Career advancement continues across the hospitality industry as companies are promoting and hiring new employees, including a new CIO at RADCO.
RADCO appoints Lisa Hurd as chief investment officer
Real estate developers The RADCO Companies has promoted Lisa Hurd (shown above) to chief investment officer.
Hurd, who has served with RADCO for nearly a decade, will manage all investment activities for the company in her new role as CIO, including acquisitions, joint venture equity placements, capital markets activities, asset management and dispositions.
She oversees the team of investment professionals at RADCO responsible for market and asset class analysis, and identifying trends that drive the company’s opportunistic real estate acquisitions. She and her team structure and raise private equity capital and accretive debt, as well as manage investment performance, debt and investor relations for all assets under management within RADCO’s multi-family, JV equity and hospitality portfolio.
The appointment of Hurd comes at a pivotal time for RADCO, as the company has initiated an expansion of its portfolio over the last year through several property additions. Recent investments include the acquisition of The M by Radius (aka Skyhouse Midtown), a luxury, high-rise, multi-family building in Midtown Atlanta, and the purchase of the DoubleTree by Hilton Atlanta Roswell and the DoubleTree by Hilton Alpharetta hotels, boosting its new hospitality division.
During her time at RADCO, Hurd has served in several capacities including, most recently, as EVP with RADCO’s Investment Division. She previously served as VP, capital markets, and as an asset manager for various properties within the company’s portfolio.
Virgin Hotels adds to newly formed global sales team
Virgin Hotels, the luxury lifestyle hotel brand by Sir Richard Branson, has added three new members to its newly formed global sales team: Maya Latinovic, VP, global sales; Peter D’Elia, global director of business travel and entertainment sales; and Alyssa Maselli, global director of group sales.
Latinovic, who leads the global sales efforts for Virgin Hotels, has more than 20 years of hospitality sales experience with a worldwide clientele. As the VP, global sales, she and her team will uncover revenue opportunities for Virgin Hotels’ portfolio. As the principal liaison, her efforts will foster a collaborative environment across all channels, while developing multi-segment strategies to drive incremental business within the hotels’ portfolios, the company reports. Previously, Latinovic worked as the director of brand sales at EDITION Hotels, where she was responsible for optimizing travel industry sales performance for 13 hotels worldwide. She also spent 12 years as part of the global sales team for Preferred Hotels.
D’Elia brings more than 15 years of luxury and lifestyle sales experience to his role at Virgin Hotels. As global director of business travel and entertainment sales, he will be responsible for revenue generation in the portfolios for the business travel and entertainment sectors. Most recently, he was the global luxury and account executive at Marriott International, focusing on their luxury brands which included The Ritz Carlton, St. Regis, EDITION and The W Hotels. In this role, he was responsible for spearheading the collaboration of global selling partner accounts.
Maselli joins the Virgin Hotels team as global director of group sales with more than 15 years of hospitality sales experience. She previously held the director of global sales position in the Northeast region for The Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, where she was the primary account manager for 30 four- and five-star Mandarin Oriental hotels. Maselli will be responsible for generating group meetings and incentive opportunities for all Virgin Hotels.
Peachtree Hotel Group strengthens leadership team
Peachtree Hotel Group and its affiliates have made several key promotions at the senior leadership level to support its real estate investment platform and operation services.
Greg Zabinski has been promoted to EVP, capital markets for Peachtree PC Investors. Before Peachtree, he was with Morgan Stanley in private wealth, analyzing and investing in private equity, hedge funds and option-related strategies. He began his career as an investment banker with New York-based Citigroup to help structure credit facilities for Fortune 500 companies.
Vivian Clarke has been promoted to SVP, people & culture. She will continue her oversight of Peachtree’s human resources, compliance and employee relations and benefits. She has been with the company since 2018 after previously overseeing all aspects of human resource management, including labor relations, benefits and compensation, talent acquisition, employee relations, training and development and EEO compliance for more than 10,000 employees.
Steve MacKenzie has been promoted to SVP, operations for Peachtree Hospitality Management. He will continue his responsibilities of the financial performance of the company’s portfolio of hotels ensuring franchise procedures, regulations and standards. He will also grow the company’s culture and develop regional and general managers. He joined Peachtree in 2018 with more than 25 years of experience in the hospitality industry.
Michael Ritz has been promoted to SVP, investments. He is responsible for overseeing all new investments by Peachtree. Prior to joining the company in 2017, Ritz worked for Marcus and Millichap’s National Hospitality Group, where he was responsible for national market research, hotel asset valuations, inventory analytics and underwriting model development for all primary asset classes.
Philip D’Amico joins Vesta Hospitality
Vesta Hospitality has hired Philip D’Amico as the company’s VP of sales.
In his new role, D’Amico will strategize with the hotel teams at each of Vesta’s properties to create strategic sales and business initiatives designed to grow sales and revenues for the company’s hotels with the goal of positioning them as top performers in their respective markets. Building, training and motivating dynamic teams to establish a creative and results-focused sales culture will be a key component in this effort.
His career in the hospitality industry spans 18 years and includes time spent in executive positions at several leading companies in the industry, including Wyndham Hotels & Resorts and PAH Management.
hihotels adds Kimberly Midkiff
Kimberly Midkiff has joined hihotels by Hospitality International as a franchise development and assurance & marketing program director.
She will be leading the growth of the company’s five distinct brands—Scottish Inns, Red Carpet Inn, Master Hosts Inns, Downtowner Inns and Passport Inn—in the Southeast region of the country. She’ll also be delivering ongoing sales and marketing support and training to franchisees in that area as part of the company’s assurance & marketing program (AMP).
Midkiff most recently served as VP, development for Sonesta and RLHC, where she focused on the growth of the companies’ select-service brands for nearly six years. Before that, she spent two years as director, sales and operations for JDH Developers, a commercial real estate company specializing in the hospitality industry.
