Board Of Trustees

Jeffrey H. Fisher

Mr. Fisher is our Chairman of the board, Chief Executive Officer and President. Mr. Fisher is also majority shareholder of IHM, a firm he founded in 2007 that currently manages 77 hotels for unaffiliated hotel owners. From 1994 to 2007, Mr. Fisher was Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of Innkeepers USA Trust, a lodging REIT he founded and took public in 1994 and was also Chairman and majority shareholder of Innkeepers Hospitality, a privately owned hotel management company. Mr. Fisher grew Innkeepers’ portfolio from seven hotels at the time of its initial public offering to 74 hotels at the time of its sale. In June of 2007, Innkeepers was sold to an institutional investor at a total enterprise value of $1.5 billion. Between 1986 and 1994, he served as President and Chief Executive Officer of JF Hotel Management, Inc.

Mr. Fisher received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Syracuse University in 1977, a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from Nova Southeastern University in 1980, and a Masters of Law in Taxation from the University of Miami in 1981. He is a licensed attorney and practiced at Jones & Foster P.A. and Jeffrey H. Fisher P.A. for a total of five years prior to starting his career in the hospitality industry. Additionally, Mr. Fisher currently serves as a Board Member of Marriott’s The Residence Inn Association (TRIA).

Bill Brewer

Mr. Brewer was formerly Executive Director – US Student Housing with Greystar Real Estate Partners. He served as executive vice president, chief financial officer and treasurer of Educational Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: EDR) from August 2014 – September 2018.  From 2007 through 2012, Mr. Brewer served as executive vice president and chief financial officer for Sedgwick Claims Management Services, Inc., the leading provider of technology-enabled claims and productivity management solutions. He was responsible for internal and external financial reporting, income taxes, real estate, budgeting, treasury and internal auditing. From 1983 to 2007, Mr. Brewer worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers where he rose to the position of partner with a client base focused on public and private real estate investment trusts. A certified public accountant (inactive), Mr. Brewer has a bachelor’s degree in commerce and business administration from the University of Alabama.

Rolf E. Ruhfus

Mr. Ruhfus is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of LodgeWorks Corporation, a hotel development and management company, which owns the Hotel Sierra and AVIA hotel brands. Mr. Ruhfus also serves as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Wichita Consulting Company, L.P., a consulting services company. Previously, Mr. Ruhfus served as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Summerfield Hotel Corporation, an upscale extended-stay hotel chain, from its founding in 1988 until its sale to Wyndham International, Inc. in 1998. Mr. Ruhfus served as President of the Residence Inn Company from February 1983 though July 1987 (when it was acquired by Marriott International, Inc.). Mr. Ruhfus joined the Residence Inn Company after spending four years as Director of Marketing for VARTA Battery, Europe’s largest battery manufacturer. Prior to this position, he was a management consultant for McKinsey and Company in its Dusseldorf, Germany office. Mr. Ruhfus was a German Air Force Lieutenant and received a bachelor’s degree from Western Michigan University in 1968. His graduate degrees include an M.B.A. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1971 and a Ph.D. in marketing from the University of Meunster in 1974. Mr. Ruhfus is a member of the international chapter of The Young Presidents Organization and serves on the board of several European companies. Mr. Ruhfus previously served on the Board of Trustees of Innkeepers from July 1997 until Innkeepers’ sale in June 2007.

Mary Beth Higgins

Ms. Higgins has been a trustee of the Company since December 2018. She retired from serving as the Chief Executive Officer of Affinity Gaming Inc. (“Affinity”), a nine-casino multi-jurisdictional gaming company, in December 2022, and then stayed on as a consultant to the new Chief Executive Officer until September 2023. In her role as Chief Executive Officer, she was responsible for the day-to-day operations of the casinos as well as all aspects of the company’s accounting, finance and investor relation functions. In addition to her primary employment as Chief Executive Officer of Affinity, Ms. Higgins was retired as Chief Executive Officer and non-independent director of Gaming and Hospitality Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ: GHACU), a special purpose acquisition company or “SPAC” formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with Affinity and one or more businesses, which went public in February 2021. Before becoming Chief Executive Officer at Affinity, she served as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer of Affinity from 2018. From 2017 to 2018, she served as Chief Financial Officer of VICI Properties, a REIT spin off from Caesars Entertainment, and prior to that as Chief Financial Officer for Caesars Entertainment Operating Company from 2014 to 2017. For the 17 years prior to that, Ms. Higgins served as Chief Financial Officer at companies such as Global Cash Access Holdings, Inc., Herbst Gaming, Inc. and Camco, Inc. Ms. Higgins has a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Southern California and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Memphis State University.

Ethel Isaacs Williams

Ms. Williams has been a trustee since 2021. She recently served from 2017-2020 as senior vice president at Kaufman Lynn Construction, one of south Florida’s largest construction companies, where her responsibilities included leading public affairs and community engagement efforts. Before joining Kaufman Lynn, from 2010-2017, she served as regional manager, external affairs for Florida Power & Light (FPL) and later director, corporate engagement, diversity and inclusion for NextEra Energy, one of the nation’s leading clean energy companies and parent company of FPL, where her responsibilities included managing local external stakeholder relations and developing corporate strategies and initiatives for employee engagement as well as diversity and inclusion initiatives, respectively. In 2004, Ms. Williams founded the law firm of Isaacs Williams which was focused on real estate, probate, land use and government relations. Prior to 2004, Ms. Williams held roles at other law firms, as well as IBM, Wang Laboratories and AT&T Wireless. Ms. Williams received her bachelor’s degree in business administration from George Washington University and her Juris Doctor from Nova Southeastern University

David Grissen

Mr. Grissen has been a trustee of the Company since August 2021. He joined Chatham’s board after having retired in April 2021 as Group President following a 35-year career at Marriott International, Inc. (“Marriott”). He began his career at Marriott in 1986 and concluded his career as Group President where his responsibilities included the financial management and leadership of all of the Marriott’s lodging operations in North and South America, comprising more than 5,500 hotels and a workforce of approximately 160,000 associates. This included responsibilities for owner and franchise relations, sales and marketing, revenue management, human resources, engineering, rooms operations, food and beverage, retail, spa, golf, information resources and development. In addition to Marriott’s operations in the Americas, Mr. Grissen was responsible for Marriott’s Global Operations organization, Ritz Carlton and Edition brands. Prior to his last position at Marriott, Mr. Grissen served as Group President, The Americans; President, Americas; Executive Vice President of the Eastern Region; Senior Vice President of the Mid-Atlantic Region; and Senior Vice President of Finance and Business Development. Since November 1, 2024, Mr. Grissen has served on the board of Southwest Airlines Co., (NYSE: LUV) a publicly traded company and one of the world’s largest airlines, where he is a member of the Audit Committee and the Compensation Committee. Until his resignation from the board on October 29, 2024, Mr. Grissen served on the board for Regis Corporation, a publicly traded company and the largest hair salon chain in the world, where he was a member of the Audit Committee and the Technology Committee and was Chair of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committees. He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration from Michigan State University and a Master’s Degree in Finance from Loyola University in Chicago.