 - Company Overview - Hersha management |
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Hasu P. Shah has been the Chairman of the Board since our inception in 1998. Mr. Shah founded the Hersha Group with the purchase of a single hotel in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in 1984. In the last 25 years, Mr. Shah has developed, owned, or managed over 50 hotels across the Eastern United States and started affiliated businesses in general construction, purchasing, and hotel management. He has earned numerous awards, including the Entrepreneur of the Year award given by Ernst & Young LLP and the Creating a Voice award given by Project IMPACT, honoring South Asian American community leaders. Mr. Shah and his wife, Hersha, are active members of the local community and remain involved with charitable initiatives in India. Mr. Shah has been an active Rotarian for nearly 25 years and continues to serve as a trustee of several community service and spiritual organizations including Vraj Hindu Temple and the India Heritage Research Foundation. Mr. Shah received a Bachelors of Science degree in chemical engineering from Tennessee Technical University and obtained a Masters degree in Administration from Pennsylvania State University, which named him as a Fellow. Mr. Shah is also an alumnus of the Owner and President's Management program at Harvard Business School. |
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Jay H. Shah is Hersha Hospitality Trust's Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Trustees. Mr. Shah is involved in all areas of the business with a particular emphasis on strategic relationships, capital transactions, asset management and acquisitions. Prior to his appointment, Mr. Shah was principal in the law firm of Shah & Byler, LLP, which he founded in 1997, and managing director of the Hersha Group. Mr. Shah previously was a consultant with Coopers & Lybrand LLP, served the late Senator John Heinz on Capitol Hill, and was employed by the Philadelphia District Attorney's office and two Philadelphia-based law firms. Mr. Shah received a Bachelor of Science degree from the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration, an M.B.A. from the Temple University School of Business Management and a Law degree from Temple University School of Law. |
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Thomas S. Capello is the President and founder of 1st Capital Group, Inc. which provides debt and equity placement for small businesses and is President and a principal of Bank Realty LP, a partnership engaged in sale/leaseback transactions of bank properties. Mr. Capello was the President, Chief Executive Officer and Director of First Capitol Bank in York, Pennsylvania. Prior to his role at First Capitol Bank, Mr. Capello served as Vice President and Manager of the Loan Production Office of The First National Bank of Maryland, Senior Regional Lending Officer at Commonwealth National Bank and worked at the Pennsylvania Development Credit Corporation. He is a Director and Treasurer for the Ben Franklin Venture Investment Forum. Mr. Capello is a graduate of the Stonier Graduate School of Banking at Rutgers University and holds an undergraduate degree with a major in economics from the Pennsylvania State University. He has served as a member of the Board of Trustee of Hersha Hospitality Trust since the Company’s initial public offering in January 1999. |
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Eduardo S. Elsztain is Chairman of IRSA Inversiones y Representaciones S.A. [NYSE:IRS], Argentina's largest and most diversified real estate company with interests in shopping centers, office buildings, five-star hotels and residential developments. He also serves as Chairman of Cresud [NASDAQ:CRESY], a leading Latin American agricultural company directly and indirectly devoted to the operation and conformation of a valuable portfolio of rural land in Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Bolivia, producer of soybean, corn, wheat, beef cattle and milk. Moreover, he is Chairman of Banco Hipotecario S.A. [BA:BHIP], one of the most traditional and solid institutions in the Argentine financial system founded in 1886 which has a 50% share of the entire, but still underdeveloped, mortgage market in Argentina. He is also founder and board member of Brasilagro [SA:AGRO3], a Brazilian public company and a board member of Austral Gold Limited, an Australian public mining company [ASX: AGD]. Mr. Elsztain studied Economics at Universidad de Buenos Aires and is member of the World Economic Forum, the Group of Fifty, Asociación Empresaria Argentina - AEA (Argentine Business Association) and Director at the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange. He is President of Fundación IRSA, Museo de los Niños Abasto (museum for children), Hillel Argentina and Birthright Israel-Argentina, among others. |
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Thomas J. Hutchison III has more than 35 years of real estate and capital markets experience with specific expertise in lodging, hospitality and real estate development. Mr. Hutchison was the Chief Executive Officer of CNL Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (“CNL”), a real estate investment trust that owned hotels and resort properties. During that same time period, Mr. Hutchison held various other executive officer positions with companies affiliated with CNL, including but not limited to President and Chief Executive Officer of CNL Hotel Investors, Inc. and Chief Executive Officer of CNL Income Properties, Inc. He currently serves as a consultant with Hutchison Advisors, Inc., a real estate services company. Mr. Hutchison has served as a member of the Hersha Hospitality Trust Board of Trustess since September 2009 and is also currently a director for KSL Capital Partners LLC; ClubCorp, Inc.; U.S. Chamber of Commerce; Vision360; and The Trinity Forum. He was formerly a director for ING DIRECT USA. He is a member of The Real Estate Roundtable, the Industry Real Estate Financing Advisory Council (IREFAC), Leadership Council for Communities in Schools, Advisory Council of the Erickson School of Aging Studies and serves on the Advisory Editorial Board of GlobalHotelNetwork.com. Additionally, he serves as a senior advisor to various service industry public companies. Mr. Hutchison attended Purdue University and the University of Maryland Business School. |
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Dianna F. Morgan, retired in 2001 from a long career with the Walt Disney World Company, where she served as Senior Vice President of Public Affairs and Human Resources. She also oversaw the Disney Institute — a recognized leader in experiential training, leadership development, benchmarking and cultural change for business professionals around the world. In addition, Ms. Morgan is the immediate past Chair and is a current member of the Board of Trustees for the University of Florida. She was originally appointed to the University of Florida Board of Trustees in 2001. Ms. Morgan currently serves on the Board of Directors of Chesapeake Utilities Corp. (NYSE: CPK), and the Board of Directors of CNL Bancshares, Inc. Ms. Morgan previously served on the Board of Directors of CNL Hotels & Resorts, Inc. Ms. Morgan is a member of the Board of Directors of Orlando Health (formerly Orlando Regional Healthcare System) and serves as Vice-Chair of the national board for the Children’s Miracle Network. |
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Donald J. Landry is president and owner of Top Ten, an independent hospitality industry consulting company. Mr. Landry has over forty years of lodging and hospitality experience in a variety of leadership positions. Most recently, Mr. Landry was the Chief Executive Officer, President and Vice Chairman of Sunburst Hospitality Inc. Mr. Landry has also served as President of Choice Hotels International, Inc., Manor Care Hotel Division and Richfield Hotel Management. Mr. Landry currently serves on the corporate advisory boards of Unifocus and Campo Architects and numerous nonprofit boards. Mr. Landry is a frequent guest lecturer at Johnson and Wales University and the University of New Orleans. Mr. Landry holds a bachelor of science from the University of New Orleans, which awarded him Alumnus of the Year in 1999. Mr. Landry is a Certified Hotel Administrator. |
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Kiran P. Patel serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of Hersha Hospitality Trust and has been a principal with the Hersha Group since 1993. Mr. Patel serves as Chief Investment Officer for the Hersha Group, managing the company's complex development and financing activities. Prior to joining Hersha, Mr. Patel was a senior manager with AMP. Mr. Patel earned his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from M.S. University in India and a Masters degree in industrial engineering from the University of Texas. |
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Neil H. Shah is President and Chief Operating Officer of Hersha Hospitality Trust. Previously, Mr. Shah served as Hersha's Executive Vice President. Neil leads Hersha's active hotel acquisitions program and new development projects. Prior to Hersha, Mr. Shah served as a Director and Consultant with The Advisory Board Company and the Corporate Executive Board, strategy consulting firms based in Washington D.C. Mr. Shah has also worked with the Phipps Foundation in New York City contributing to urban renewal projects in New York City. Mr. Shah earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and a Bachelor of Science in Management both with honors from the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton School. He earned his MBA from the Harvard Business School. He is an active member of the Asia Society, the Wharton Real Estate Center, the Urban Land Institute and the Harvard Club of New York City.
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Ashish R. Parikh has been Chief Financial Officer of Hersha Hospitality Trust since 1999. Previously, Mr. Parikh was Assistant Vice President in the Mergers and Acquisition Group for Fleet Financial Group where he developed valuable expertise in numerous forms of capital raising activities including leveraged buyouts, bank syndications and venture financing. Mr. Parikh has also been employed by Tyco International Ltd and Ernst & Young LLP. Mr. Parikh received his MBA from New York University and a BBA from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Mr. Parikh is a licensed Certified Public Accountant. |
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Michael R. Gillespie, Chief Accounting Officer, is responsible for the accounting, financial reporting and audit functions for the company. Prior to joining Hersha Hospitality Trust, Michael was manager of financial policy & controls for Tyco Electronics Corporation, responsible for the development, enhancement and implementation of financial controls. Previously, he served as a senior manager with the "Big Four" firms of Arthur Andersen LLP and KPMG LLP. Mr. Gillespie received his B.S.B.A in Accounting from Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania. |
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David L. Desfor serves as Treasurer and Corporate Secretary of Hersha Hospitality Trust and has been a principal partner of the Hersha Group since 1991. Mr. Desfor is comptroller of the Hersha Group, overseeing the corporate treasury and managing financial reporting for the company. He has been in the hospitality industry since 1982, having previously co-founded and served as President of a management company focused on conference centers and full-service hotels. David also serves on the Board of Directors of Channels, a regional organization which provides food to the impoverished and facilitates training welfare recipients for jobs in the food service industry. David earned his undergraduate degree from East Stroudsburg University in Hotel Administration. |
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Robert C. Hazard III, Vice President of Acquisitions and Development, is responsible for sourcing and closing new business opportunities for Hersha Hospitality Trust. Prior to joining Hersha, Mr. Hazard was the chief executive at MetroVision Community Development, an advisory firm specializing in assisting governmental jurisdictions in the development and management of its tourism infrastructure. Mr. Hazard has also held development and acquisition positions at Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Interstate Hotels and has over a decade of industry consulting experience with top hospitality and tourism consulting firms including Pannell Kerr Forster and Kenneth Leventhal & Company. Mr. Hazard holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Marketing from Arizona State University. |
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John M. Sabin is currently the Chief Financial Officer and General Counsel of Phoenix Health Systems, Inc. Prior to joining Phoenix Health Systems, Mr. Sabin was the Chief Financial Officer, General Counsel and Secretary of NovaScreen Biosciences Corporation, a private bioinformatics and contract research biotech company. Additionally, Mr. Sabin has served as an executive with Hudson Hotels Corporation, Vistana, Inc., Choice Hotels International, Inc., Manor Care, Inc. and Marriott International, Inc. He has served as a member of the Board of Trustees of Hersha Hospitality Trust since 2003 and also serves on the Board of Prime Group Realty Trust. Mr. Sabin received bachelor of science degrees in accounting and university studies, a masters of accountancy and a masters of business administration from Brigham Young University and also received a juris doctor from the J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University. Mr. Sabin is a licensed CPA and is admitted to the bar in several states. |
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Bennett Thomas |
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William J. Walsh, Vice President of Asset Management, is responsible for developing strategic plans for each property, reviewing all budgets and expenditures, and working with Hersha’s operators and third party management companies to increase profitability and overall portfolio returns. Prior to joining Hersha, he worked for GF Management, a hospitality management company based in Philadelphia. Mr. Walsh joined GF Management in 1994 as a Regional Controller and was promoted to Corporate Controller in January, 2000. Previously, he was the Controller for PGA National Resort & Spa in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Mr. Walsh also served as a Controller and in various accounting related positions for the Radisson Hotel Corporation over a ten year period. Mr. Walsh holds a B.S. degree in Accounting from Drexel University of Philadelphia, PA. |
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