Executives in the hospitality industry have taken on new roles. Here’s a look.
The Indigo Road Hospitality Group expands senior leadership team
The Indigo Road Hospitality Group (IRHG) has expanded its senior leadership team to accommodate its growing portfolio of F&B-driven boutique hotels and restaurants in the Southeast region of the U.S. and elsewhere.
Scott Neslage (shown above) has been promoted to director of lodging operations from his previous role as director of revenue management. With more than 15 years of operations and revenue management experience, he has held numerous positions with Charlestowne Hotels, Wyndham Vacation Rentals and at several properties in the Southeast. From 2014-2018, he served as VP of the HSMAI South Carolina chapter. He is also an adjunct professor of hospitality at The College of Charleston.
Jennifer Krapp returns as director of restaurant operations, where she leads facets of front-of-house operations, working closely with Steve Palmer, IRHG founder/chief vision officer. She previously held positions with California Pizza Kitchen, where she opened stores for the national company, and Atlanta-based restaurant Canoe. After Canoe, she started her own restaurant consulting company. For the past nine years, she has also helped manage hospitality events during the Master’s Golf Tournament.
Justin Shoener has been appointed as director of restaurant financial operations. He was previously a general manager for the Charlotte locations of IRHG restaurants O-Ku and Oak Steakhouse. Prior to that, he spent 11 years as the director of operations for a restaurant group in Orlando. As a senior leader responsible for financial operations, Shoener works with restaurants on the back-end financials regarding cost of goods, P&L reviews and efficient reporting, according to the company.
In other moves, Kala Ellis has transitioned to beverage director of Oak Steakhouse Nashville and IRHG, where she now oversees all beverage operations for the hospitality group; Trevor Stough has moved to Charleston area wine director; and Gabriel Perez has been hired as a general manager for the Lodging & Lifestyle Adventures division.
Valor Hospitality appoints new operations director
Valor Hospitality Partners has appointed Michael Magrane as its new operations director. He joins Mark Thacker and Ed Cross in overseeing the running of the 37 hotels in the international hotel management company’s U.K. portfolio.
With more than 25 years’ experience in the hotel and hospitality industry, including two years as COO at Leaf Hospitality, he brings a wealth of expertise to the position. His role is centered around driving operational excellence across the portfolio, which more than doubled in size over the course of the past year after 17 IHG hotels, the Courtyard by Marriott Edinburgh in Scotland and two luxury properties that are currently in development were placed under its management.
RLJ Lodging Trust appoints Robin Zeigler to board of trustees
RLJ Lodging Trust has appointed Robin Zeigler, a real estate executive with more than 25 years of experience in the industry, to the company’s board of trustees. Her appointment as a new independent member of the board is effective immediately, and she will join the board’s Audit Committee and Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee. She will stand for election as a board-recommended nominee at the 2022 Annual Meeting of Shareholders.
Since March 2016, Zeigler has served as EVP/COO, Cedar Realty Investment Trust, where she oversees 9 million sq. ft. of grocery-anchored shopping centers as well as the redevelopment of Cedar’s mixed-use assets. Prior to Cedar Realty, she held a variety of asset management and operations positions over 10 years at Federal Realty Investment Trust, culminating in her role as COO, Mid-Atlantic Region, where she was responsible for the operation of 40 shopping centers and mixed-use assets in Washington, DC; Virginia; Florida; and North Carolina. She previously held portfolio management roles at KeyBank Real Estate Capital and Lend Lease Real Estate Investments, and served as a senior real estate auditor at Ernst & Young LLP in Atlanta.
