009, Mr. Wielgus founded International Advisor Group LLC, which advises several companies in the hospitality industry. Before founding International Advisor Group, he served as Senior Vice President of Marketing of Celebrity and Azamara Cruises, two of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.’s brands, from March 2008 until August 2009, where he was responsible for the two brands’ overall marketing efforts, including brand strategy and development, advertising, web marketing and research. Mr. Wielgus served as Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of Choice Hotels International, Inc. from September 2004 until July 2007, after serving as that company’s Senior Vice President, Marketing from September 2000 to September 2004. Prior to joining Choice Hotels, Mr. Wielgus held various positions with Best Western International, Inc., Trusthouse Forte PLC, InterContinental Hotels Corporation and Ramada Worldwide Inc. Mr. Wielgus received a B.S. in Marketing from Fairfield University and an M.B.A. from Memphis University.
Mr. Wielgus contributes significant leadership experience in marketing, brand strategy and promotions. His service as Senior Vice President of Marketing of Celebrity and Amazara Cruises provides valuable business, leadership and management experience, including expertise leading marketing strategy and initiatives for a company in the tourism industry, which is a significant part of our business. Mr. Wielgus also gained similar experience specific to the hospitality industry in his role as Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of Choice Hotels International, Inc., one of the primary franchisors of our hotels. Thus, Mr. Wielgus also brings to our board insights from the perspective of hotel franchisors, which we expect to enhance our ability to maximize our brand strategy and franchisor relationships. He currently acts as an outside consultant to companies in the hospitality industry, which gives him a keen understanding of some of the issues our company will face.
Daniel P. Hansen
Mr. Hansen serves as our President and Chief Executive Officer and as a member of our board of directors. Mr. Hansen joined The Summit Group in October of 2003 as Vice President of Investor Relations. His responsibilities included leading the capital raising efforts for our predecessor’s private placements of its equity securities and assisting in acquisition due diligence. In 2005, he was appointed to our predecessor’s board of managers and was promoted to Executive Vice President, in which capacity he was part of the team that acquired over $140 million of hotel properties and led the development of over $240 million of hotel assets. He was appointed President of The Summit Group and Chief Financial Officer of our predecessor in 2008. His primary responsibilities included the development and execution of growth strategies for both companies, raising equity capital and hotel development and acquisition.
Prior to joining The Summit Group, Mr. Hansen spent 11 years with Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, or Merrill Lynch, in various leadership positions, culminating as a Vice President and Regional Sales Manager for Merrill Lynch in the Texas Mid-South Region, which included Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Oklahoma. Mr. Hansen graduated from South Dakota State University with a B.A. in economics.
Mr. Hansen’s service as our President and Chief Executive Officer provides a critical link between management and the board, enabling the board to perform its oversight function with the benefits of management’s perspectives on the business. Mr. Hansen also provides us with extensive experience in the hospitality industry as well as a capital markets background that will assist our board in analyzing capital raising opportunities and issues.
Bjorn R. L. Hanson
Dr. Hanson has worked in the hospitality industry for more than 35 years and has been involved in consulting, research and investment banking in the lodging sector. He joined the New York University School of Continuing Professional Studies in June 2008 as a clinical professor teaching in the school’s graduate and undergraduate hospitality and tourism programs and directing applied research projects. In 2010, he was appointed as the divisional dean of that school’s Preston Robert Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism, and Sports Management. Before joining the Tisch Center, Dr. Hanson was a partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and its predecessor, Coopers & Lybrand LLP, which he joined in 1989. Dr. Hanson founded the hospitality, sports, convention and leisure practice and held various positions at PricewaterhouseCoopers and Coopers & Lybrand, including National Industry Chairman for the Hospitality Industries, National Service Line Director for Hospitality Consulting, National Industry Chairman for Real Estate, Real Estate Service Line Director and National Director of Appraisal Services. Additionally, he served on the U.S. leadership committee and global financial advisory services management committee of PricewaterhouseCoopers. Dr. Hanson was also managing director with two Wall Street firms, Kidder, Peabody & Co. and PaineWebber Inc., for which he led banking and research departments for lodging and gaming. Dr. Hanson received a B.S. from Cornell University School of Hotel Administration, an M.B.A. from Fordham University and a Ph.D. from New York University.
Dr. Hanson brings a wide range of experience in consulting, research and investment banking in the lodging sector to our board. Further, he brings an academic perspective on the hospitality and tourism industries, which enhances our board’s ability to analyze macroeconomic issues and trends relevant to our business. Finally, Dr. Hanson’s leadership roles in market trend analysis, economic analysis and financial analysis specific to our industry provide our board with additional depth in analyzing financial reporting issues faced by companies similar to ours.
David S. Kay
Mr. Kay has worked in finance, accounting and business planning and strategy for more than 20 years and has been involved with REITs for over 13 years, which we believe qualifies him to serve as a member of our board of directors. He is the Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of Capital Automotive Real Estate Services, Inc., whose predecessor, Capital Automotive REIT, he co-founded in 1997 and took public in 1998. Mr. Kay served as Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer for Capital Automotive until it was taken private in a nearly $4 billion privatization transaction in 2005. Prior to founding Capital Automotive, Mr. Kay worked at the public accounting firm of Arthur Andersen LLP in Washington, D.C. for approximately ten years. While at Arthur Andersen, Mr. Kay provided consulting services to clients regarding mergers and acquisitions, business planning and strategy and equity financing. He has experience with capital formation projects, roll-up transactions and initial public offerings for companies in various industries. Mr. Kay is a member of James Madison University’s College of Business Executive Advisory Council and is a certified public accountant. Mr. Kay received a B.B.A., with a concentration in accounting, from James Madison University.
Mr. Kay was chosen to join our board specifically to serve our audit committee as its audit committee financial expert. We targeted a director with financial and auditing experience specific to the REIT industry. Mr. Kay worked in auditing for Arthur Andersen for ten years and is the Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of Capital
Automotive Real Estate Services, Inc., whose predecessor, Capital Automotive REIT, was a publicly traded REIT. Mr. Kay also gained experienced with the issues facing new, publicly traded REITs at Capital Automotive. These experiences position Mr. Kay to serve on our audit committee and full board.
Thomas W. Storey
Mr. Storey has worked in the hospitality industry for more than 25 years. He is Executive Vice President Business Strategy for Fairmont Raffles Hotels International (FRHI), a leading global hotel company with over 100 hotels worldwide under the Fairmont, Raffles and Swissôtel brands, that Mr. Storey joined in 1999. Having helped launch FRHI as a publicly traded company and its subsequent privatization, Mr. Storey is responsible for strategic planning and helping to identify new opportunities for FRHI that capitalize on improving business fundamentals. Mr. Storey has held a series of progressive leadership positions with FRHI, including Executive Vice President, Development and Executive Vice President Business Development & Strategy, as well as President of Fairmont Hotels and Resorts. Mr. Storey has been a member of various hospitality industry organizations, including the American Hotel & Lodging Association, the Travel Industry Association of America, and Professional Conference and Meeting Planners. Mr. Storey received a B.A. in economics from Bates College and an M.B.A. from the Johnson School at Cornell University.
Mr. Storey provides our board with strategic vision to position our company as lodging industry fundamentals begin to strengthen after the economic recession. As Executive Vice President Business Strategy of Fairmont Raffles Hotels International, Mr. Storey has been instrumental in helping lead that company through various lodging cycles. We expect Mr. Storey’s experience in analyzing and reacting to changing conditions in the hospitality industry will serve our board as our company grows. We also expect Mr. Storey’s operations experience as President of Fairmont Hotels and Resorts to help him provide valuable insights to our board. Mr. Storey also possesses particular expertise in business travel, an important aspect of our business.
