Our Team
We are industry professionals with over 150 years of combined hotel experience and we work from the property level up to the C-Suite level, with the Executive Vice Presidents, CFO’s, Development Leaders, General & Operations Managers and Finance leaders of major companies and organizations. Each member of our group has worked extensively with and for the major Brands such as Marriott, Hilton and Independents both Nationally and Internationally.
Eric M Ewoldt
Operations & Re-structuring
Email: eewoldt@eO2HospitalitySolutions.com / Phone: 786-271-1270
West Palm Beach, FL
Eric has been in the operations and asset management side of the hotel business his entire career, starting in property operations with ITT Sheraton Corporation, and advancing up through Managing Director positions of 4 and 5-Star hotels, to Executive Vice President at both Ian Schrager Hotels and Doral Hotels & Resorts. In addition, he held a senior position in Asset Management with the private equity firm Colony Capital for their global hotel portfolio.
In these various capacities, he specialized in managing complex properties in difficult situations to improve their profitability and asset value. The achievements were a result of professional activity with owners, developers, management companies, lenders, servicers, receivers and various other financial institutions.
Positive results were produced in important areas by re-engineering properties in key departments, concentrating on staffing, productivity, pricing & positioning, contracts, fixed expense modifications, purchasing, branding, etc. Eric has extensive experience in the global hotel arena, specializing in the complex hotels in high-end Full Service and Luxury categories of both hotels and resorts. Additionally, he has organized boutique hotel management companies for clients and SPE’s for specific luxury hotels assets designated for an “exit” through a sale.
Eric’s experience as a hotel Managing Director has included prestigious hotels such as the Ritz-Carlton Hotel and the 720-room Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC and the former 810-room New York Vista Hotel in Manhattan.
His hotel career has been oriented towards the special situation category of hotels and resorts that required re-structuring, renovation and/or repositioning as a result of negative market influences. Eric is considered a specialist in operating and directing hotels during economic crisis or individual property issues. In 2002, he transitioned to entrepreneurship and established his hospitality consulting company focusing on luxury hotels and resorts, where his company advised ownership groups, major real estate equity firms, CMBS special servicers and independent management companies. Also, his company has supported law firms as a fact and expert witness, in addition to working for court appointed Receivers of hotels and resorts.
Several years ago, Eric added an entertainment specialty service based on frequent requests from film studios. He has worked with the film, television and recording industries to accommodate talent and production in properties he managed or directed, and so is uniquely positioned to respond to the exacting needs and requirements specific to the industry. In the past five years he has supported production domestically and internationally in situations where special assistance is required with on-location property selection, accommodations, room rates, concierge services and more - meeting short deadlines and tight travel budgets.
Rick Whelpley
Finance & Accounting | Auditing
Email: rick.whelpley@eO2HospitalitySolutions.com / Phone: 858-228-7134
North Carolina
Rick has been in the Finance/Accounting side of the hotel business his entire career, starting with a brief stint in accounts payable and working up to VP of Finance at a major hotel company. In addition, Rick has held other significant roles such as, Assistant Corporate Controller, Corporate Director of Finance, Regional Director of Finance, Regional Controller and Hotel Director of Finance. In these various capacities Rick achieved hands-on experience with owners, developers, lenders, and special servicer’s and receivers. Accomplishments were made in numerous areas as it pertains to restructurings, management contracts, hotel development and the buying and selling of hotel properties. He has vast experience in operational and cash forecasting, along with proforma development and due diligence. Rick has direct experience working for large hotel companies and third-party managers. In addition, he has set up international hotel operations for Interstate Hotels and Resorts in Canada, was instrumental in the acquisition of multiple resorts with Interstate Hotels & Resorts, Starwood Hotels & Resorts and Omni Hotels & Resorts. Rick handled multiple acquisitions and transitions with the prior companies in excess of over $1 billion. Rick has also been the finance leader at multiple Resort and Convention properties.
Throughout Rick’s career spanning all aspects of hospitality finance, he has learned to operate during multiple economic upturns and downturns and has gained experience with owners and financial institutions as it pertains to financial management, organizational restructuring, lender relations, crisis management and the buying and selling of hotel properties. Rick has also worked with receivers on multiple properties.
Rick has been a speaker at hotel conferences and has a B.A. degree in accounting from Western New England University located in Springfield, Ma.
Michael Heller
Sales and Marketing | Strategic Planning
Email: mheller@eO2HospitalitySolutions.com / Phone: 856-520-1990
New York, NY
Michael has been in the hospitality industry for almost forty years, working in the Hotel, Casino and Timeshare markets primarily in the sales and marketing discipline. Heller has held positions as an entrepreneur and executive.
Heller started MH Marketing, a hospitality sales and marketing company, providing business for group & transient hotels, creating new sales and marketing opportunities for timeshare developments across the country. Prior to forming his own company, Heller joined the Manhattan Club as Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing following a successful year spent repositioning the refurbished Park Central New York Hotel, a 935-room property in Manhattan.
Prior to that Michael was the Vice President of Hotel Sales & Marketing for Trump Plaza/World’s Fair Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, NJ. Previously, Michael was VP of Sales & Marketing for Doral Hotels & Resorts, and also held various sales & marketing roles with Marriott Hotels, in areas such as New York City, Bermuda, Barbados, and Hilton Head Island.
Michael has significant background in start-up and repositioning of full-service hotel and resort properties, branded and independent, with a proven track record of turning properties into profit-making investments for its ownership groups.
Michael is a 1982 graduate of Fairleigh University with a BA degree in Business Management.
Sean Hennessey
Finance & Investments
Email: shennessey@eO2HospitalitySolutions.com
New York, NY
Sean Hennessey is the founder and CEO of Lodging Advisors, LLC, as well as a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Jonathan M. Tisch Center of Hospitality in NYU’s School of Professional Studies, where he teaches hotel finance, investment, and development.
Lodging Advisors assists investors in evaluating opportunities for planned and existing hotels. Sean has been referred to as one of the country’s top hotel consultants, and has worked for blue chip PERE firms as well as for companies such as Marriott and Hilton.
Sean began his career in daily operations with companies such as Marriott and Disney, before directing hospitality advisory services with companies such as HVS and PwC. Sean has an A.S. degrees in Culinary Arts from Johnson & Wales University, a B.S. in Hotel Administration from Cornell University, and the MAI designation from the Appraisal Institute.
Sean has authored research on Airbnb, hotel mortgage defaults, and boutique hotels, and is a contributing author to the texts Hotel Investments: Issues and Perspectives, 3rd ed. and 5th ed., as well as Hotel Asset Management, 2nd ed., all published by the American Hotel & Lodging Association.
Sean serves on the Board of Directors of the International Association of Hospitality Financial Management Educators. Sean is co-chair of the Lodging Industry Investment Council and Chairman Emeritus of the International Society of Hospitality Consultants.
A recognized expert, Sean has appeared on television shows such as Hotel Impossible, CNN Headline News and CNBC, and radio programs such as National Public Radio and Bloomberg News. Sean has been quoted by the Wall Street Journal, Barrons, The New York Times, and most hotel trade journals. Sean has spoken at the major hotel industry investment conferences, as well as to such groups as the Council on Foreign Relations.
Edward J Miller
Developer | Residential - Multifamily - Commercial - Hotels
Email: emiller@cal-coast.com / Phone: 310-820-8544
Los Angeles, CA
Ed Miller is a General Partner and Advisory Board Member for Rescore. Mr. Miller’s company, Cal-Coast, is the developer on behalf of Rescore of the 374 unit Rise Hollywood apartments and the 367 unit Rise Koreatown apartments that also features 62,000 square feet of commercial space in Los Angeles.
Mr. Miller has served as principal owner/developer for numerous residential and commercial projects with capitalized values in excess of $3 billion. His Cal-Coast Company is renowned in Southern California for building quality housing and has won multiple awards for design, including Golden Nuggets from the California Association of Homebuilders. Mr. Miller began his building development career in Los Angeles over thirty years ago when he executed a leverage buyout of Carley Pacific, then a subsidiary of Carley Capitol Group, with his financial partner, Weyerhaeuser. In doing so, Mr. Miller assembled a team of professionals and built the master-planned community of Monterey Hills which included 27 separate multi-family projects totaling 1850 units on 200 acres.
Mr. Miller entered into a joint venture partnership with Mitsui Fudosan and into the million-dollar home market with the master-planned developments of Wallace Ranch, Hillcrest Manor and Hillcrest Meadows in Rolling Hills Estates, Ca. The company built and dedicated a 20 acre park with soccer and baseball fields, tot lot, a par course and horse trail for the community.
Cal-Coast was selected by MetLife to asset manage and develop their three thousand acre environmentally sensitive project, The Palisades Highlands, in Pacific Palisades, Ca. There, Cal-Coast built the exclusive Enclave community of multi-million dollar homes and engaged in environmental remediation and management of the thousands of acres in the Santa Monica Mountains overseen by the California Coastal Commission on behalf of MetLife.
Cal-Coast recently completed construction and sales of the multi-million dollar Terra Vista Condominiums on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. The company has also built several hundreds of mid-market homes in Los Angeles including Southwind Village in San Pedro and Gardena Village in Gardena, Ca.
Mr. Miller and his team have developed many commercial projects, including Cabrillo Marina in the Port of Los Angeles after Cal-Coast was selected as the Master Developer by the Port Authority for the marina. Cabrillo Marina featured 2,000 boat slips, a 225 room waterfront Doubletree Hotel, office, commercial and retail spaces, which included the famous Madeo’s Italian restaurant and West Channel Bar and Grill, which won best new restaurant in California by the California Restaurant Writers Association. Cal-Coast has also developed shopping centers including Gardena Marketplace in Gardena, Ca., Lonehill Plaza in Glendora, Ca. and Northmall Center in Tucson, Arizona. Mr. Miller and his firm were a partner and asset manager of the former 500 room Marriott Hotel in downtown Los Angeles and the 350 room Doubletree Hotel in downtown Orlando, Florida.
Ed Miller graduated from Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota with a degree in Economics and Political Science. Upon graduating, he began work for the Economic Development Authority for the City of St. Paul, specializing in Public/Private financing of mixed-use redevelopment projects. He later worked for Coldwell Banker Commercial, leasing and selling commercial properties before moving to California and joining Carley Capitol.
Cal-Coast has been selected by the City of San Leandro as the Master Developer for its 55 acre Monarch Bay waterfront development, an environmentally sensitive site requiring extensive environmental review and approvals. Having completed the BCDC and CEQA process, Mr. Miller and his team have designed a mixed-use development of 300 waterfront apartments, 200 for-sale homes, a Links golf course, a 220 room Hyatt House/Hyatt Place Hotel and an 18 acre public park on San Francisco Bay.