A Landmark, Reborn. — Joseph Maddox for The Historian Hotel

The Operator

The Record.

U.S. News #1 Hotel in Iowa, two years running. Business of the Year in nine months. 25% RevPAR growth. 40+ associates mentored into management. $1M+ in activation-driven incremental revenue.

I've spent my career operating historically renovated Midwestern landmarks with complex F&B and events programs — the exact asset profile of The Historian. At The Warrior Hotel (Autograph Collection) — a 1930 Art Deco landmark, restored and relaunched — I rebuilt three F&B outlets, co-created a 2,000-person community relaunch, and earned #1 Hotel in Iowa within a year. At Hotel Julien Dubuque — Iowa's oldest hotel, in continuous operation since 1839, on the National Register — Business of the Year in nine months. Both times the job was the same: launch a standout reopening, set the tone, build the team, make the building mean something to the city around it.

The Historian Hotel is a Marriott Tribute Portfolio in the 111-year-old Churchill Building across from the State Capitol. Chef Dan Jacobs on the ground floor. Each floor dedicated to a person or group who shaped Madison's history. First Hospitality's Madison debut. The JD's language — "landmark level of care," "restaurant, bar, and events as important as the rooms," "launch and lead a standout reopening" — describes the operating identity I've built twice. Below is a taste of how I'd approach it.

Role Alignment

Point by Point.

The JD asks for a lifestyle boutique General Manager who can launch a standout reopening, own the full enterprise, build destination-grade restaurant/bar/events, lead a high-accountability culture, and protect standards appropriate for an iconic, high-visibility property. Here's how the record lines up.

Launch a Standout Reopening

Relaunched The Warrior Hotel (Autograph Collection) — 1930 Art Deco landmark, restored and reintroduced to its city
Co-created a 2,000-person community relaunch over six weeks — ribbon cuttings led by each department, five local press features, City Council using the property for delegations
Led Hilton brand conversions performing 10 points above brand average from the first quarter
Five years of building operating rhythms and Day 1 readiness in renovation and conversion contexts

See: The Community Relaunch ↓

Own the Full Enterprise

GM of 133-key Hotel Julien Dubuque: 135-person team, $9M budget, restaurant, lounge, spa, banquets
GM of 148-key Warrior Hotel: 156-person team, $10M budget, three F&B outlets, events program
Regional Director: 521 keys, 500+ associates, $290M in assets across four properties
Revenue, profit, labor, expenses — full P&L ownership at every level

Restaurant, Bar & Events

Three F&B outlets relaunched at The Warrior — steakhouse, rooftop bar, bowling lounge
Three-meal restaurant and cocktail lounge rebuilt at Hotel Julien Dubuque
Sold-out Murder Mystery Dinner at 40% profit margins — theatrical experience with 100 costumed guests
Banquet revenue grew $300K; wedding profitability up 30%
$1M+ in activation-driven F&B and event revenue since 2022

See: F&B Leadership ↓

Commercial Performance

25% RevPAR growth; 19.6% RGI growth at The Warrior
18% TRevPAR growth; 12% GOPPAR growth
70% rooms flow-through; GOP 8–10% above ownership targets
RevPAR Index 116, outperforming comp set by 230 basis points
Proficient in Demand 360, Agency 360, Lighthouse, ProfitSword

Talent Magnet Leadership

40+ associates mentored into management vs. 50% industry average
24% increase in leadership retention via structured career pathing
Engagement scores jumped 27 points at Hotel Julien
The JD says "building successors" — that's the practice I lead by

See: Building Teams That Stay ↓

Market Presence & Community Partnership

2025 Chamber Business of the Year (Hotel Julien)
Chamber Board member; brand ambassador across two Iowa markets
12+ new community partnerships forged in a single year via America 250 programming
22 portfolio-wide activations designed to manufacture demand rather than capture it

Heritage Landmark & Lifestyle Brand

Warrior Hotel (1930 Art Deco), Hotel Julien Dubuque (Iowa's oldest, 1839), Hotel Blackhawk (1915 National Historic Landmark) — same regional sensibility as the Churchill Building
Marriott Autograph Collection (lifestyle soft brand) — same brand family as Tribute Portfolio
Carnegie Mellon BFA — experience design thinking applied to every guest touchpoint
Floor-by-floor history narrative is the kind of operational storytelling I was trained for

Pre-Opening & Project Leadership

From Construction Walk to Day One.

The JD asks for a leader who can launch a standout reopening with operating rhythms and a team ready for Day 1 excellence. This is how I'd think through the work — a pre-opening as a sequence of decisions, each one constraining the next — calibrated to The Historian's timeline and supported by First Hospitality's above-property opening framework.

T-Minus 9 Months

Leadership Team

DOS, AGM, Exec Chef, DOO hired. Operating budget refined with ownership. Brand standards orientation begins. PIP (property improvement plan) and FF&E timelines aligned with construction sequence.

T-Minus 6 Months

Department Heads

Every department head in place. SOPs documented and Tribute-aligned. Sales pipeline activation begins — group business, state government accounts, Epic, UW Health, top Madison law firms. Local PR and brand storytelling begins.

T-Minus 90 Days

The Team Builds the Team

Department heads hire their teams. Brand standards training in progress. Vendor and OS&E final delivery confirmed. Marketing campaign live — floor concept, design story, Dan Jacobs partnership. Direct booking infrastructure stress-tested.

T-Minus 60 Days

Line Staff & Trial Service

Line staff hired. Trial service runs — F&B, housekeeping flow, front desk pace. Brand audits self-administered. Crisis protocols rehearsed. Every department holds a dry run before the next.

T-Minus 30 Days

Soft Opens & Press

Three-stage soft open: friends & family, industry & local trade, public soft open at controlled occupancy. Press previews tied to the building's history. Bonvoy member-only nights. Pace tracking daily.

Day One

Community-Built Launch

Grand opening. Department-hosted ribbon cuttings. PR cycle tied to the Beaux-Arts restoration and the floor-by-floor narrative. Bonvoy + local press + civic + State Capitol partners on the guest list. Reference: 2,000 attendees over six weeks at The Warrior relaunch.

The Operating Principle

A pre-opening is the only time you get to design the culture before the chaos. Every decision — hiring, sourcing, sequencing, training, partnerships — is a vote for the kind of property the building becomes. The job is to make every one of those votes intentional.

Renovation & Capital Project Leadership

The Work Inside the Building.

I've led and consulted on significant capital projects inside operating heritage buildings — targeted space renovations while keeping the doors open, owner-side exposure to a ground-up hotel build through Restoration St. Louis, and at Hotel Julien Dubuque, planning the property remodel from design intent through final selections.

That distinction matters for The Historian. The Churchill Building is an adaptive reuse of an aging structure, not new construction. The work I've done is in the exact category — coordinating with engineers and ownership on systems, managing FF&E and OS&E on a working calendar, translating design intent through to floor-level execution, and protecting guest experience while construction happens around them.

Years

Project Management Practice

A decade of structured project management discipline applied to capital and operational work — Kanban boards for live workflow visibility, Gantt charts for phased renovation sequencing, methodology selection (waterfall, agile, hybrid) calibrated to project scope. The framework that turns construction conversations, vendor coordination, and ownership reporting into a single rhythm.

Hotel Julien Dubuque · 1839

Planning the Property Remodel & Phased Guest-Floor Refresh

The Project

Owned the planning of the building remodel for Iowa's oldest hotel — National Register property in continuous operation since 1839. Design intent through final selections. Worked alongside ownership on scope, sequencing, FF&E specification, OS&E packages, finish samples, vendor selection, and budget reconciliation. Walked every public space and guest floor with the design team. Oversaw phased flooring replacement across multiple sections of the building — coordinated by zone to protect guest experience, brand consistency, and budget discipline.

What It Required

Translating design vision into specifications that hold under operating conditions. Reconciling owner aspirations with crew capacity and guest experience. Picking everything — carpets, casegoods, drapery, lighting, art, finishes — with the building's character holding precedence.

The Warrior Hotel · 1930

Owner-Side Exposure to a Ground-Up Build

The Project

During my tenure at this 1930 Art Deco landmark, Restoration St. Louis — the Warrior's ownership group — built out the new Gulfstream Hotel, and I was actively in those conversations: scope reviews, design discussions, milestone updates. A working seat at the table for a ground-up build of a sister property in the same portfolio.

What It Gave Me

Direct line of sight into what it takes to build out a hotel — how ownership thinks about phasing, capital, design decisions, and the trade-offs that determine whether an opening lands well. Not a credit I claim as mine, but exposure that shapes how I'd partner with First Hospitality on The Historian.

Hotel Vetro · Iowa City

Early-Career Opening-Prep Contribution

The Project

Early in my career, I spent a week on-property at Hotel Vetro during its final opening-prep window — working alongside the team on guest room finishing, punch list close-out, and the last-mile detail work that gets a property guest-ready. A small contribution, but a formative one: my first close look at the velocity of an opening week, the seam between construction and operations, and what it takes to hand a building over to the team that will live in it.

What It Gave Me

A working understanding of opening-week pace and the operational discipline an opening calls for — honestly framed as exposure, not ownership, but the kind of exposure that informs how I'd approach The Historian's Day One readiness.

What translates directly to the Churchill Building.

Design-Through-Execution

Planning Julien from design intent through final selections means I know what design teams ask of operators — and what operators have to push back on.

Owner-Side Build-Out Exposure

Working seat alongside Restoration St. Louis through the Gulfstream Hotel ground-up build — direct line of sight on what ownership goes through to build a hotel.

Opening-Week Pace

Early exposure to the velocity and operational discipline of an opening at Vetro — the seam between construction and operations is a place I've stood before.

PM Methodology & Tooling

Ten years of Kanban, Gantt, and structured PM frameworks applied to operating-hotel renovation work — the muscle that holds owner cadence steady.

Operating-Building Discipline

Capital work while the doors stay open requires sequencing that protects guest experience and earns ownership trust through visible progress.

Above-Property Partnership

Property-level discipline paired with First Hospitality's above-property opening framework — the right combination of executional muscle and institutional process.

F&B Leadership

Five Outlets. Two Properties. Relaunched.

The JD calls restaurant, bar, and events "as important as the rooms" and asks for a GM who can make them "a reason to visit." A Dan Jacobs ground-floor concept paired with banquet and bar programming demands a partner who can hold the standard and the system. Here's the record.

The Warrior Hotel (Autograph Collection)

Relaunched three underperforming F&B outlets — steakhouse, rooftop bar, and bowling lounge. Rebuilt the teams, refreshed the menus, and established new operational systems for each. Three distinct service cultures under one roof in a Marriott lifestyle soft brand. The rooftop became the city's social anchor. F&B became the hotel's strongest community asset. $200K in auxiliary F&B spend from the community relaunch alone.

Hotel Julien Dubuque

Rebuilt the three-meal casual dining restaurant and cocktail lounge. Launched a sold-out Murder Mystery Dinner at 40% profit margins — 100 guests in costume, blue uplighting, period cocktails, and a fully produced theatrical experience. Orchestrated the hotel's first Culinary Olympics — teams competing across prep stations with chef judges. Grew banquet revenue $300K; wedding profitability up 30%.

Murder Mystery Dinner — Sold Out, 40% Margins

Culinary Olympics — Hotel Julien Dubuque

The Compset Read

How The Historian Wins.

Madison's downtown lifestyle and luxury segment has five real competitors. The Historian doesn't need to beat all of them at everything — it needs to own a position none of them can claim. Here's the read on each, and where The Historian wins.

The Edgewater

~202 keys · Independent

Lakefront urban resort. Highest ADR in market. Wedding and spa-anchored. Established brand with eight years of loyalty.

Where The Historian Wins

Capitol-facing exclusivity. 81 keys vs 202 = intimacy and Tribute character. Marriott Bonvoy distribution. Dan Jacobs F&B vs hotel restaurant. Different occasion entirely.

AC Hotel Madison

~144 keys · Marriott Lifestyle

Marriott lifestyle brand. Eno Vino rooftop is a destination. Marriott Bonvoy customer overlap is the most direct.

Where The Historian Wins

Soft-brand authenticity vs. brand-uniform AC. Heritage Beaux-Arts character no new-build can match. Dan Jacobs vs Eno Vino. Direct Capitol facing.

Hotel Indigo Madison

~98 keys · IHG Boutique

Adaptive reuse of the historic Mautz Paint Building. Closest comp on heritage-boutique positioning. IHG loyalty.

Where The Historian Wins

Larger architectural statement (skyscraper vs paint building). Better location (on the Square vs. blocks off). More ambitious F&B. Marriott Bonvoy vs IHG.

Moxy Madison Downtown

~141 keys · Marriott Lifestyle

Wisconsin's only Moxy. Atico rooftop is a strong F&B differentiator. Younger traveler, lower ADR positioning.

Where The Historian Wins

Different traveler entirely. Moxy plays the energetic youth lifestyle lane. The Historian plays the premium heritage lifestyle lane. Limited rate overlap.

BW Premier Park Hotel

~94 keys · Best Western

Currently the only hotel directly on Capitol Square. Owns the location overlap until The Historian opens.

Where The Historian Wins

Tribute Portfolio vs. Best Western (brand tier gap is enormous). New product vs. dated building. Dan Jacobs vs. hotel restaurant. The premium-on-the-Square position transfers immediately.

Madison Concourse

~373 keys · Independent

Long-standing downtown anchor. Group and convention-driven. Different traveler — volume play, not direct share comp for transient lifestyle.

Where The Historian Wins

Track for total downtown share but not a direct rate competitor. The Historian is the premium boutique alternative for the executive traveler who's been booking Concourse out of habit.

The Position

The Historian owns the premium-heritage-on-the-Square lane. No one else can claim Capitol-facing Beaux-Arts, Tribute Portfolio character, Dan Jacobs F&B, and 81-key intimacy at the same time. That's the position. The job is making it true every day.

The Opportunity

Four Engines for The Historian.

The Historian opens with a generational location, a Tribute Portfolio identity, a Dan Jacobs F&B program, and a story no other Madison hotel can tell. These are four engines mapped to the asset — each proven at comparable heritage properties I've operated.

Activated hotel space during programming event

State Government & Legislative Capitol Engine

Solves: Midweek occupancy, weekday F&B covers, account-based revenue

Across from the State Capitol means government-affairs travelers, legislators, agency staff, lobbyists, state contractors, and policy-conference groups are walking distance to their meetings. Negotiated state and legislator rates with priority Tribute Portfolio access. Monthly "Policy Hour" Dan Jacobs tasting menus for downtown corporate accounts. Floor-by-floor history concept becomes a tour every state-government guest wants to take. At The Warrior, this kind of weekday account development drove rooms pacing hundreds of thousands ahead YoY.

UW-Madison & UW Health Pipeline

Solves: Weekend occupancy, group event revenue, premium ADR

Camp Randall, the Kohl Center, and LaBahn Arena drive seven Badger football home games, basketball, hockey, and parents weekend traffic. UW Health is one of the Midwest's largest academic medical centers — long-stay patient families, visiting physicians, and recruitment travel. Alumni and donor events at the Memorial Union and the Pyle Center. Curated game-day packages, suite buyouts for board dinners, UW Foundation partnership events at Dan Jacobs's restaurant. The Historian becomes the premium choice when "downtown" matters.

Madison Locals & Capitol Square Culture

Solves: F&B covers, community defense, word-of-mouth marketing

Madison locals fill any boutique that earns their loyalty. The Dane County Farmers' Market — the largest producer-only farmers market in America — circles the Capitol Square every Saturday from April to November, putting the hotel's lobby and Dan Jacobs's restaurant in the path of 20,000 weekly visitors. Concerts on the Square Wednesday nights in summer. The Overture Center, Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, and State Street are all walkable. Programs that turn Madison residents into regulars — first-look menu invitations, locals nights, neighborhood partnerships — build the community-defended foundation lifestyle hotels need.

Tribute Storytelling & Direct Booking

Solves: OTA dependency, acquisition cost, brand differentiation

Every Tribute Portfolio property earns its place through narrative. The Historian's floor-by-floor tribute to Madison's history isn't a marketing gimmick — it's a content engine. Each floor becomes a story, a social moment, an editorial hook, a guest experience layer. Targeted campaigns tied to Parts & Labor's design choices, the Beaux-Arts restoration, Dan Jacobs's culinary point of view, the Churchill Building's place in Madison's first-skyscraper history. At properties I've operated, narrative-driven direct booking generated hundreds of thousands in incremental revenue. For a Tribute Portfolio in a Marriott Bonvoy ecosystem, owning the direct channel and the story is the fastest path to margin.

Revenue Growth Plan

The Commercial Read.

Four levers move RevPAR. Each one requires a different system, a different team posture, and a different cadence. Here's how I'd build all four at The Historian — calibrated to a Tribute Portfolio asset in a market with real pricing power.

Lever 01

Pushing Rate

Tribute Portfolio + Capitol-facing + Beaux-Arts heritage + Dan Jacobs F&B = pricing power if the experience justifies it. Premium positioning above AC/Indigo/Moxy, competitive with Edgewater on premium room types.

· Strict rate parity discipline across all channels
· Aggressive yielding on compression: Badger weekends, commencement, Epic UGM, Concerts on the Square
· Length-of-stay restrictions on peak weekends
· AAA / Forbes pathway justifies long-term ADR ceiling

Proof: 25% RevPAR growth, 19.6% RGI growth at The Warrior — same brand family.

Lever 02

Owning the Direct Channel

Every OTA point ceded is a margin point lost. Tribute Portfolio inside Marriott Bonvoy gives the strongest direct-channel pull of any soft brand. Owning that channel is the fastest path to NOI improvement.

· Bonvoy member rate as the always-on direct incentive
· Brand.com optimized for conversion — fast, mobile, frictionless
· Direct-booking perks (F&B credit, upgrade, late checkout)
· OTA mix discipline targeting under 20% by year-end Y1

Proof: Hundreds of thousands in direct-booking revenue at properties I've operated.

Lever 03

F&B as a Revenue Engine

The JD frames restaurant, bar, and events as "as important as the rooms." That isn't decorative language — it's the operating math. For an 81-key Tribute with Dan Jacobs leading the kitchen, F&B should be 25–30% of total revenue at stabilization.

· Dan Jacobs restaurant targets locals-led mix — the validation engine
· Bar as the Capitol Square commuter and legislator anchor
· Private dining and banquets driving margin (wedding, board, donor cultivation)
· Activation calendar capturing 12 months of demand creation

Proof: $300K banquet growth · $1M+ activation-driven F&B revenue · Murder Mystery at 40% margins.

Lever 04

Anchor Account Acquisition

Madison has identifiable anchor accounts. They're not all open to every property — The Historian's Capitol-facing position is a unique competitive advantage for the state, legislative, and government-contractor base.

· State of WI agencies, legislators, lobbyists, contractors
· Epic Systems (UGM overflow, executive travel, consultant base)
· UW Foundation, UW Health, UW Athletics donor cultivation
· Madison legal community: Foley, Quarles, Michael Best, DeWitt

Proof: Rooms pacing hundreds of thousands ahead YoY through corporate account development at The Warrior.

The Programming

The Historian Playbook

This is how I'd program The Historian. Twelve months, each built around Dan Jacobs's restaurant, the bar, the events program, the floor-by-floor history concept, and the Madison calendar — Capitol Square, UW Badgers, the State Legislature, and the city's rhythm. Every theme ties a tentpole moment, an outlet activation, a rooms package, a local partner, and a team recognition moment. Nothing exists in isolation. Each month feeds the next.

Q1: The Establishment

Scroll

January

Session & Reset

Vibe: The Legislature convenes — the Capitol fills with state-government travelers. "Session Open" weekday breakfast series at the restaurant for caucus and committee staff. "Reset" zero-proof cocktail menu at the bar for Dry January. "Power Hour" private dining for downtown corporate accounts. Locals get first crack at the new winter menu.

February

Heritage & Heart

Vibe: Black History Month programming honoring Madison's civil rights legacy — the floor-by-floor concept comes alive. "Valentine at the Historian" Beaux-Arts dining experience with period cocktails. "Romance at the Capitol" suite packages timed to the legislative recess. Wedding lead generation for spring/summer pipeline.

March

Film & Fortitude

Vibe: Wisconsin Film Festival overlaps with March Madness. Hotel as official festival hospitality partner — director Q&A dinners in the private dining room. Badger basketball watch parties at the bar. "Spring Forward" daylight-savings programming. Live music series launches at the bar every Friday.

Q2: The Awakening

Scroll

April

Market & Mile

Vibe: Dane County Farmers' Market returns to the Capitol Square — America's largest producer-only market is steps from the front door. "Farm to Historian" Saturday menu sourcing directly from market vendors. Crazylegs Classic race weekend — runner recovery packages. Earth Day partnerships. Spring legislative budget season fills weekday rooms.

May

Commencement & Capitol

Vibe: UW-Madison commencement is the year's biggest premium weekend — multiple ceremonies, parents arrive Wednesday. Family suite packages and graduation dinner buyouts in the private dining room. Memorial Day America 250 service tribute. Mother's Day brunch at the restaurant. Capitol Square farmers market in full swing.

June

Concerts & Cows

Vibe: "Concerts on the Square" Wednesday nights bring 25,000 people to the Capitol lawn — the Historian is the only hotel facing the action. Concert-night picnic packages from the restaurant. "Cows on the Concourse" June Dairy Month celebration. Pride programming. Wedding season peaks.

Q3: The Escape

Scroll

July

Independence & Origin

Vibe: America 250 peak — the Historian is the storytelling property. Capitol fireworks viewing packages from the upper floors. La Fete de Marquette, Atwood Fest, Maxwell Street Days. "Origin Stories" weekly history programming tied to the floor concept. The restaurant becomes the Independence Day destination on the Square.

August

Camp & Champion

Vibe: Badger football preseason buildup. Pre-game dinners at the restaurant. Madison Mallards baseball tie-ins. "Locals' Last Summer" rooftop closing series. State Street back-to-school weekends. Wedding season at its peak — capacity sold weekends.

September

Kickoff & Taste

Vibe: Camp Randall opens — seven Badger football home weekends, two-night minimums, premium ADR. "Game Day at the Historian" pregame buyouts. Taste of Madison fills the Capitol Square mid-month — the restaurant's biggest visibility weekend of the year. Dan Jacobs as featured chef. Wedding season finale.

Q4: The Legacy

Scroll

October

Mystery & Madness

Vibe: "The Churchill Mystery" — full theatrical Murder Mystery Dinner in period costume tied to the Beaux-Arts era (proven 40% margin format from Hotel Julien). World Dairy Expo brings in the agricultural delegation. Halloween on State Street programming. Badger football peaks. Costume-mandatory closing party.

November

Gather & Gratitude

Vibe: Capitol Holiday Lighting kicks off the season — the Historian's lobby becomes the city's gathering room. "Friendsgiving in the Private Dining Room" buyouts. "Drinksgiving" at the bar — the biggest Wednesday of the year. Corporate holiday party RFPs close. Veterans Day America 250 tribute.

December

Capitol & Candlelight

Vibe: Holiday peak. "Christmas at the Capitol" packages featuring private tours and Dan Jacobs holiday tasting menus. "Twelve Nights at the Historian" curated chef tasting series. New Year's Eve overlooking the Capitol — the most distinctive ticket in Madison. "Reset Resolution" January pre-sells launch.

The System

Every Month, Six Touchpoints

Tentpole

Signature monthly event

Outlets

Restaurant, bar, private dining, events

Rooms

Themed package or add-on

Partner

Local collaboration

Social

Content moment

Internal

Team recognition

In Production Now

America 250 at Hotel Julien Dubuque

This isn't theoretical. Right now I'm executing a year-long programming calendar at Hotel Julien Dubuque built on the same system outlined above.

When the nation's semiquincentennial presented a once-in-250-years opportunity, I didn't wait for a directive. I built a full-year programming calendar — twelve themed months, each anchored by a community partnership and supported by dozens of activations across F&B, events, and guest experience.

The result: a dozen new community partnerships forged in a single year, dozens of new activations that didn't exist before, and a property that went from hosting events to being the cultural anchor of its city.

12 Monthly Themes

12+ New Community
Partners

50+ Activations
Created

The Execution

What a Month Actually Looks Like.

Six consecutive months from the America 250 campaign at Hotel Julien Dubuque. Room promos, daily F&B specials, tentpole events, spa tie-ins, recurring series — every month a complete system, not a single event.

April: Arts & Music

May: Heroes of Service

February: Love & Freedom

March: Prohibition & Progress

How I Lead

The 3Ts. One Standard.

I operationalize a culture of belonging through a process I call the 3Ts — Trajectory, Tools, Tangibles. They're how every associate, guest, and community partner experiences The Historian as something distinct.

Scroll

Trajectory

Everyone Knows Where We're Going.

Every associate knows where the property is headed as a whole, what their specific role is in that direction, and our commitment to their personal elevation. The line cook in Dan Jacobs's kitchen, the front desk lead, the bar captain — each one understands how their work connects to The Historian becoming Madison's defining lifestyle destination. 40+ associates mentored into management. 24% leadership retention increase.

Tools

The Resources, And the Authority To Use Them.

Tribute-Portfolio-grade training. Real systems. Real authority. Every associate gets what they need to deliver consistently — and the trust to make the call when a guest needs it. That's the difference between hospitality that performs and hospitality that holds. Hilton brand conversions performing 10 points above brand average. NPS up 9 points at Hotel Julien in six months.

Tangibles

What We Deliver to Each Other.

To associates: First Hospitality's "care for one another" purpose lived in practice — real benefits, real recognition, real growth (engagement up 27 points at Hotel Julien). To guests: Tribute-quality service across the restaurant, bar, events, and rooms — landmark level of care. To community: The Historian as Madison's gathering place across from the Capitol. 2025 Chamber Business of the Year. AAA Four Diamond. #1 Hotel in Iowa, U.S. News & World Report.

Trajectory sets the destination. Tools make excellence achievable. Tangibles are what people actually receive — to each other, to our guests, to the communities we serve. That's how landmark level of care becomes muscle memory.

Lead with Heart

The Luxury Employment Experience

Award-winning teams don't happen by accident. They happen when leaders invest in the employee experience with the same bespoke intention they bring to the guest experience. People who feel genuinely developed, challenged, and valued don't just deliver luxury — they embody it.

Gratitude Journals

Every team member keeps a structured gratitude journal — a daily practice that shifts mindset from task completion to ownership and purpose. It sounds simple. It's transformative. Teams that practice gratitude operate with more patience, more empathy, and more resilience under pressure. The guest feels the difference even if they can't name it.

MBA-Aligned Mentorship

A structured mentorship program built on curriculum that mirrors high-end MBA programs — leadership development, financial literacy, strategic thinking, and communication. Every associate has a development pathway that extends beyond their current role. The message: we're not just investing in your performance here. We're investing in who you're becoming.

Bespoke Development Plans

No two team members get the same development plan because no two people have the same ambitions. Individualized growth tracks designed around each person's goals, strengths, and areas of opportunity.

Proof of Work

Five Case Studies

Regional Portfolio Strategy ($290M+)

In 2024, I took the helm at Hotel Julien Dubuque — Iowa's oldest hotel — while simultaneously retained as a strategic consultant for a $250M portfolio across four properties: The Warrior, Hotel St. Louis, Hotel Blackhawk, and The Current Iowa.

The Team: Transitioned from day-to-day operations to coaching General Managers across the portfolio, serving as a liaison between ownership and staff, building the culture infrastructure that would sustain without me in the building.

The Guest: 22 precinct-wide activations designed to manufacture demand rather than capture it — experiences that gave guests a reason to come back before they'd left.

The Friction: Bridged the gap between ownership and operations across 900,000 sq ft of combined real estate — finalizing budgets, protecting partnerships, clearing the path for four leadership teams to execute.

The Asset: 6% TRevPAR increase across the consulting portfolio. Simultaneously drove Hotel Julien to “Business of the Year” status.

U.S. News #1 Hotel in Iowa (2024 & 2025)

The Warrior Hotel was a restored icon — Marriott's Autograph Collection, stunning architecture. The opportunity was to turn it into a benchmark.

The Team: Every department aligned around one shared goal. Culture and performance moved together — not as competing priorities, but as the same thing.

The Guest: Guest satisfaction rose 20 points. Recovery programs transformed feedback into loyalty. Guests didn't just return — they advocated.

The Friction: Labor forecasting tied to occupancy. Menu engineering balancing quality with cost. Systems that let people do their best work without fighting the operation.

The Asset: RevPAR lifted 25%. RGI increased 19.6%. Named Top Hotel in Iowa by U.S. News & World Report — 2024 and 2025.

The Community Relaunch (2,000+)

The Warrior Hotel reopened in 2020 — mid-pandemic — and spent two years without a community identity. No local following. No neighborhood connection. When I arrived as AGM in 2022, the building was beautiful. The relationship with its city was nonexistent.

The Team: Gave the team ownership of the relaunch. Every department hosted their own ribbon cutting — spa, restaurant, rooftop bar. The team became the face of the property.

The Guest: We didn't ask how do we get guests? We asked how do we become part of this place? Six weeks of community events turned opening weekend into opening season.

The Friction: Removed every barrier to community access. No gatekeeping, no VIP-only events. Open doors. Free tours. The hotel belonged to the city before it belonged to travelers.

The Asset: 2,000+ people walked through the property in six weeks. Five local press stories. City council began hosting delegations. Community buy-in became the foundation for every dollar that came after.

The Activation Engine ($1M+)

Activations compound when they're systematic. Not a wine dinner here, a holiday party there — a tiered calendar where each event feeds the next.

The Team: Gave the team creative ownership over their signature events. When housekeeping designs the holiday party and the bar team creates the cocktail series, they're invested in the outcome — not executing someone else's idea.

The Guest: Three tiers: signature series (weekly recurring), tentpole moments (monthly), and anchor events (seasonal). Guests returned not because we asked them to — but because they knew what was coming next.

The Friction: Built repeatable systems — templates, vendor relationships, marketing cadences — so every activation didn't have to be reinvented. The system ran itself.

The Asset: $1M+ in activation-driven revenue from 2022–present. Shifted perception from we're here if you need us to you need to be here for this.

Building Teams That Stay (40+ Mentored)

Hospitality's retention crisis isn't about pay. It's about meaning. People leave because they don't feel seen, don't see a future, and don't believe their work matters.

The Team: Built the crucible. Multi-layered recognition — monthly, weekly, daily. Career pathing infrastructure. High-potential identification. Mentorship tracks. An environment where people fall in love with the challenge of becoming who they're capable of being.

The Guest: Stable teams mean consistent service. Consistency is what high-net-worth guests notice first — and it's the thing that can't be faked.

The Friction: Removed the obstacles that make people leave — unclear expectations, invisible growth paths, leaders who don't listen. Poured into the cup so the cup could pour into the guest.

The Asset: 40+ associates mentored to management. 24% leadership retention increase. Engagement scores jumped 27 points.