The early influence of service

Hospitality beginnings

My interest in hospitality began long before it became a career. Childhood travel took me to banking conventions, agriculture conferences, and annual family vacations. A visit to Disneyland in Anaheim brought the idea into focus: the setting was memorable, but what stayed with me was the care every cast member put into creating an exceptional guest experience.

Service soon became part of my own story. I joined the United States Army in 1991 as a Quartermaster in logistics, advanced to Sergeant, and received an honorable discharge in 1999. During those years, I also attended Kansas State University, earned a Bachelor of Science in Business with a focus on Hospitality Management, and joined Kimpton Hotels as a Rooms Division Manager and GM.

A new operating canvas

The move into hospitality technology

In 1997, I left Kimpton Hotels in San Francisco and moved to Maryland to become a software installer with National Guest Systems. That decision opened the door to hospitality technology while keeping me close to the operating realities of hotels and the people who serve guests.

I advanced to Senior Manager of Visual One Product Management and helped design and develop one of the world’s first fully integrated Windows-based hospitality software suites. I later opened an office and established a Visual One presence in the United Kingdom, became head of Sales in 2004, and continued through Visual One Systems’ acquisition by Agilysys in 2006.

Expanding the scope

Building and leading global teams

At Agilysys, I led non-gaming sales, sales engineering, and product management, working to bring Visual One Systems to hotels and resorts around the world. In 2007, I joined the acquisition team that supported Agilysys in acquiring InfoGenesis, a leading global point-of-sale technology provider. I remained with Agilysys until 2012, when I joined Infor Global Solutions.

I began at Infor as Vice President of Product and Chief of Staff for the Hospitality business unit. My responsibilities included product management, sales engineering, global channel partners, and relationships with industry analysts and consultants. In 2017, I was promoted to Senior Vice President and General Manager, adding responsibility for business-unit sales, support, deployments, software development, and marketing.

In early 2024, Amadeus recruited me to assume control of one of its most ambitious projects as Senior Vice President of Above Property Solutions. I was tasked with building a new above-property hotel ecosystem of Central Reservations, Call Center, Web Booking Engine, and Guest Management solutions. My responsibilities included serving as the business owner for migrating over 15,000 Marriott, Accor, and Ascott hotels to this new ecosystem, which is currently one of the largest hospitality digital transformation projects in progress.

As the scope of my leadership grew, the thread stayed consistent: connect hospitality operations, technology, customers, and teams around a shared purpose, then give people the clarity and trust to do meaningful work together.

The relationships behind the work

Enjoying the journey together

I believe work should be enjoyable. That spirit helps attract and retain talented people while encouraging creativity, productivity, and genuine commitment. The strongest teams form bonds that go beyond deadlines, sales quotas, and support incidents.

Team meals, retreats, travel, and time to exchange ideas without fear of criticism all contribute to that bond. My wife and our two children remain at the center of my own journey, and the colleagues, customers, partners, and friends met along the way have made the career far more meaningful than any title alone.