Leadership in Action

Darryl Schulte is a third-generation hotelier. Being an entrepreneur at heart, Darryl decided to build upon his family's knowledge of the hotel business and form the Schulte Hospitality Group with his father and brother in 1999. Since then, Schulte Hospitality Group has grown to encompass all aspects of hotel management, development and financing. Through Darryl's leadership and commitment to the company's core values, he has successfully grown the company from its first hotel in Detroit to over 200 properties in 39 states and 4 countries, with current or past ownership interests in many of these properties. Darryl continues to lead Schulte Hospitality's growth and operates hotels for institutional partners, including global private equity firms and publicly traded REITs, and various independent owner and investor groups.

Darryl believes that the relationships he creates and nurtures are the company's most valuable asset. Prior to forming Schulte Hospitality Group, Darryl started his career in hospitality as general manager of various franchised hotels in California, Kansas, Missouri and Illinois. He quickly moved from hotel operations to hotel development, becoming a pre-opening, development and construction specialist wherein he worked closely with developers, general contractors, franchisors and financial institutions to ensure timely delivery of a quality finished product.

Darryl's professional achievements include developing, acquiring and financing more than $4 billion in real estate transactions, the successful formation and sale of Summit Real Estate Group - a real estate investment company that developed over 4 million square feet of mixed-use space in the greater Chicago area from 2001 to 2006 - and the continued growth of Schulte Hospitality Group into a leading hospitality management platform. Darryl resides in Louisville, Kentucky with his wife and five beautiful daughters. Darryl is a board member of Calvary Christian Center.He enjoys travel, boating and seeing live music.

As a founding partner of Schulte Hospitality Group, Ray Schultehas helped grow the company from its first location to its current portfolio of over 200 hotels in 39 states Currently, Ray’s passions are working on programming and layout for hotel development projects and modernizing the F&B offerings at existing and new locations. he is alsoinvolved in the management of the company's real estate, restaurants, office and retail holdings.

Prior to founding Schulte Hospitality Group with his brother and father, he worked with John Q. Hammons, Summit Hotels and a Dallas-based real estate developer. Ray studied business administration at the University of Colorado. Ray is an avid sports fan and enjoys golf, skiing and traveling. He supports the charity The V Foundation for cancer research (jimmyv.org), named for college basketball coach Jim Valvano. The V Foundation holds a four-star rating - the highest - and 100% of its support goes directly to cancer research. Ray uses the inspirational words of Coach Valvano as motivation in his daily life – “Don’t’ give up, don’t ever give up”.

Jay is the Chief Legal Officer of the Schulte Companies. Prior to joining Schulte, Jay was an equity member at Frost Brown Todd LLC where he spent the previous seven years primarily focused on representing clients in complex commercial real estate transactions on a national basis. Before going to Frost Brown Todd, Jay worked in New York at Kirkland Ellis LLP. He is an accomplished attorney who has successfully led many teams and clients in multi-million dollar commercial real estate developments and acquisitions, private equity and bankruptcy-related debt financings, origination of construction and CMBS loans, as well as a variety of other legal and general business litigation matters.

Jay holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the University of Colorado-Boulder and received his law degree from Brooklyn Law School in New York. Jay was recognized by Louisville Business First Forty Under 40 in 2013, was named Rising Star by Thomson Reuters for 2013-2016, and was recognized in 2014 and 2017 as a Mentor of the Year by Frost Brown Todd. Jay serves on the Board of Trustees for Dogs Helping Heroes, Inc.

Eric has spent his entire career in hotel investing, in capacities including private equity, public securities and investment banking. He was a member of the Lodging Acquisitions team at Starwood Capital Group where he acquired $1.5B of assets. While at Starwood, he assisted in the formation of the Joint Venture with Schulte Hospitality.

Most recently he was a Research Analyst for Cohen & Steers, a fund complex with over $30B in public REIT AUM, where he led their securities investment practice within the lodging and retail net lease sectors. He began his career at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in its Real Estate and Lodging group. He graduated with an economics degree from Duke University.

As Schulte Hospitality Group’s Chief Operating Officer, Sam oversees operations for the company’s entire hotel portfolio. Sam is a well-respected leader in the hotel industry with more than 25 years of experience working in positions ranging from General Manager to President of Hotel Operations.

Prior to joining Schulte, Sam served as President of Operations for Highgate Hotels where he spent the last 14 years overseeing the company’s 118 “legacy” properties in the U.S. and CALA and led a team of more than 20 senior operations leaders. He also served as Senior Vice President of Operations at Highgate, overseeing the company’s New York City portfolio of 40 hotels.

Prior to joining Highgate, Sam spent nearly 14 years with Hilton Hotels Worldwide where he worked in various property-level leadership positions for several of Hilton’s marquis properties in both New York and Boston, including the original Waldorf-Astoria on Park Avenue and the 2,000-room Hilton New York on the Avenue of the Americas.

Sam graduated from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration. He lives in Louisville with his wife and two children.

Brian Fitzgerald is Chief Financial Officer of Schulte Hospitality Group. He leads SHG’s enterprise-wide finance platform, including strategic planning, mergers & acquisitions, real estate finance, financial planning & analysis, hotel accounting, internal controls and compliance, data & analytics, treasury, and corporate finance. Partnering closely with SHG’s executive team, Brian helps drive the company’s growth and innovation agenda.

Brian brings more than 30 years of progressive financial leadership, including 23 years at Brown-Forman Corporation (NYSE: BF-B), where he most recently served as Senior Vice President, Corporate Finance & Treasurer. Over his tenure, he held roles spanning nearly every function reporting to the CFO—including Chief Accounting Officer—and spent four years in Hamburg, Germany overseeing finance across Europe and Africa. His transaction experience includes a $650 million bond issuance, combined credit facilities exceeding $1 billion, and the $750 million international acquisition of Casa Herradura in Mexico.

Recognized for strategic insight, operational discipline, and a collaborative leadership style, Brian holds an MBA (with high honors) from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a B.S. in Accountancy from the University of Illinois. He is a CPA and actively serves the community through nonprofit board work, including Louisville Collegiate School and the DendriFund.

With a career spanning over 30 years in the hospitality industry, Martin has vast experience and knowledge in all aspects of hotel operations, accounting and hospitality technology. Martin has led several key company initiatives that have scaled Schulte Hospitality Group through its growth phases, including the transition of accounting systems, a business intelligence platform, a company intranet site and payroll processing migration. His vision, leadership and dedication have allowed Schulte Hospitality Group to deliver best-in-class results to our clients.

Martin has also been instrumental in the design and development of technology solutions for several hotel projects ranging from large resorts, full service hotel as well as several independent and boutique properties. Martin’s experience in hotel management, coupled with his love of technology, has helped him develop several software applications, including a daily reporting system providing up-to-the-minute online statistical reporting for hotel managers and owners. Prior to his role as Chief Information Officer Martin led the Graduate Hotels Management platform.

Anne Fischer is a visionary marketing executive with over two decades of experience driving growth, digital transformation, and brand innovation across the hospitality, restaurant, and consumer industries. As Chief Marketing Officer at Schulte Hospitality Group, Anne leads the company’s marketing, branding, and customer engagement strategies, ensuring a modern, data-driven approach to elevating guest experiences and driving long-term value for partners.

Most recently, Fischer served as Chief Growth Officer of Wingstop (NASDAQ: WING) overseeing marketing and digital strategies for more than 2,000 restaurants. Prior to Wingstop, Fischer served as Chief Marketing and Digital Officer of Papa John's International, Inc. (NASDAQ: PIZZA), one of the largest franchisors of restaurants in the world. She previously held marketing and sales leadership roles at The Walt Disney Company and SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment. Throughout her career, Anne has been at the forefront of digital transformation, brand evolution, and customer-centric strategy, consistently delivering results in highly competitive markets.

Anne holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the Rosen School of Hospitality Management and a Master of Business Administration degree from Rollins College. Anne lives in Louisville, KY with her husband and two children.

Jason is responsible for driving the sales and revenue performance of Schulte Hospitality Group's portfolio of assets, with a focus on the Group, Corporate Negotiated, Contract and Banquet and Catering segments. Jason helped grow and directly oversees the performance and development of a team of 30+ above property sales support leaders, as well as 200+ property level sales leaders. Jason's career has developed alongside of Schulte Hospitality Group's portfolio growth from 24 hotels to over 200, during which time Jason has held roles including General Manager, Regional Vice President of Operations, Senior Regional Vice President of Operations, and Vice President of Sales.

Prior to joining Schulte Hospitality Group in 2014, he spent 14 years with Hotels Unlimited where he learned each discipline of the hotel industry from his roles as Executive Chef, Director of Catering, Revenue Manager, Assistant General Manager, and General Manager. His multi-faceted background brings a unique perspective to his current role as Senior Vice President of Sales.

Originally from Trenton, New Jersey, Jason currently resides in South Florida with his wife and two young children. During down time, he enjoys running, golfing and exploring new hotels with his family.

Carter recently rejoined Schulte to lead the Property Operations, Sales, Revenue, F&B, and
Asset Management teams. Prior to rejoining Schulte, Carter served as the Head of Real Estate
for arcana, which is a unique new hospitality brand that is focused on combining the inspiration
of the city with the power of the outdoors. In his initial stint at Schulte, Carter held several roles
including EVP, Hotel Performance and SVP, Acquisitions where he helped close more than 60
deals that totaled over $1.0 billion. Carter also previously led Schulte’s Design & Construction
team where he was responsible for planning, budgeting, and executing over 30 hotel
renovations.

Before initially joining Schulte, Carter worked for companies like Oliver Wyman, United Airlines,
and Virgin America in various positions where he was located on three continents in areas like
strategy, finance, technical operations, project management, revenue strategy and human
resources. He holds a Bachelor's Degree in International Business from the University of
Virginia, with a second major in Spanish.

Amy Rizzo joined Schulte Hospitality Group in early 2015 to assist with transition-related projects at the corporate office. A few months later, Amy moved into the Risk Management Coordinator role and began building out Schulte Hospitality Group’s Risk Management discipline. Since then, she has advanced through multiple positions including Risk and Insurance Manager, Director of Risk Management and Corporate Support, Vice President of Risk, HR, and Corporate Support. She currently serves as the Senior Vice President of Risk, HR, and Corporate Support where she leads the Human Resources, Risk Management, Permits, Benefits, HRIS and insurance disciplines.

Prior to joining Schulte Hospitality Group, Amy spent several years in the automotive industry in purchasing and guest services roles. Amy currently resides in Louisville, KY with her husband and three children and, in her downtime, enjoys traveling and trying new cuisines, cooking, and spending time with family.

Vincent has over 30 years of experience in hotel management and leads the Schulte European Group team. Prior to joining Schulte European Group, Vincent was most recently Vice President of Asset Management for London & Regional Properties. He has also worked at Intercontinental, Le Méridien, Starwood, and set up the European platform for Highgate International. Vincent has spent his entire career in hospitality, including working in a restaurant kitchen in his early days. He has held a wide range of roles, giving him a unique blend of experience in Finance, Operations, and Hotel Development.

Additionally, he’s worked across multiple markets, including UK, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Hungary, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Monaco, and Barbados, building cultural understanding which has enabled the development of meaningful relationships with customers, external stakeholders and internal teams, leading to the successful delivery of business objectives. Vincent holds an MBA in Hotel Management from Cornell ESSEC as well a bachelor’s degree from Glion Hotel School.

In his role as Chief Accounting Officer, Wally oversees the accounting, tax, treasury and fixed asset functions for each of the managed hotels, the hospitality Management Company, the real estate development companies and the design and construction company. His background includes nearly 30 years of audit, tax and consulting experience, primarily in the arena of public accounting. Prior to joining Schulte, he spent 13 years with Mountjoy Chilton Medley, a large regional CPA and advisory firm in Louisville, Kentucky, where he worked with business owners in a tax-planning and consulting role with the goal of maximizing cash flows.

Before that, he worked for two of the then-Big Six CPA firms. Wally was with KPMG in Nashville, Tennessee and Arthur Andersen LLP in Louisville, respectively, as well as for an international airline catering company based in Arlington, Texas. Wally is a certified public accountant who graduated with a Master of Tax Accounting Degree from the University of Alabama and holds a Bachelor's Degree in Accounting from Western Kentucky University. Wally and his wife currently reside in Louisville and have two grown sons. He enjoys running, golfing, skiing and traveling during his leisure time as well as attending various sporting events.

Yaniv Packin serves as Executive Vice President of Operations at Schulte Hospitality Group, leading our Luxury, Lifestyle & Wellness Division. With Yaniv’s leadership, Schulte Hospitality Group is poised to redefine luxury, lifestyle, and wellness hospitality—delivering transformative experiences for our guests and partners alike.

Yaniv brings over 17 years of leadership experience from Highgate Hotels, where he was instrumental in developing the company’s Luxury & Lifestyle Division and expanding its South Florida portfolio. During his tenure at Highgate, Yaniv excelled in leading Rooms Division operations, especially within full-service Hilton properties in NYC. His leadership earned him several accolades, including the company’s General Manager of the Year. He later became Regional VP, overseeing independent lifestyle hotels in NYC before relocating to South Florida to lead the region and help establish Highgate’s Luxury & Lifestyle Division.

Yaniv has led numerous high-profile openings and pre-openings, including Dolce & Gabbana Residences and Hotel, The Goodtime Hotel, E11even Hotel and Residences, The Altair Bay Harbor, The Gabriel South Beach, The Elser Hotel & Residences Miami, Lofty Brickel, ORA by Casa Tua, and Four South Florida Viceroy Residences

Yaniv earned a B.A. in Hospitality Management from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration and quickly rose through the ranks, with early success in food & beverage before transitioning into full-service hotel operations. Outside of work, Yaniv is a fitness and wellness enthusiast, a musician, and a devoted father to his two sons, Asher and Areli. He splits his time between Miami and New York City.

Tom Poehailos is our Executive Vice President of Operations for Schulte’s Boutique and Lifestyle
platform, where he oversees all managerial functions including Operations, Revenue, Sales,
Human Resources and Accounting.

He joined Schulte after spending 12 years with Highgate Hotels, first as Vice President of
Operations and then Senior Vice President of Operations within the full service division. This
included the oversight of both luxury branded and independent lifestyle hotels. Tom departed
Highgate for a Senior Operations role with Hotel Equities only to return to lead operations for
Highgate’s newly formed Select Service division, where he served as Executive Vice President of
Operations. He was responsible for launching this division of 200+ hotels and leading a team of
10 SVPO’s and VPO’s.

Tom began his hotel career with Winegardner & Hammons, where he spent the first 10 years of
his 35 year career. In the years since, Tom has held property and corporate leadership roles in
every segment of the hotel business which has included all major brands, independent and
lifestyle hotels, as well as golf and oceanfront resorts and spas. Tom’s success through the years
has been driven by attracting and developing talent that is entrepreneurially spirited and who
display servant leadership traits. Tom believes in community and giving back through being
involved with charitable foundations and has served in many community leadership roles
throughout his career. Tom is an avid sports fan who will soon reside in Florida with his wife,
Billie. Tom and Billie are also the proud parents of their two adult children, Nick and Ally.

Steven is a dynamic, innovative, and entrepreneurial commercial leader with significant experience in building high-performing teams across multiple brands within luxury and independent hotels. As Chief Revenue Officer, he currently leads the commercial disciplines for Schulte Hospitality’s Boutique and & Lifestyle division.

During his tenure with Schulte, he has spent seven years leading the commercial efforts for Graduate Hotels and Marine & Lawn Hotels & Resorts. Graduate Hotels is a well-crafted brand that resides in the most dynamic college towns across the US and UK. Marine & Lawn Hotels & Resorts celebrates the unique spirit of golf legacies with locations adjacent to the world’s most iconic courses. Steven has been instrumental in growing these brands from 8 to over 40 hotels during the past seven years. Prior to his current experiences, Steven has held revenue management and operational leadership roles at SBE, Morgan’s Hotels Group, Ritz Carlton, and Marriott.

Lou's is responsible for Schulte Hospitality Group’s Design and Construction Management, Contracts and Hotel Accounting teams. Before joining Schulte Hospitality Group, Lou had 35 years of operational experience managing large organizations with a strong customer service emphasis both in the US and Europe. Lou’s most recent position was Chief Operating Officer for Alta Colleges for 15 years and other previous employers include AT&T, Eastman Kodak and Telecommunications Incorporated.

Lou has a strong business acumen and thrives on process re-engineering and automation to enable efficient operations. He enjoys working hard and having fun all at the same time. He holds a Master’s Degree in Engineering Management from National Technology University and a Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Buffalo. Lou's hobbies include woodworking, hiking, skiing and spending time with family. He resides in Louisville with his wife and has three children and four grandchildren.

Keith is responsible for the overall financial and operational performance of Schulte Hospitality Group's core platform . He oversees a team of sales, revenue and operations professionals whose objective is to ensure that all of the hotel assets are aligned with the company's culture and core values, deliver exceptional financial results to our owners; delivere memorable guest experiences; and drive loyalty and retention among our team members. Keith brings with him over 25 years of industry knowledge and experience with highly- reputable, hospitality organizations like Noble Investment Group and GF Management.

Keith joined Schulte Hospitality Group in 2011 and previously held various positions including Regional Vice President for its full-service portfolio, Vice President of Operations and Senior Vice President of Operations . Keith also represents Schulte Hospitality Group in brand/owner relations and serves on the Advisory Council for Homewood Suites and Home2 Suites by Hilton. Keith likes in Florida with his wife and two children.

Ryan is a 25 year veteran of the hospitality industry working with all major brands including Marriott, Hilton and IHG. He began his hospitality career working at the front desk of a Hampton Inn while attending the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. By the time he graduated with his Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology, he was working as a General Manager after working his way up through several different departments. After spending 10 years in various General Manager roles and leading several hotels to award-winning status, Ryan became a certified revenue manager. After 3 years as the Corporate Director of Revenue Management and establishing the first internal revenue department at Good Hospitality Service, Ryan went back into operations as a Regional Director of Operations.

Ryan then joined Schulte Hospitality in 2017 as a Regional VP of Operations and quickly worked his way into a leadership role where he responsible for all of Schulte Hospitality Group’s full-service Marriott hotels, which generated over $200 million in revenue. Ryan was promoted to Senior Vice President in October of 2021. As SVP, Ryan is responsible for all facets of operations within his assigned group of hotels and oversees a team driving to attain revenue, financial and guest service goals that distinguish Schulte Hospitality Group as a top-tier operator in the industry. During down time, he coaches middle school football and wrestling and has a passion for developing young leaders.

Jennifer has over 22 years of experience in the Hospitality industry spanning from Operations to
her current role as Vice President – Design + Procurement with Schulte Purchasing Group. After
graduating from Cornell University with a BS degree in Hotel Administration, she began her
career at The Four Seasons in the Rooms Division and transitioned into Procurement with her
first renovation at The Ritz-Carlton Chicago. She was able to continue her role in Procurement
with openings and renovations worldwide in Nevis, London, Shanghai and Toronto.
After leaving Four Seasons, Jennifer joined The Gettys Group in Chicago, where she was
overseeing the Procurement for various assets including The Hilton Buena Vista Palace in
Orlando, Cambria Chicago Loop, The Charmant in La Crosse, WI, The Robey in Chicago, The
Viceroy Chicago, and The Four Seasons Chicago.

Jennifer transitioned to Schulte Purchasing in 2017 and has lead the FF+E and design initiative,
working with the team to balance the design, cost, quality and schedule of renovations and new
builds. Jennifer resides in Louisville with her mini goldendoodles, Uber and Charlie and is an
avid Buffalo Bills and Notre Dame football fan.