Leland Pillsbury

Leland Pillsbury is the Co-Chairman and CEO of Thayer Lodging Group, a privately held hotel real estate investment firm that has invested over $3.5 billion in hotel real estate assets throughout the U.S., achieving in excess of a 29% internal rate of return over 17 years. In 1989, prior to forming Thayer, Lee founded Grand Heritage Hotels, which he sold in 1991.

Lee is also the co-founder and chairman of TIG Global, an Internet marketing company serving over 1,000 hotels around the world, co-founder and chairman of EMC Venues, the largest resort and conference center marketing representation firm in the country, co-founder and chairman of Thayer Insurance Group, providing specialized insurance coverage to hotel and hospitality firms, co-founder of HUBS1, providing the only Global Distribution System and central reservations systems to the domestic Chinese hotel industry, and co-founder of HQuant, a financial and analytical firm serving the hospitality industry and publisher of the HQuant Lodging Real Estate Index. He is an investor and director in several other companies both inside and outside the hospitality industry.

Lee served 20 years at Marriott International, where he was Marriott's youngest Executive Vice President and corporate officer. While at Marriott, Lee participated in the acquisition of a time-sharing business, led the venture team that developed and launched Fairfield Inns, acquired the Residence Inns Company, and served as head of strategic planning for the lodging business. At the time of his departure, he was responsible for $1 billion in annual capital development projects and over 20,000 employees. After his departure, Lee participated in the acquisition of the Ritz Carlton Hotel Company by Marriott International. In 1991, he founded Thayer Lodging Group.

Lee is a member of the University Council at Cornell University, and the Dean's Advisory Councils at the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration and the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. He also serves on the Real Estate Subcommittee of Cornell's Investment Committee. He is a Guest Lecturer at the School of Hotel Administration, Johnson and Wales College, the University of Beijing and the University of Shanghai. Lee is class president of the Cornell Fund and a long time donor to a wide range of educational institutions. He and his wife have endowed several scholarships at major universities and most recently founded the Pillsbury Institute. Lee is a member of the Board of Directors of the American Hotel Lodging Association Education Foundation, the AH&LA Government Policy Committee.

Residing in Fort Lauderdale with his wife of 37 years, Lee pilots his own jet and is an active boater and golfer. He is a graduate of the School of Hotel Management at Cornell University and the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.