Officers & Directors
Senior Management
Mr. Stockton has served as Chief Executive Officer of Braemar Hotels & Resorts since November 2016 and as President since April 2017. He brings a wealth of real estate experience and accomplishments to Braemar Hotels. He spent over 15 years at Morgan Stanley in real estate investment banking where he rose from an Associate to Managing Director and regional group head. At Morgan Stanley, he was head of EMEA Real Estate Banking in London, executing business across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. He was also appointed co-head of the Asia Pacific Real Estate Banking Group, he was responsible for a team across Hong Kong, Singapore, Sydney and Mumbai. He left Morgan Stanley in 2013 to become President & CEO-Americas for OUE Limited, a publicly listed Singaporean property company with over $5 billion in assets. Most recently, Richard served as Global Chief Operating Officer for Real Estate at Carval Investors, a subsidiary of Cargill with approximately $1 billion in real estate investments in the US, Canada, United Kingdom and France. Mr. Stockton received an MBA in Finance and Real Estate from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and a BS from Cornell University, School of Hotel Administration.
Mr. Eubanks is the Chief Financial Officer of Ashford and serves as the Chief Financial Officer of both Ashford Hospitality Trust and Braemar Hotels & Resorts. Mr. Eubanks oversees all corporate finance and financial reporting initiatives and is involved in all capital market activities including equity raises and debt financings. He also oversees investor relations.
Mr. Eubanks formerly served as the senior Vice President of Finance. Prior to this role, Mr. Eubanks was Vice President of Investments and was responsible for sourcing and underwriting hotel investments including direct equity investments, joint venture equity, preferred equity, mezzanine loans, first mortgages, B-notes, construction loans, and other debt securities for Ashford Trust.
Mr. Eubanks has been with Ashford Trust since its initial public offering in August of 2003. He has written several articles for industry publications and is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and industry round tables. Before joining Ashford, Mr. Eubanks was a Manager of Financial Analysis for ClubCorp, where he assisted in underwriting and analyzing investment opportunities in the golf and resort industries. Mr. Eubanks earned a B.B.A. from Southern Methodist University and is a CFA charter holder. He is a member of the CFA Institute and the CFA Society of Dallas-Fort Worth.
Mr. Rose is Ashford's Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary, and he serves in the same roles for Ashford Hospitality Trust and Braemar Hotels & Resorts.
Mr. Rose brings a broad range of legal experience and corporate governance expertise to Ashford. Prior to joining Ashford in 2021, he was a Partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP, where he worked with public and private companies, as well as private equity funds and their portfolio companies, in connection with complex transactions such as mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, divestitures, private financings, recapitalizations, debt and equity security investments, and other general corporate matters.
Mr. Rose holds a J.D. from Columbia University School of Law and a B.S. from the University of Kansas and is admitted to practice law in the States of Texas and New York.
Board of Directors
Ms. Carter has served as a member of the Board since November 2013. Ms. Carter has been a practicing attorney since 2005, specializing in civil litigation, contractual disputes and providing general counsel and advice to small businesses and individuals. Ms. Carter serves as a litigation shareholder at Ferguson Braswell Fraser Kubasta PC, a full-service, DFW-based law firm, a position she has held since October 2020. Prior to joining FBFK, Ms. Carter served as Senior Counsel at the law firm of Estes Thorne & Carr PLLC for three years. From 2011 to November 2017, Ms. Carter served as a principal at the law firm of Stefani Carter & Associates, LLC. In addition, Ms. Carter served as an elected representative of Texas House District 102 in the Texas House of Representatives (the "Texas House") between 2011 and 2015, serving as a member on several Texas House committees, including the Committee on Appropriations, the Energy Resources Committee, and the Select Committee on Criminal Procedure Reform during that period. Ms. Carter also served as a member and Vice-Chair of the Texas House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence during that period. From 2008 to 2011, Ms. Carter was employed as an associate attorney at the law firm of Sayles Werbner and from 2007 to 2008 was a prosecutor in the Collin County District Attorney's Office. Prior to joining the Collin County District Attorney's Office, Ms. Carter was an associate attorney at Vinson & Elkins from 2005 to 2007. Ms. Carter has a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School, a Master's in Public Policy from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy 8 School of Government and a Bachelor of Arts in Government and a Bachelor of Journalism in News/Public Affairs from The University of Texas at Austin.
Ms. Carter brings her extensive legal experience in advising and counseling clients in civil litigation and contractual disputes, as well as her many experiences as an elected official, to the Board. In addition, Ms. Carter brings her experience with, and knowledge of, the Company and its operations gained as a director of the Company since November 2013 to her role as a director of the Company.
Mr. Stockton has served as Chief Executive Officer of Braemar Hotels & Resorts since November 2016 and as President since April 2017. He brings a wealth of real estate experience and accomplishments to Braemar Hotels. He spent over 15 years at Morgan Stanley in real estate investment banking where he rose from an Associate to Managing Director and regional group head. At Morgan Stanley, he was head of EMEA Real Estate Banking in London, executing business across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. He was also appointed co-head of the Asia Pacific Real Estate Banking Group, he was responsible for a team across Hong Kong, Singapore, Sydney and Mumbai. He left Morgan Stanley in 2013 to become President & CEO-Americas for OUE Limited, a publicly listed Singaporean property company with over $5 billion in assets. Most recently, Richard served as Global Chief Operating Officer for Real Estate at Carval Investors, a subsidiary of Cargill with approximately $1 billion in real estate investments in the US, Canada, United Kingdom and France. Mr. Stockton received an MBA in Finance and Real Estate from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and a BS from Cornell University, School of Hotel Administration.
Mr. Bennett is the Founder, Chairman, & Chief Executive Officer of Ashford Inc. (NYSE American: AINC) and is also the Founder & Chairman of both Ashford Hospitality Trust (NYSE: AHT) and Braemar Hotels & Resorts (NYSE: BHR).
Kenneth H. Fearn is Founder and Managing Partner of Integrated Capital LLC, a private equity real estate firm with a focus on hospitality assets in markets across the United States. Prior to founding Integrated Capital, Mr. Fearn was Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer of Maritz, Wolff & Co., a private equity firm engaged in real estate acquisition and development. Maritz, Wolff managed three private equity investment funds totaling $500 million focused on acquiring luxury hotels and resorts. Prior to Maritz, Wolff, he was with McKinsey & Company, a strategy management consulting firm in Los Angeles, where he worked with Fortune 200 companies to address issues of profitability and develop business strategies. Prior to McKinsey & Company, he worked at JP Morgan & Company, where he was involved with corporate merger and acquisition assignments. Mr. Fearn received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley and a Master of Business Administration from the Harvard University Graduate School of Business.
Mr. Fearn has served on the Marriott International Owner Advisory Board since 2006 and previously served as an Entrepreneur in Residence at the Leland C. and Mary M. Pillsbury Institute for Hospitality Entrepreneurship at Cornell University. He also previously served as Chairman of the Board of Commissioners of the Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles as well as the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, where he was a member of the Executive Committee and the Finance Committee from 2005-2014.
Mr. Fearn brings over 21 years of real estate and hospitality experience to our board of directors. During his career at Maritz, Wolff & Co. and later Integrated Capital, he was involved in the acquisition of approximately $2 billion in hospitality assets and secured in excess of $2.5 billion in debt financing. His extensive contacts in the hospitality and commercial real estate lending industries will be beneficial in his service on our board of directors.
Mr. Vaziri has served as a member of the Board since October 2017. Mr. Vaziri has worked in all aspects of evaluating hotel assets, from evaluating investments in the hospitality, gaming, and lodging industries to analyzing the development of hotels, the evaluation of hotel F&B operations and analyzing and executing traditional and EB-5 hotel financings. Mr. Vaziri currently serves as a Managing Director at Brevet Capital Management, a position he has held since June 2018. Mr. Vaziri served as a director at Greystone & Co, an institutional real estate lender, where Mr. Vaziri helped build Greystone's EB-5 real estate financing platform. Mr. Vaziri earned a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science at the University of Texas at Dallas and a Masters of Business Administration in Finance from the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University. Mr. Vaziri also obtained a Juris Doctor degree from Fordham University School of Law with a concentration in Finance and Business Law.
Mr. Vaziri brings his familiarity with the hotel industry, his real estate experience, and his experience as a director of an institutional real estate lender to the Board. He also has significant experience in strategic planning, accounting, finance and risk management.
Ms. Evans has served as a member of the Board of Directors since July 2019. She currently serves as a member of our Compensation Committee. Ms. Evans is an award-winning business journalist, entrepreneur, and editor since 1980 and is the Founder & Publisher of CandysDirt.com and SecondShelters.com, vertical business-to-business websites devoted to the North Texas real estate industry and vacation home sales market. Her unique sites, founded in 2011, are among the highest read in Texas for local real estate & breaking news. The award-winning content is published daily by a staff of editors, with a subscription base of over 33,000 people. Banner, display and native ad sales have increased more than 10% per year since the sites were founded. Ms. Evans is also a contributor to Forbes.com focusing on real estate. Ms. Evans has worked as an editor for DMagazine Partners, where she helped found the award-winning DHome Magazine in 2000. In addition, she conceived and created a successful real estate blog on the DMagazine URL in 2007-2010, DallasDirt.com. Prior to her long tenure at DMagazine, Ms. Evans worked for CBS News in New York, WBBM-TV in Chicago, KDFW-TV in Dallas, and has written for many publications in print and online, including Newsweek, Home, The Dallas Morning News, The Dallas Business Journal, D CEO, Modern Luxury Dallas, AOL Real Estate, Joel Kotkin's The New Geography, Medical Economics, The Fort Worth Star Telegram, Adweek, Texas Business, and others.
Mr. Rinaldi has served as a member of the Board since November 2013. Mr. Rinaldi is a licensed attorney whose practice has focused on representing businesses in a broad range of complex commercial litigation and appellate matters, including securities class action lawsuits, director and officer liability, real estate, antitrust, insurance and intellectual property litigation. Mr. Rinaldi is the General Counsel of Qantas Healthcare Management, LLC and its affiliated medical facilities, a position he has held since June 2017. Mr. Rinaldi served as Senior Counsel with the law firm of Dykema from July 2014 through June 2017. Mr. Rinaldi also served as an elected representative of Texas House District 115 in the Texas House from 2015 to 2019. Previously, Mr. Rinaldi practiced law as a solo practitioner from November 2013 to July 2014 and served as counsel with the law firm of Miller, Egan, Molter & Nelson, LLP from 2009 to November 2013. Prior to joining Miller, Egan, Molter & Nelson, LLP, Mr. Rinaldi was an associate attorney at the law firm of K&L Gates LLP from 2006 to 2009 and an associate attorney at the law firm of Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher, LLP from 2001 to 2006, where he defended corporate officers and accounting firms in securities class action lawsuits and assisted with SEC compliance issues. Mr. Rinaldi has extensive experience in federal, state and appellate courts and has represented and counseled a broad spectrum of clients, including Fortune 500 companies, 'Big Four' accounting firms and insurance companies, as well as small businesses and individuals. Mr. Rinaldi has a Juris Doctor, cum laude, from Boston University and a Bachelor of Business Administration in Economics, cum laude, from James Madison University.
Ms. Odino-Johnson is the Executive Lead and National Vice-President of Direct Response Marketing and Constituent Experience at the American Heart Association, a position she has held since April 2018. Previously, Ms. Odino-Johnson served as the Chief Marketing and Sales Officer of Main Event Entertainment, LP from December 2015 to March 2018. Ms. Odino-Johnson served as the Chief Marketing and Culinary Officer of Bob Evans Farms from December 2013 to October 2015. Additionally, Ms. Odino-Johnson served as Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing and Culinary Officer at Dine Brands Global Inc. from November 2008 to July 2013, where she led marketing efforts for restaurant brands such as Applebees. From January 2004 to February 2008, Ms. Odino-Johnson served as Executive Vice President, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing and Global Branding Officer for Brinker International, Inc. Ms. Odino-Johnson spent 16 years at PepsiCo, Inc. in various marketing and sales positions including General Manager and Vice-President of Marketing for Frito-Lay North America, with direct financial and strategic planning responsibility for the profitable growth of the $3.8 billion Doritos and Cheetos business unit, representing 30% of Frito-Lay North America. She grew the Cheetos brand from $500 million to $1 billion and launched Baked Lay’s, resulting in $250 million in sales in the first year, representing Frito-Lay’s most successful launch. Ms. Odino-Johnson received a Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing and Finance from Dallas Baptist University, from which she graduated magna cum laude. She also graduated from the Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program.
Ms. Odino-Johnson has served on the Alex Lee Family of Companies board of directors since February 2016. She has served on the Advisory Boards of Zubi Farms and Data Axie since July 2020 and May 2021, respectively, and previously served on PepsiCo’s Latino/Hispanic Advisory Board. Ms. Odino-Johnson has been a member of the Chief Marketing Officer Council since September 2020.