US: WaterWalk, the latest venture from extended stay pioneer Jack DeBoer, has made three senior appointments.
Kay Auer joins as chief financial officer. Most recently, Auer was the CFO of Quality Solutions, a facilities management firm. Prior to that position, she was the CFO at extended stay hotel brand Value Place, where she was responsible for all matters related to accounting and corporate finance. She was instrumental in the company’s leadership team and the company’s development, which included financing, real estate closings, and construction contracts.
“We are extremely fortunate to have Kay join our team at this pivotal moment in WaterWalk‘s aggressive growth plan,” said David Redfern, president of WaterWalk. “Her long history of success and extremely valuable skills in strategic planning and operations are important assets as we ensure that we’re meeting customer expectations and developer demand during this important time of growth.”
Julie Olson, the company’s new director of franchise development, has more than 20 years of sales, training, and marketing experience. Prior to WaterWalk, she worked for pharmaceutical company Teva Respiratory, and also worked as a national sales director for Jack DeBoer’s third national hotel brand, Candlewood Suites.
Erica Weishaar has joined WaterWalk as a business analyst, managing market research for national development of WaterWalk’s all-inclusive apartment properties. Weishaar joins WaterWalk from Koch Industries where she supported Koch Methanol as a trade support analyst.
“Each one of these hires brings a unique skill set and their own flavour to the WaterWalk team at a time of enormous growth for the company. I welcome them aboard as we continue to build the WaterWalk brand and prepare for rapid expansion in the upcoming months,” said Redfern.
In 2015, construction will begin on eight new WaterWalk Hotel & Apartments complexes in seven cities: Louisville, Charlotte, Houston, Atlanta, Denver, St. Louis, and two in San Antonio.
www.waterwalk.com</p
