Hotel executive moves: Highgate, KHP, L+R, Outrigger

Here is a compilation of the most important executive moves of the past week in the hotel investment world, alphabetically (by company):

New CEO for Aethos Hotels. Zug, Switzerland-based Aethos Hotels has named Lily Wecker as CEO. She was previously the development director for EMEA & North America at Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group and also worked at Zetland Capital Partners, McKinsey & Co., and The Boston Consulting Group. She will spearhead Aethos’s global expansion across Europe, the Americas and Asia. Aethos currently operates destinations and member clubs in London, Lisbon, Ericeira, Mallorca, Milan, Monterosa, Saragano, Sardinia, and Corsica.

Arbor names new SVP. Chicago-based Arbor Lodging has named Katie Davis as senior vice president of commercial strategy. Davis has over 20 years of hospitality experience and her background spans luxury, premium, and select-service brands. Davis was most recently vice president of sales, marketing & revenue at Wischermann Partners.

ECE expands exec team. Hamburg, Germany-based ECE Work & Live is expanding its management team. Katja Freese, who has been director of office and residential, will assume operational and strategic responsibility for the acquisition, development and realization of hotel, residential and logistics properties in Germany as managing director, development. Jan-Hendrik Walloch becomes managing director of investment and will be responsible for all investment, transaction and financing activities of ECE Work & Live in Europe. He will remain the managing partner of ECE Living GmbH, focusing on transactions for institutions. He has been with ECE since 2008.

GHA names new execs. Dubai-based Global Hotel Alliance has announced two senior leadership appointments. Steve Ayalo has been promoted to vice president of IT Governance, Risk & Compliance and Matthew Lloyd to vice president of Marketing Technology & CRM. Ayalo joined GHA in 2015 and has been instrumental in building GHA’s cybersecurity and compliance frameworks. Lloyd has been appointed to an expanded leadership role within GHA’s marketing department. He joined GHA in 2018 after roles at Hilton and Southwest Airlines.

New C-suite exec for Great Wolf. Rachel O’Connell has been named chief human resources officer for Chicago-based Great Wolf Resorts. She brings more than 18 years of experience in strategic human resources and talent management to the role. During her nearly decade-long tenure at Great Wolf, O’Connell most recently served as senior vice president of human resources. She also worked for the Chicago Cubs, Angie’s List and KPaul Corp.

Highgate names SVP in Europe. Highgate has appointed Nikos Konstantinidis as senior vice president of acquisitions for Europe. Based in London, Konstantinidis will focus on hospitality investment opportunities and drive strategic growth across the region. Before joining Highgate, Konstantinidis served as director of acquisitions and business Development at L+R Hotels. He also worked at AXA Real Estate and has been involved in transactions and projects across the U.K., Spain, Greece, Italy, the Nordics, France, Germany, Poland, Croatia and Malta.

New VP for Hospitality America. Greenville, South Carolina-based Hospitality America has appointed Ryan Sistare, a 20-year industry veteran, as vice president, operations. Sistare has overseen hundreds of hotels and resorts nationwide during his career, spanning extended-stay, luxury and lifestyle brands. Most recently, he served as vice president, operations at Peachtree Group. He also had senior leadership roles with HEI Hotels & Resorts, Schulte Hospitality Group and GF Management.

Rowe new CEO of KHP. San Francisco-based KHP Capital Partners announced that co-founder and managing partner Ben Rowe has formally assumed the role of CEO as part of a planned succession process. Rowe co-founded KHP with Mike Depatie and Joe Long in 2015, with the three former Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants executives initially serving as co-managing partners. Together, they have grown KHP to $1 billion of equity under management with a current portfolio of 20 lifestyle hotel investments. Rowe originally joined Depatie and Long at Kimpton in 2003 and served as CFO of Kimpton from 2008 to 2015.

L+R adds commercial execs. London-based L+R Hotels has expanded its commercial leadership team with the appointment of Amrita Makkar as director of commercial strategy and Philip D’Antoni as director of sales, North America. Makkar has nearly two decades of experience and has spearheaded U.K. debuts of three major international brands: Principal Hotels, Standard Hotels and Virgin Hotels. D’Antoni has over 20 years of experience in luxury hospitality across the travel, corporate, group, entertainment, and sports segments. Most recently, he served as vice president of sales at Reuben Brothers, part of the hospitality asset management team at RB Capital.

Outrigger names ESG exec. Honolulu-based Outrigger Hospitality Group has appointed Karen Kurosawa, director, environmental, social and governance (ESG). She joins the company from CDP Reporter Services in New York, where she served as an accounts manager advising Fortune 500 companies on environmental disclosure, emissions verification and alignment.

New exec at Palette. New York City-based Palette Hotels has named Sarah Miller as senior director of corporate finance. Most recently, Miller served as senior director of accounting with MillerKnoll, where she supported the integration of accounting systems and teams during the company’s acquisition of Knoll. A former Certified Public Accountant (CPA), she previously held leadership roles at Herman Miller and worked as a public auditor for PwC.

The Pig adds COO. KSL Capital Partners-owned The Pig Hotel Group in the U.K. has hired Peter Hannah for the newly created COO role to work alongside recently appointed CEO Kevin Styles. Hannah was most recently group operations director at The Jamie Oliver Group. He also worked at Vue Entertainment, where Styles worked as group managing director until March 2022.