About The Plasencia Group

Lou Plasencia

Tampa, Florida | Industry Tenure: 42 Years

As the firm’s Chairman and CEO, Lou Plasencia is responsible for The Plasencia Group’s business development activities and the oversight of all acquisitions, dispositions, and advisory engagements. He began his career with Hyatt Hotels Corporation over thirty years ago. After his departure from Hyatt, Lou spent a number of years growing the hospitality investment sales division of a major national commercial real estate firm.

A natural trailblazer, the father of three eventually left the corporate environment in 1993 to launch his own firm, The Plasencia Group, a boutique alternative to corporate hotel brokerage. The close-knit firm was born out of passion and sheer gumption. The oldest of three siblings, Lou arrived in Tampa’s cigar-making district as a young Cuban immigrant, living with his family in a one-room apartment. He is the son of a cigar factory worker who he says instilled in him the importance of “committing yourself to one thing and doing it ethically and better than anyone else.”

As an undergrad at Loyola University in New Orleans, he studied psychology and broadcast media before going on to get his master’s in education from Indiana University. After serving as a Student Affairs administrator at Indiana and then at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, Lou landed a job in sales and marketing department at the Hyatt Regency New Orleans. He eventually returned to Tampa to oversee the development of the Grand Hyatt on the shores of Tampa Bay. From there, he launched a long and storied career in hotel investment sales and consulting and is recognized today as one of the most experienced hotel real estate advisors in the country.

During his three-plus decades as the face of The Plasencia Group, Lou has steered a plethora of heavy-hitting hospitality deals, including one-off transactions and major portfolio disposition engagements. Over the years, he has brought together owners and investors for the InterContinental Hotels in Chicago and Miami, the Four Seasons in Atlanta, Amelia Island Resort in Northeast Florida, PGA National in Palm Beach, the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, and the Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix. Recognized for his integrity and deal savvy, he has served as a trusted advisor for Apollo Global, Brookfield Asset Management, Hilton Hotels Corporation, InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, MetLife Real Estate Investments, Starwood Capital, and Walton Street Capital. Other transaction and consulting clients include Bank of America, Blackstone Group, Host Hotels & Resorts, PGIM, RLJ Lodging Trust and countless family offices and high-net-worth hotel and resort owners.

Lou is an active member of the Hospitality Investment Roundtable of the AHLA. He serves on the Boards of Directors of the Florida Council of 100, the Hillsborough County Tourist Development Council, the Advisory Board for Visit Tampa Bay, and chairs the School Advisory Council of St. Lawrence Parish in Tampa. He previously served on the Board of Trustees of Jesuit High School (Tampa).

A longtime resident of Tampa, he is proud to work alongside his three sons (Chris, Nick and John) in the family business. Lou has been married for four decades to his wife Jennifer, with whom he enjoys cooking, traveling, and playing “off the grid.” If he doesn’t answer his cell phone, it’s because he’s out fishing or hiking a forest.

“One of my favorite words in my native Spanish is “confianza”. It’s the close trust that builds in a friendship over time. It’s the very real affection we have for our longstanding clients. It’s also something we work hard to earn and, most importantly, it lasts a lifetime.”

Orlando Plasencia

Tampa, Florida | Industry Tenure: 23 Years

A longtime banker, Tampa resident Orlando Plasencia spent the first 18 years of his career at Wells Fargo National Bank (formerly Wachovia). He stepped in as The Plasencia Group’s Chief Administrative Officer in 2000.

As CAO, Orlando is responsible for overseeing the daily operating and administrative functions at The Plasencia Group, including managing all support staff and services across the firm’s offices. His interoffice responsibilities run the gamut from the banal to the exciting, including managing the firm’s finances, risk management, insurance, and retirement plan programs, maintaining HR policies, and overseeing support functions.

A graduate of Loyola University in New Orleans, Orlando has held the designation of Certified Cash Manager from the Treasury Management Association. During his time with Wells Fargo, he served in a credit underwriting and marketing capacity, focusing primarily on large and middle market clients.

The multitasking CAO loves to organize company picnics and outings. His famous pulled pork earned The Plasencia Group a second-place win in the Tampa Pig Jig, an annual Tampa BBQ competition benefitting kidney disease. When he’s not hanging with his wife, Lisa, Orlando can be spotted in his neighborhood, tinkering with cars and, most importantly, having fun with his grandchildren.

Regarding his decision 22 years ago to join the family business, Plasencia says, “There’s comfort in working not only with family, but with such a great, dynamic team. There are no ulterior motives or desires. We’re rowing the boat together.”

Robert Wiemer

Houston, Texas | Industry Tenure: 41 Years

Robert Wiemer is The Plasencia Group’s resident power broker. As Senior Managing Director of The Plasencia Group’s Southwest Region, Wiemer has a storied reputation among Texas hoteliers. The Houston-based executive has coordinated the disposition of over $3 billion in hospitality sales – more than any other person in the Lone Star State. His greatest hits collection includes the sale of the New Orleans Embassy Suites, Houston InterContinental Airport Sheraton, Houston Galleria DoubleTree Suites, InterContinental Houston Galleria, and a portfolio of Marriott-branded hotels in the New Orleans area.

Prior to joining The Plasencia Group in 1994, Robert served as the Director of Asset Dispositions at American General Corporation, now AIG, where he once again excelled, leading investment sales in hotels, office buildings, retail centers, apartments, and industrial investments for brands such as Embassy Suites, DoubleTree, Marriott and Holiday Inn.

The Louisiana native has devoted most of his career to asset management and dispositions. He honed his business acumen managing bank-owned real estate properties, first for First Republic Bank Houston and later for Collecting Bank, NA, a division of First City Bank-Texas. He graduated from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge with a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics and Master’s of Business Administration.

A straight-shooting Southern gentleman, Robert is a natural extrovert and a rabid New Orleans Saints fan. He spends his free time volunteering at charity crawfish boils around Houston and hunting birds in exotic countries with his four children.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re selling hotels or widgets. The more time you put into it, the better your return. We’re a small firm competing against national and international firms. We excel on the service side. I think we substantially outperform based on our size.”

Rich Conti

Cleveland, Ohio | Industry Tenure: 46 Years

When Richard Conti walks into a hotel, even as a guest, he surveys the space like you would a business. He pays attention to the conditions of the furniture, the building and the efficiency of the staff. It’s an occupational impulse, which is why Conti stays in condos when he’s on vacation.

A native of Upstate New York, Conti is an industry veteran with four decades of hotel expertise under his belt. A self-described “deal junkie,” he joined The Plasencia Group 16 years ago as a senior managing director.

He spent the 1990s as a Principal and Director with Coopers & Lybrand LLP (now PricewaterhouseCoopers) in their National Hospitality Consulting Practice, before taking over as President of Boykin Lodging Company, a NYSE Lodging REIT based in Cleveland, Ohio. Under Conti’s leadership, Boykin Lodging doubled its hotel portfolio before being purchased in 2006 for $416 million.

Conti has always known he wanted to buy and sell hotels. After obtaining his undergraduate degree in Business Administration at the State University of New York at Brockport, Conti received his Master’s of Business Administration in Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Management from Michigan State University. He has been on the executive board of the School of Hotel Business at Michigan State and has served as Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Hotel Development Council of the Urban Land Institute. A loquacious speaker, he is frequently tapped to give lectures at hotel industry events and has been quoted dozens of times on industry-related issues in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and The New York Times, among other publications.

Conti splits his time between Cleveland and Tampa with his wife of 45 years. He has three children, seven grandchildren, and a lake house in Chautauqua, New York, to which he retreats every summer to fish and golf.

“When I’m selling a hotel, I treat it like I own the hotel. I push for everything that benefits the seller. I’ve known most of my clients for over 40 years. It comes to a point when you’re no longer working for a client, you’re working for a friend.”

Dexter Wood

New York / Palm Beach | Industry Tenure: 37 Years

Dexter Wood is an accomplished industry veteran with more than 37 years of diverse global hospitality, finance, and real estate experience. As Senior Managing Director at The Plasencia Group, he leads investment advisory efforts for the firm’s clients, including lodging transactions, developments, and strategic consulting, drawing on his almost four decades of experience at some of the world’s largest hotel and investment companies.

Dexter, who joined The Plasencia Group in 2019, does not come from a brokerage background. Rather, he brings to the team a wealth and breadth of experience that includes institutional hotel ownership, management, brand development, finance, strategy, consulting, and more. Spending time in Boston, New York, and Palm Beach, Dexter anchors the Plasencia Group’s Northeastern presence and bolsters its national reach.

He is justifiably proud of having been part of a small team that put together the largest single-asset deal in the history of hotel real estate. As a senior vice president for Hilton, he was instrumental in the sale of the iconic Waldorf Astoria for $1.95 billion, a record not soon to be broken. What’s more, the team reinvested $1.8 billion of the proceeds in five hotels to facilitate a like-kind exchange transaction, thus avoiding capital gains taxes — and they did so in less than a month.

At Hilton, Dexter was Senior Vice President and Global Head of Development and Real Estate Finance and charged with governing the allocation of capital to drive new unit growth, brand expansion, advancement of the timeshare and management business, and value creation opportunities at owned properties. He led an international team of 50 professionals based in the US, London, Dubai, and Singapore. In 2017, he transitioned to Senior Vice President – Investments at Park Hotels & Resorts following Hilton’s spin-off of Park and Hilton Grand Vacations, which created three independent publicly traded companies.

Dexter spent most of the 2000s as senior vice president of global feasibility & portfolio analysis at Host Hotels, the world’s largest hotel real estate investment trust. Prior to that, he was director of financial advisory services/hospitality and real estate for PriceWaterhouseCoopers in New York. He began his career with Hospitality Valuation Services (HVS).

Dexter grew up in a small town in western Massachusetts and attended boarding school in New England. From there, he matriculated at Cornell University, where he started off studying chemical engineering. Finding that avenue unsuitable, Dexter, who bartended during summers and in his spare time, made the cut at Cornell’s prestigious School of Hotel Administration, earning a bachelor’s degree. He has remained active with the school ever since and is extremely proud to have attended the graduation of his daughter as a member of the Hotel School’s class of 2023.

Dexter has also served on the Advisory Board for the Hotel School’s Center for Real Estate Finance and the Center for Hospitality Research. He was a member of the Hotel Development Council at the Urban Land Institute and is an Executive Board Member of the Boy Scouts of America.

Dexter is an avid golfer, foodie, and wine enthusiast — both in the kitchen and as a restaurant guest.

“What attracted me to the Plasencia Group is that I’m not a broker, and Lou wasn’t looking for a broker. It seems that everyone in the company comes from another aspect of the industry, and we’ve all worn a lot of different hats.”

Doug Mills

Tampa, Florida | Industry Tenure: 38 Years

Doug Mills grew up in Panama City, Florida, and after a long tenure managing construction projects around the world, many of them in cold-weather climates, he’s finally made it back to the Sunshine State. In February 2020, Doug joined The Plasencia Group as Senior Managing Director of the firm’s Development Management Consulting team.

Doug advises The Plasencia Group’s clients on renovation and new construction projects, including brand-mandated PIP renovations (property improvement plans), ground-up construction, brand conversions, and property evaluations. He oversees the design and construction of projects from start to finish, all along making sure they stay within schedule and budget targets. Doug’s personal involvement in solving problems and issues for each project typically puts him down in the trenches with his project managers working out solutions.

Prior to signing on with The Plasencia Group, Doug served as president of Schulte Design + Construction, an esteemed hospitality design, construction, and project management firm based in Louisville, Kentucky. During his tenure, he oversaw renovations and upgrades across more than 100 top hotel brand renovations, including the Westin and Aloft Hotels in San Francisco, and the Renaissance Des Moines Savery Hotel.

Doug has managed major projects across all asset classes during his 34-year career. He spent more than a decade in Asia, steering projects in Macau (building its International Airport), the Philippines (a $5 billion, 300-acre redevelopment of a former U.S. military base), and South Korea (Hansol corporate headquarters), among others.

When not making construction dust, Doug can usually be found making sawdust building custom acoustic guitars and ukuleles in his spare time.

“I was drawn to The Plasencia Group for a lot of reasons, but foremost, it was their outstanding long-term client relationships, passion, and integrity. Combining my contacts and project experience around the world with the team’s will mean we can take our development management consulting business to the next level.”

Chris Plasencia

Tampa, Florida | Industry Tenure: 12 Years

As a Managing Director at The Plasencia Group, Chris Plasencia has closed nearly $2 billion in hospitality transactions over the course of his career, primarily portfolio and single asset dispositions of resorts and full- and premium select-service hotels. The resident attorney on the team, with a background in drafting, negotiating, and executing a wide variety of real estate deals, Chris is well equipped to handle complex hospitality transactions, while fielding the more-than-occasional attorney joke with grace. In addition to personal involvement with his parish and other local organizations, Chris also serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Visit Tampa Bay and the Jesuit High School (Tampa) Board of Trustees. Chris majored in history at Duke University and earned a Master’s degree in real estate from the University of Florida, in addition to his law degree.

When he’s not in the office you can find him spending time with his kids, Claire, Thomas, and Mary, his wife, Katie, whom he’s known since kindergarten, and his golden retriever, Molly. He is the firm’s resident wine connoisseur and makes the second-best barbecue pulled pork in the office.

“I’m going to be with this company for the next 20, 30 years. I’m not looking for quick victories. I’m interested in building long-term relationships.“

Nick Plasencia

Tampa, Florida | Industry Tenure: 14 Years

Nick Plasencia is a Managing Director with The Plasencia Group and specializes in the disposition of full-service, premium select-service, boutique, and resort properties, both in single-asset and portfolio transactions. He has personally transacted nearly $2 billion of lodging assets across all regions of the United States. Mr. Plasencia has had the opportunity to advise a wide breadth of clientele, ranging from privately held owner-operators and high-net-worth individuals, to management companies, private equity funds, and REITs.

Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Plasencia worked in the Real Estate Investment Banking group of Raymond James & Associates, a publicly traded financial services firm, specializing in mergers and acquisitions, public offerings, and private placements. While at Raymond James, Mr. Plasencia was integrally involved in capital raising assignments in the lodging sector, including preferred and common stock offerings.

Nick is a graduate of Harvard University, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics. During summer breaks, he worked in operations positions at properties with Marriott International and Quorum Hotels and Resorts, experiences he says helped give him a valuable glimpse into the human element of hotel operations.

Always keen to explore nature or a new city, Nick is a novice runner who credits his outdoorsy wife for whipping him into shape. He enjoys hiking and backpacking during his travels and taking his children for runs in the jogger. Nick is a proud advocate for the Tampa Theater, a historic U.S. theater and city landmark, and has been involved in the Theater’s real estate pursuits and charitable events.

“Our strength is in our team and the unique backgrounds that our team members bring to the table, with experiences in all aspects of the industry, ranging from ownership, to lending, operations, and brands.”

John Plasencia

Tampa, Florida | Industry Tenure: 12 Years

John Plasencia joined The Plasencia Group in 2014 and, as Managing Director, he works on the firm’s investment sales efforts from Tampa, Florida. In his role, he guides asset sales and is responsible for investor solicitation. John has been directly involved in the transaction of hundreds of lodging properties with a focus on Florida, Texas, and Louisiana. John previously served as Vice President and Senior Analyst with the firm.

Prior to joining The Plasencia Group, John worked in the Feasibility and Acquisitions departments at Interstate Hotels & Resorts, a global hotel management company that has since merged with Aimbridge Hospitality. Interstate, which was the largest hotel operator in the world during John’s tenure, proved the ultimate training ground for an aspiring hotel advisor. During his time with Interstate, John facilitated the procurement of numerous hefty management contracts, in addition to the acquisition of other hotel management companies.

John is a graduate of Northwestern University. He is a loyal patron of Parasol’s in New Orleans and The Brisket Shoppe in Tampa. He lives in Tampa with his wife Ariel, a broadcast journalist, and Nori, their golden retriever.

“Hospitality is a service industry, and while we occupy a unique niche on the investment side of the industry, we work to provide a high level of service to our clients and help them achieve their investment goals.”

Tony Haddad

Miami, Florida | Industry Tenure: 32 Years

Tony Haddad has been active in the hospitality finance arena for the past three decades. Tony brings to the table years spent in hotel operations working as Director of Finance and as a regional executive responsible for a portfolio of hotels for Marriott International. Tony has extensive experience in domestic and international hotels in the Caribbean, Mexico and Central and South America.

After leaving Marriott, Tony formed his own asset management and consulting firm, Thames Associates, LLC.

In 2013, he became part of The Plasencia Group’s team. He holds a B.B.A. degree from the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin. A dedicated cyclist, he kicks off each workday with a group bike ride through suburban Broward County and also enjoys riding his motorcycle on the weekends.

“You’re dealing with an industry that caters to happy people on vacation. It’s multifaceted and always changing. There’s creativity and design. You walk into something new, you learn about it, you opine about it and then move onto the next one.”

Michelle Hayes

Dallas, Texas | Industry Tenure: 41 Years

Michelle Hayes has worked in virtually every facet of hotel operations throughout her nearly four decades in the lodging industry. She joined the firm after a successful career with FelCor Lodging Trust, one of the nation’s largest hotel real estate investment trusts. As Vice President of Asset Management at FelCor, Hayes was responsible for overseeing a portion of the company’s portfolio of Doubletree, Embassy Suites, Hilton, Marriott and Sheraton hotels as well as independent hotels. Michelle also has extensive multi-faceted resort experience in South Carolina and Florida specifically.

Prior to her joining FelCor, Ms. Hayes was a general manager for Starwood Hotels and Resorts managing numerous hotels for 15 years. These hotels included Sheraton Suites Alexandria and the Sheraton Gateway hotel in Atlanta, Georgia, in addition to the Sheraton Wardman Park in Washington DC. During her tenure with Sheraton, she was the recipient of the company’s President’s Award and Employee Satisfaction Award. In addition, Ms. Hayes was a member of Sheraton Corporation’s Chairman’s Club and Marketing Board of Directors.

Ms. Hayes received a master’s degree in management and finance and a bachelor’s degree from Murray State University in Murray, Kentucky. She also has received the designation of Certified Hotel Administrator (CHA) from The Educational Institute. Michelle has since completed the Cornell Business School Certification for Real Estate and Asset Management.

“The hotel business is really a simple business in many ways, although we often try to complicate it unnecessarily. Financial acuity is certainly critical, but focusing on people with compassion and empathy will always create value in the end”

Gary Isenberg

Tampa, Florida | Industry Tenure: 41 Years

Gary Isenberg joined The Plasencia Group in the summer of 2022 with more than 35 years of diversified hospitality real estate experience in hotel management, development, finance, and asset management. Over his extensive career in hospitality real estate, Gary has overseen more than $15 billion of hotel investments, spanning all major brands, all chain-scales and hotel asset classes, and a wide variety of independent and boutique hotel properties.

Gary received a Bachelor of Science in Business Management with minors in Corporate Finance and Information Systems from Fairleigh Dickinson University. Thereafter, he accepted a position with ITT Sheraton as a corporate trainee. During his tenure, he rapidly earned increasingly responsible positions through mergers and acquisitions at both the corporate and property level.

Gary subsequently was recruited to join Field Hotel Associates (FHA), a privately-held hotel development, ownership and management company, as General Manager of its flagship property. Soon, he was promoted to Executive Vice President of Hotel Operations, then to Chief Operating Officer. During his tenure at FHA, Gary led the development and opening of hotels, spearheaded several reorganizations, repositioning and recapitalizations, as well as numerous revenue-generating and cost-cutting initiatives.

In 2011, Gary joined forces with LWHA and launched the firm’s asset management division, responsible for developing and growing asset management clientele. Gary grew the platform to over 50 hotel properties under management nationwide, along with the widespread execution of advisory services.

Jackson Boucher

Tampa, Florida | Industry Tenure: 3 Years

Jackson Boucher joined The Plasencia Group in 2022 following a stint as an Investment Banking Analyst for Deutsche Bank’s Leveraged Credit Group in Jacksonville, having worked on several high-profile capital markets transactions and constructed credit models for a variety of the bank’s domestic and international clients. An Orlando-area native born to parents from St. Peterburg, Jackson earned an honors degree from Florida State University in 2020 as a Finance and Economics double major. He works closely with The Plasencia Group’s investment sales team to underwrite hotel engagements in markets across the country, prepare investment marketing materials, and coordinate transaction operations and diligence with the firm’s clients.

While away from the desk, Jackson enjoys spending time with his large extended family in the Tampa Bay area as well as exploring the region’s food and entertainment scenes, which he views as an important form of local market research. Also an avid outdoorsman, he has hiked trails and climbed mountains from Oregon to Maine to Switzerland, yet has a soft spot for the peaceful, natural beauty of Florida’s coasts and scrub forests.

Matt Sinclair

Tampa, Florida | Industry Tenure: 26 Years

Matt arrived at The Plasencia Group in mid-2019, after having founded his own graphic design firm and working as a consultant for The Plasencia Group, alongside many of the Company’s associates, for nearly a decade. During that time, he became intimately familiar with the firm’s culture, services, and clientele, leading him to a full-time position with the firm.

Matt had previously served as Vice President of Design at the firm. Leaving his own company was a difficult decision, but his reasoning for joining the Plasencia Group full time came down to “I really grew to enjoy the work I was doing with the team and after working with them for so long, I came to understand that they really respected what I did, and I respect what they do and how they do it.”

That mutual respect is ongoing. His responsibilities include developing strategy in all areas of the company’s internal and external marketing activities as well as expanding The Plasencia Group’s brand throughout the hotel industry and the broader commercial real estate investment arena. Matt oversees the entire creative direction for TPG. That includes a vast array of projects: executive summaries, marketing collateral, social media, website, external correspondence items, quarterly industry reports and offering memoranda to name just a few.

A native of St. Petersburg, Florida, Matt earned a degree in Visual Communications from Judson University outside Chicago. A die-hard Chicago Cubs fan since his youth, he looks forward to annual summer trips to the Midwest with his wife and two teen sons. Matt is a photographer, and enjoys old films, old books, and old music.

“I count it a real blessing to work with the caliber of individuals we have here at The Plasencia Group. For a boutique firm such as ours to be able to successfully handle the volume of deals we manage, at the pace we do, and at such a high degree of service and skill, speaks volumes about the way we go about our work on every facet of the process. I enjoy working to help the team be successful for our clients.”