Matt Lee, HR Business Partner at Shamin Hotels, started washing dishes at $4.50 an hour in a Georgia steakhouse at 15, earned a culinary degree, spent 26 years opening restaurants from Atlanta to Columbus to New Hampshire before his wife’s corporate career gave him the opportunity to hang up the toque, take a free education through the University of Richmond’s tuition assistance program, and figure out that everything he had been doing in kitchens was HR work with a different name.
✨ Key Insights You’ll Learn:
Starting at $4.50 an hour in a steakhouse and what Brian Davis, a manager who believed in him, made possible
How Chris Brandt taught a young, hot-headed chef to channel his emotions instead of express them
Opening restaurants in Atlanta, Columbus, and New Hampshire while following his wife’s Anheuser-Busch career
The moment he realized he could get a free HR degree through the University of Richmond and what drew him to that field specifically
Why career changers struggle to get callbacks and how relationships, not resumes, got him his first HR role
The consulting versus compliance tension in HR and how Matt walks that line at 20-plus hotel properties
The front office manager who wouldn’t hold her team accountable — and why she was right to be worried
What accountability with grace actually looks like in practice and how it differs from accountability alone
Rolling out a new HRIS system across 60-plus properties and what the training should have looked like
Opus LMS: the AI-assisted learning management system that will let housekeepers map their own career pathway
🌟 Matt’s Key Mentors:
Brian Davis (First Manager, Georgia Steakhouse): Saw potential in a 15-year-old dishwasher, promoted him to grill cook, introduced him to hip hop, and modeled what it looks like to believe in someone
Chris Brandt (Executive Chef, Atlanta): Taught Matt to channel his emotions, pull people outside instead of confronting them on the line, and lead with curiosity instead of reaction
Shannon Flynn (HR Director, Shamin Hotels): Hired Matt into the role and has been his mentor as he continues building confidence in the HR space
👉 Don’t miss this conversation about what kitchens taught one HR professional that business school never could, why the hardest thing Matt has overcome is still a work in progress, and how accountability with grace is more than a philosophy — it’s a specific skill that looks very different from accountability alone.