Hospitality

Jarred Mason, COO of Standard Market, shares how a chance detour led to a fourteen-year career, cutting corporate costs and growing the business into a chef-driven gourmet destination.

Ashli Johnson built Hospitality Hued after being fired from a university and hosting a single Manhattan happy hour. She’s now running the most energizing summit in the hospitality industry.

Matt Lee spent 26 years in professional kitchens before realizing he was always doing HR work. Now he supports 20-plus hotels as a business partner at Virginia’s largest hotel owner.

Skip Harless runs the number one resort in the 2025 Condé Nast Traveler awards. His first year there nearly broke him. Three record years followed the fight that almost fractured his team.

Kory Cutler walked into a family construction business with no experience and tripled it in three years. His strategy involved traveling crews, COVID cold calls, and one rule about AI.

Meridith Picarelli-Khattar never planned to run a private club. Twenty years later she leads one of the most prestigious in the Southeast — and her first year taught her that a bus with no passengers isn’t leadership.

Charlene Carter built a network of 3,800 hospitality consultants and wrote a blueprint for her own competitors. This is the story of the Velvet Standard and what it took to get there.

Josh Goodman turned a crowded Baltimore bar into a 12,000-tap global operation — surviving two failed partnerships and a near-shutdown before Coca-Cola invested in PourMyBev.

Elizabeth McKee shares how Sculpture Hospitality helps bars and restaurants cut liquor losses from 30% down to 4%, why accountability beats blame every time, and how a tough 2025 taught her what she could and could not control.

Kal Patel built hotels, a franchise, and an urgent care after a car crash, $150K loss, and a roof fall. Now he's handing businesses to his daughters.

Chloe Li left investment banking to build real value at CloudBeds, where she’s driving AI data strategy, payments, and the shift to serve larger hotel groups.

Shaun McDonald of Harri shares how restaurant operations led him to hospitality SaaS, what Fair Work Week compliance automation actually saves operators, and a cancer misdiagnosis he kept secret for years.