Significant Hospitality and Leadership Experience
with Proven Track Records
Steve Joyce is the Chairman of the Board and has been a member of the Board since 2023.
He is a global hospitality veteran with more than four decades of multi-brand and franchisee experience, including nearly a decade serving as President and CEO of Choice Hotels International. Under his leadership, Choice reinvigorated its hotel brands, expanded from 9 to 13 brands, and grew internationally to more than 6,700 hotels in over 45 countries.
His time at Choice followed a successful 25-year career with Marriott International, where he rose to the level of Executive Vice President, Global Development. Most recently, he served as CEO of RE/MAX Holdings. In addition to serving on the RE/MAX Board, he is currently a Board Member of Cineworld Cinemas, Hospitality Investors Trust, Inc., and CARE International. He previously served as Chairman of the International Franchise Association and was Chairman of the U.S. Travel Association.
Glenn Alba is an established real estate and hotel investor with over 25 years of institutional investing experience across all types of commercial real estate in the United States and abroad.
He currently serves as Co-Founder and Managing Member of TMGOC Ventures, a real estate and development private equity firm with a focus on the hospitality and multi-family sectors.
He previously founded and served as CEO of Opterra Capital. His experience also includes a 20-year tenure with Blackstone Real Estate, where he served as Head of Global Portfolio Management and led the Asset Management of Blackstone Real Estate’s U.S. hotel investments. Alba previously served as a Board Member for CorePoint Lodging Inc. and La Quinta Holdings, Inc., as well as on the Interstate Hotels and Resorts Owner Advisory Board and the Doubletree Hotels Owner Advisory Council.
Rich Gomel has held multiple investing and operating leadership roles at global firms with experience across the major real estate asset classes. He is currently a Partner and Chief Investment Officer of Two Sigma Real Estate, where he manages the overall investment activities of the business.
He previously worked at Starwood Capital Group and Starwood Hotels, most recently as Managing Director. During this time, he served as CEO of Starwood Capital Group portfolio company Groupe du Louvre. Following Starwood, Gomel served as Senior Investment Officer and one of the original Partners of J.P. Morgan Asset and Wealth Management’s opportunistic real estate business, Junius Real Estate Partners.
Prior to joining Two Sigma Real Estate, Gomel was the Managing Partner of ARK, the real estate investment platform of WeWork. Gomel has served on various boards, including Groupe du Louvre, Baccarat, Hersha Hospitality Management, and 21c Museum Hotels.
Carrie McIntyre combines deep financial expertise with nearly 20 years of experience in the hospitality industry. She is currently a Partner and the Chief Executive Officer at VIRIDIS Fund Solutions.
Prior to joining VIRIDIS, she held leadership roles in the financial sector, including Chief Executive Officer of the third-party fund administration business at StepStone Group and Chief Financial Officer at Greenspring Associates, where she managed all fund accounting responsibilities for the venture capital firm.
Prior to that, Carrie served in various accounting, finance, and corporate leadership positions in the hospitality industry, including Corporate Controller of MeriStar Hotels and Resorts and Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer at Interstate Hotels and Resorts, leading up to its merger with Aimbridge Hospitality. During her tenure at Interstate, Carrie was an integral part of the leadership team that was responsible for multiple M&A transactions on the buy side and the sell side, operating under various ownership structures, both public and private. While serving as CFO, Carrie worked closely with Interstate’s private equity sponsors and the management team to drive transformational strategic and operating initiatives that yielded revenue growth with expanded margins.
Emanuel Pearlman joined the Board of Managers of Aimbridge Hospitality in March 2025.
Mr. Pearlman is the Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Liberation Investment Group, an investment management and consulting firm that provides financial consulting, devises capital structures, negotiates IPOs, leads acquisitions and mergers, implements restructurings, and creates other complex financial plans for variety of companies.
In March 2023 Manny became a member of the Board of MidCap Financial Investment Corporation (NASDAQ: MFIC) an externally managed, publicly traded Business Development Company focused on providing senior debt solutions to middle-market companies. He serves on the Audit Committee, the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee, and the Compensation Committee.
In January 2021 Manny became a member of the Board of Directors of LSC Communications, LLC, the largest producer of books in the United States, and a leading manufacturer and distributor of magazines, catalogs and office products. He also serves as a member of the Audit and Compensation Committees.
Since April 2021 he has served on the Advisory Board of Sharp Alpha Advisors, a venture capital firm specializing in sports betting and online gaming.
From February 2023 until April 2025, Mr. Pearlman was a member of the Board of Diebold Nixdorf, Inc.(NYSE: DBD), a multinational financial and retail technology company that specializes in the sale, manufacture, installation and service of self-service transaction systems (such as ATMs and currency processing systems), point-of-sale terminals, physical security products, and software and related services for global financial, retail and commercial markets. He served on the People & Compensation and Finance Committees.
From March 2023 thru July 2024, Mr. Pearlman was a member of the Board of QualTek Services, Inc. (NASDAQ: QTEK) a turnkey provider of infrastructure services and renewable energy project solutions to the North American telecommunications and power industries. He was a member of the Special Committee established to review and approve strategic and financial alternatives until the company went private in July 2023 when he became Chairman.
From January 2012 to September 2024, Mr. Pearlman was a director of Network-1 Technologies, Inc (NYSE American: NTIP)., a company specializing in the development, licensing, and protection of its intellectual property assets, where he served as chairman of the audit committee and a member of the nominating and governance committee.
From March 2022 to April 2022, Mr. Pearlman served as a director of Redbox Entertainment, Inc (NASDAQ: RBOX)., an entertainment company, and chair of its strategic review committee.
In October 2020 and February 2021, Mr. Pearlman became a director of Atlas Crest Investment Corp (NYSE: ACIC). and Atlas Crest Investment Corp. II (NYSER: ACII), special purpose acquisition companies. He served as chairman of the audit committee and a member of the compensation committee and nomination & governance committee on both boards until his ACIC board service ended in September 2021 and his ACII board service ended in June 2022.
Prior to that, Mr. Pearlman served as Executive Chair and a director of Empire Resorts, Inc.(NASDAQ: NYNY) (2010 - 2019); CEVA Logistics, AG (SIX: CEVA)(2018-2019); ClubCorp Holdings, Inc (NASDAQ: MYCC). (2017); Dune Energy, Inc.(NASDAQ: DUNE) (2012-2013); Multimedia Games, Inc.(NASDAQ: MGAM) (2006-2010); and Network-1 Security Solutions, Inc. (2000-2002).
Mr. Pearlman holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and an A.B. from Duke University.
Craig S. Smith is the CEO of Aimbridge and has served on the Board since 2024. He has a proven track record of formulating strategy, driving growth, and delivering hotel results in diverse markets during varied economic conditions.
Prior to joining Aimbridge, Craig built a multi-decade career with Marriott International, most recently serving as Group President of the International Division. In this role, he oversaw roughly 2,500 hotels worldwide across 28 brands in 136 countries and territories, a workforce of more than 230,000 employees, and the company’s fastest growing development pipeline. His tenure at Marriott involved multiple key leadership roles, including Chief Operating Officer, President & Managing Director of Asia Pacific, and President of the Caribbean & Latin America region. He began his career at the property level and was a five-time, award-winning General Manager.
Craig currently serves on the Executive Committee for the American Hotel & Lodging Association.
