Greg O'Stean
Chief Development Officer

Greg O’Stean is Chief Development Officer of Aimbridge Hospitality, responsible for driving the company’s overall business growth across the globe. A proven industry leader, Greg has a rich history of leading high-performing teams to achieve extraordinary growth. 

Greg was chief development officer of Interstate Hotels & Resorts prior to the October 2019 merger with Aimbridge. Prior to Interstate, Greg served as the chief investment officer for Loews Hotels, where he led the hotel acquisitions and development, asset management, and owner relations platforms. Previously he has held executive roles with the Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, Piper Jaffray & Company, GE Capital Real Estate and Starwood Hotels & Resorts. With three decades of experience, Greg has led development teams across the Americas, Asia and Europe.
 
Greg received a Master of Business Administration in Finance & Real Estate and a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Management from Georgia Tech. He is currently vice chairperson of the Hotel Development Council at ULI, is a member of the AHLA Hospitality Investment Roundtable, and is a former board member of AHLA. He also serves on the board of the Orphaned Starfish Foundation, a global children’s charity.

Bill Stadler
Executive Vice President - Chief Investment Officer

As Chief Investment Officer, Bill Stadler is responsible for the management of investment portfolios, short-term and long-term investment plans and investment recommendations.

Stadler joined Aimbridge Hospitality in 2014 with over 35 years of experience in the hospitality industry. Previously, he served as an Investment Sales Specialist with HFF and Molinaro Koger for 11 years, where he represented private equity firms, REITs, high net worth investors, and global hotel companies including Hilton Hotels and Resorts, Hyatt, Marriott International, Starwood Hotels and Resorts, Blackstone, Felcor Lodging Trust, and Host. Additionally, Stadler served as Senior Vice President and Chief Acquisitions Officer of FelCor Lodging Trust, where he was responsible for the growth of the company from nine hotels to a portfolio of more than 200 assets with a market capitalization of greater than $3 billion as well as a strategic position with Marriott Corporation as Vice President – Development.

Stadler is an active member of the Urban Land Institute and holds a real estate license in Texas. He received a master’s degree from the Cornell School of Hotel Administration and a bachelor’s degree from Denison University.

Edward Blum
Executive Vice President Development & Acquisitions

As Executive Vice President of Development and Acquisitions, Edward J. Blum is responsible for identifying acquisition and management contract opportunities and managing the company’s relationships with real estate brokers, financial and institutional fund managers, hotel franchise companies and hotel owners. Edward held this role with Interstate Hotels & Resorts prior to its merger with Aimbridge in October 2019. He also manages client relationships for the expanded Aimbridge Receiver Services (ARS) platform, drawing on the organization’s collective experience of over 200 previous distressed assignments to focus on stabilizing hotels with distressed debt and recovering lost value due to the ongoing challenges in the hospitality industry. Edward serves as the primary contact on the ARS team assisting lenders, servicers, and hotel owners with their non-performing hotel loans going through foreclosure, bankruptcy, workouts, and receivership.

Edward’s 35-year hospitality real estate career encompasses extensive domestic and international experience in corporate and real estate finance, capital markets, real estate acquisition and development, capital formation, corporate and real estate workouts and investor and lender relations.  Prior to joining Interstate, Edward was managing director, capital markets for Molinaro Koger, an international hotel real estate advisory firm. In this role, he represented domestic and international hotel owners in structuring debt and equity financing in excess of $1 billion globally. Edward was also senior vice president of finance for Europe at Wyndham International, where he directed Wyndham’s European investments and  hotel acquisition and development activities in the UK, France, Italy and Spain including development of the landmark Great Eastern Hotel and rollout of the Malmaison Brand. He also served as chief financial officer for Grand Heritage Hotel Group; vice president of capital markets, mergers and acquisitions at Patriot American Hospitality; and as chief financial officer of the Imperial Hotel Corporation and The Cafritz Company.  

Edward, a Certified Public Accountant, holds a Master of International Management degree and a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration and Accounting from the University of Maryland University College. Edward is a Member of Urban Land Institute and Recreation Development Council and Member Board of Advisors-Penn State Hotel School-Real Estate Program.

David Capps
Executive Vice President of Development

As Executive Vice President of Development, David Capps is responsible for identifying acquisition, management and development activities. He also plays an integral role in fostering new joint venture opportunities, working with capital partners, lenders, brokers and brands. 
 
Capps joined Aimbridge Hospitality in 2010 with over 15 years of experience in the hospitality industry. During his tenure at Aimbridge, he has facilitated the acquisition of over $1B in hotel real estate value. Previously, he served as Assistant Vice President Merrill Lynch Capital, where he underwrote balance sheets and securitized loans for ground-up development, repositioning and/or acquisition of hotel and resort properties in the form of first mortgages, B-notes and mezzanine debt. Prior, Capps worked as Assistant Finance Manager for Merrill Lynch Global Banking Group, where he sourced and underwrote corporate debt and equity opportunities. Additionally, he completed the Credit Training Program at Amegy Bank in Houston. 
 
Capps is a graduate from University of Houston, where received a Bachelor or Art in Finance from the Bauer College of Business. 

Mark LeBlanc
Executive Vice President, Development & Acquisitions

Mark LeBlanc is Executive Vice President, Development and Acquisitions, with over four decades of experience in all facets of hospitality financing, acquisitions and operations. Mark held this role with Interstate Hotels & Resorts prior to the merger with Aimbridge Hospitality in October 2019. He also manages client relationships for the expanded Aimbridge Receiver Services (ARS) platform, drawing on the organization’s collective experience of over 200 previous distressed assignments to focus on stabilizing hotels with distressed debt and recovering lost value due to the ongoing challenges in the hospitality industry. Mark serves as the primary contact on the ARS team assisting lenders, servicers, and hotel owners with their non-performing hotel loans going through foreclosure, bankruptcy, workouts, and receivership.

Prior to joining Interstate, Mark directed business development for The Rim Corporation as senior vice president of development. He joined Rim in 1994, serving in hotel management and regional operations leadership positions to division vice president. As senior vice president of development for Rim, he contributed dramatically to the company’s growth, from seven hotels in 1994 to a diverse international portfolio. A veteran of the industry, Mark has a strong track record of sound leadership.

Mark’s experience extends to numerous industry organizations, including the California Hotel Lodging Association, for which he has served as a board member since 2002, and the IHG Western Committee. Mark is also a member of ICSC since 2007 and AAHOA since 2008, and served as past president of the Sacramento Hotel Association.

Don Li
Executive Vice President, Head of Asia Investment Group

Don Li is Executive Vice President and Head of Asia Investment Group, spearheading the company’s overall growth of its Asia Investment division and leading the group’s efforts assisting foreign owners with U.S. and European hotel acquisitions, developing re-positioning strategies, brand selection, renovations and the ongoing day-to-day management of their assets. Don held this role with Interstate Hotels & Resorts prior to the merger with Aimbridge Hospitality in October 2019.

Prior to Interstate, Don was COO of  Rim Hospitality and prior to that, CEO of Swiss International Hotels & Resorts (China), leading an elite team to develop the next generation of luxury hotels characterized by Swiss quality, beauty and efficiency in greater China. While with Swiss International, Don signed eight luxury landmark hotels in the region with one hotel opened in Xiamen which was the RevPAR and revenue leader in the Province.

Earlier in his career, Don was Regional Vice President of Development of Wyndham Hotel Group International, responsible for the expansion of six Wyndham brands in China, Japan and Mongolia. He was a key contributor to the exponential growth of the Wyndham brands in North Asia and personally signed approximately 10,000 rooms, enabling Wyndham’s growth as the largest foreign hotel group in China.

Don graduated from Columbia University in New York City with a Master in Organizational Development and is a Certified Hotel Administrator (CHA) by the American Hotel and Lodging Association (AHLA).

Don Ayres
Senior Vice President of Development

Contact: 214-295-3600

Kevin Dingle
Senior Vice President of Development

Kevin Dingle rejoined Aimbridge in 2016 and has over 15 years experience working in financial services and real estate. Mr. Dingle is responsible for identifying acquisition, management and new development opportunities while fostering relationships with capital partners, lenders, brokers and brands.

 
After previously working for Aimbridge from 2007-2010, Mr. Dingle was a principal of Compass Lodging Advisors, a hotel investment and asset management firm he co-founded in 2010. While at Compass, the company completed $200 million worth of acquisitions and had an asset management portfolio of 10 premium branded full and select service hotels. Mr. Dingle began his real estate career with Crow Holdings, the investment arm of the Trammell Crow Family, where he served as Vice President of Acquisitions and was involved in over $750 Million worth of acquisitions, dispositions, and refinancing.

 
Mr. Dingle graduated with a BS from the Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management at the University of Houston and has an MBA with a concentration in finance from California Polytechnic University in San Luis Obispo.  He is also a CFA Charterholder and a member of the CFA Society of Dallas-Fort Worth.

Kathleen Hollis
Senior Vice President of Development - Evolution Hospitality

Not many people say their favorite number is 13, but Kathleen isn’t like most people. A self-described “hotel dork,” Kathleen went to the Hotel School at Cornell University with one goal in mind – a career in hospitality. Kathleen loves working alongside so many industry experts to solve challenges and issues as they arise, learning from each one along the way. Driven to succeed, Kathleen’s positive attitude and boundless energy never ceases even in the face of the most daunting task. Not one to get complacent, she loves taking on new responsibilities and learning new tasks.

It’s that same energy and optimism with which Kathleen tackles her daily life. Originally from Boston, she travels back to Bean Town regularly to visit her parents and younger sister, Erin, and says she has close friends all over the East Coast. Always on the go, when Kathleen isn’t racking up air miles, she’s most at home outdoors, especially at the beach or in the ocean. In her off time she ditches the business casual look for her favorite Lululemon athletic garb in pursuit of any kind of physical activity. Whether she’s running, hiking, or biking, exercise isn’t just something she does, it’s who she is.

Kathleen’s favorite Guiding Principle is “Celebrate success wildly” because she believes that it’s important to enjoy your accomplishments and thinks that the key to a happy life is balance. “Life’s too short to be serious all the time,” Kathleen stated. We agree.

EXPERIENCE
Evolution Hospitality, 2014 - Present
- Director of Development
Wells Fargo Hospitality Finance Group, 2013 - 2014
- Analyst

Justin Magazine
Senior Vice President Development & Acquisitions

Justin oversees retention for Aimbridge Hospitality. His team focuses on retaining management contracts for Aimbridge’s strategic hotels that are placed for sale by their respective owners. During his tenure at Interstate, his team nearly doubled the company's retention success rate.  As Aimbridge’s ownership base continues to grow and diversify, Justin adds further acumen to the Development team focusing on communicating Aimbridge’s value proposition and leveraging relationships with investors, hotel owners, and brokers to increase retention. Additionally, he specializes in key strategic business development opportunities for strategic ownership groups. 

Justin brings extensive experience advising the industry’s largest brands and institutional hotel owners. Before joining Interstate, Justin was Managing Director in New York City and Washington, D.C. for Savills Hospitality, an international advisory firm. He was also a Founding Partner and SVP of Humboldt Hospitality Advisors in Washington, DC; and worked as the Vice President of Marketing-North America for Newfound Resorts, an international resort developer, where he led business development and marketing. Before Justin’s tenure in the hotel space, he spent four years in sports marketing as a marketing executive for Octagon.
 

Ian McAuley
President, Aimbridge Canada

As President of Aimbridge Hospitality Canada, Ian McAuley is responsible for fostering new international joint venture opportunities, identifying all acquisition, management and development actives, and working in tandem with capital partners, lenders, brokers and brands.

McAuley joined Aimbridge Hospitality in 2019 with more than 30 years of experience in the hospitality industry in both Canada and the United States. Previously, he was the President of American Hotel Income Properties REIT LP, Canada’s largest publicly-traded hotel company with 112 hotels located throughout the United States. Prior, McAuley served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Continuum Health Care Holdings Ltd., where he led the transformation of the company by establishing new strategic direction, improving operational performance and enhancing shareholder value through a series of transactions that culminated in the final sale of the company’s assets to Welltower REIT. Additionally, McAuley was Co-founder and President of Superior Lodging Corp., one of Canada’s largest hotel developers of more than 135 limited and select-service hotel properties.

McAuley currently sits on the Hilton Owners Advisory Counsel for Hampton Inns and has served and currently serves as the director of many boards, including the Hotel Association of Canada, Airline Hotels & Resorts Ltd., Northern Vision Properties Ltd., Hallmark Properties Ltd. And Theater Calgary.

His career accolades include being a co-recipient of the Canadian Hotel Industry Entrepreneur of the Year Award and a multi-time finalist in the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Awards. McAuley received an undergraduate degree from the University of Saskatchewan, a Master of Business Administration from City University of Seattle and a specialized hospitality diploma from the Rotman Institute of Corporate Directors.

Steve Terry
Senior Vice President Development & Acquisitions, International

Steve Terry, Vice President of Development for Interstate Hotels & Resorts, the international division of Aimbridge, is responsible for growing the third-party management business, for both branded and unbranded hotels. He joined the company following Interstate’s acquisition of Chardon Management Ltd in September 2013.

Steve has been at the forefront of branded hotel development for nearly 20 years. He started his career in hotel development with IHG, leading the development of Holiday Inn Express in the UK before taking on the role of UK Development Director for all brands. He has also worked as a Development Director for BDL Hotels, one of the UK’s largest franchise hotel operators, as well as Wyndham Hotel Group.
 

Tina Chang
Vice President, Asset Management

Willis Cheng
Vice President of Development - Evolution Hospitality

Contact: 949-325-1350

Ron Phifer
Vice President of Development

Ron Phifer is Vice President of Business Development, responsible for acquisition management, new development opportunities and expanding Aimbridge Hospitality’s capital blueprint with new investors in the hospitality space. Ron joined Aimbridge in 2004 as a sales manager following a career as a professional basketball player. Most recently, he was Regional Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Aimbridge.

With over 20 years in sales and marketing experience, Ron’s driving force has been creating value through actionable results and people first leadership. Under his sales leadership, Ron’s hotels over his career have exceeded GOP, Market Share and RevPAR results. His hotels also have received recognition as Sales Team of the Year twice, and Hotel of the Year four times.

An avid advocate for community outreach and mentorship, Ron is a proud member of Big Brothers Big Sisters Lonestar and has been serving as an Executive Board Member since 2019. Ron also has been an active member of NABHOOD (National Association of Black Hotel Owners, Operators and Developers) for over four years.

Ron received dual Bachelor Degrees of Business Administration and Public Relations at Barry University of Miami, Fla.

Marco Roca, Jr.
Vice President of Development

As Vice President of Development, Marco supports the growth of Aimbridge Hospitality's  Luxury & Resorts vertical, focusing on identifying new resort opportunities in North America, Latin America and the Caribbean as well as sourcing opportunities for Aimbridge’s lifestyle arm, Evolution Hospitality, in the Eastern United States.

Prior to Aimbridge, Marco held the position of Co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer at Reveille Hospitality. He has previously served as Vice President of Business Development and Corporate Strategy at Trust Hospitality, among other positions at Horwath HTL in Miami and J.P. Morgan in New York City.

He has been honored as one of Lifestyle Magazine’s “Up & Comers 2020,” Hotel Management’s “30 Under 30” Winner in 2018, and has been a published author in Hotel Management magazine and Hotel Business. He serves as the co-chairman of the Hospitality & Recreational Development Council at the Urban Land Institute, a board member of the Latino Hotel Association and Routier.io and is a partner and advisor for Revolinks.com.