Advisory Council

Michael Dellar, with chef Bradley Ogden, opened The Lark Creek Inn in Larkspur, California, in 1989, which eventually led to the creation of the 15-restaurant, $50 million Lark Creek Restaurant Group. Today he is the principal of San Francisco’s iconic One Market Restaurant, which is celebrating its 25th year. Michael’s restaurants have won James Beard Foundation awards and Michelin stars. He was named a James Beard Foundation “Outstanding Restaurateur” semifinalist. He holds a BA, magna cum laude, and an MBA from USC. Previously, he served as director of marketing for The Clorox Company’s restaurant operations division after managing marketing activities for new products, Clorox Bleach and other brands.

Michael has served as a trustee of The American Center for Wine, Food and the Arts (COPIA); a member of the American Airlines Chefs’ Conclave; and a director of the California Restaurant Association, the USF Hospitality School, Visit Napa Valley, the Mill Valley Film Festival, the Oakland Symphony and several other industry and charitable organizations. A founding director of OpenTable.com, Michael is currently a member of the Kitchen Cabinet for the Food Project at the Smithsonian Institution, a director of LightHouse for the Blind and a member of the Leadership Roundtable of food service industry CEOs. He maintains an active restaurant consulting and advisory practice. He and his wife, Leslye, live and grow grapes in Napa Valley, where their estate-grown cabernet sauvignon, Stardust, has received multiple awards and accolades.

Harry Hopper has been a venture capital partner, investor, founder, board member and M&A advisor in the communications, media and technology (CMT) sector for more than 28 years. At Columbia Capital, a CMT venture capital firm that he joined in 1994, Harry served as a managing partner for institutional venture funds (over $2 billion under his management).

Harry is very active and engaged in the consumer finance space where mobile functionality or enabling technologies are central. He is on the boards of Sixgill and LendPro and is an investor with Zebit, Global Analytics Holdings and Salt Technologies.

Harry has served as president of The Columbia Group, Inc. and executive vice president of Bachtel Cellular Liquidity, LP, a wireless investment fund. Prior to Bachtel, he founded Sky Broadcasting Corporation and AFSC Corporation. Harry received his Bachelor of Arts (Phi Beta Kappa) and Juris Doctor degrees from the University of California, Berkeley. He is an avid cyclist and is chairman of the board of trustees of the Corcoran School of the Arts & Design in Washington, D.C.

Chris Jarnot was appointed executive vice president, Mountain Division in December 2016, having previously served as chief operating officer of Vail Mountain, senior vice president of marketing and sales and vice president of marketing and sales. In his new role, Chris will bring his extensive resort experience to oversee the company’s four Colorado resorts: Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge and Keystone, as well as provide continued oversight of the operations of Perisher in Australia, Afton Alps in Minnesota, Mt. Brighton in Michigan, and the company’s most recent urban ski area acquisition, Wilmot Mountain in Wisconsin.

Chris has held numerous other positions with the company since 1989, including director of advertising and direct marketing, director of reservations and vice president of marketing for Vail and Beaver Creek. He currently serves on the board of directors of the Vail Valley Foundation and of the Vail Valley Medical Center.

Jacki Kelley is chief operating officer of Bloomberg Media Group, Bloomberg L.P.’s global multiplatform media organization that comprises digital, mobile, television, digital video, radio, print magazine and live event platforms. Jacki, who joined Bloomberg LP in September 2014, leads the business operations of Bloomberg Media with a focus on driving global revenue growth, brand strength and developing the company’s new media strategy under Chief Executive Officer Justin B. Smith.

A dynamic leader with more than 20 years of experience, Jacki is widely credited with disrupting traditional business models to successfully meet client objectives across the publishing and advertising industries. She served as chief executive officer for IPG Mediabrands North America and president of Global Clients, most recently dedicating all of her time to leading IPG’s successful bid for all of Microsoft’s creative and deployment work globally.

Karl has over 25 years of private equity, investment banking, operating and consulting experience, spanning a wide range of industries and corporate settings. His diverse background allows him to assess both the financial and operational aspects of an investment opportunity.

Prior to joining Peninsula Capital Partners, Karl was an officer at First of Michigan Corporation, where he established and led its private equity practice. He has been involved in the underwriting of over $300 million in private placements and public offerings. Before First of Michigan Corp., Karl was with Harrell & Associates, a boutique consulting firm providing services to Fortune 500 companies including Westinghouse, Asea Brown Boveri and Aramark. He started his career with GMFanuc Robotics Corporation, where he held various management, engineering and operations roles in both the United States and Europe.

He holds a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from Michigan Technological University and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Michigan. Karl is a licensed professional engineer, speaks fluent German and is a member of the CFA Institute. Karl is an active member in his church and frequently serves as a lay minister.

David Miskit was educated at Northwestern University, where he received a Bachelor of Science. In 1981, David was hired by Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager as a senior member of their management team for nightclubs and hotels. From 1981 to 1988, David served as general manager of New York’s most successful nightclubs, Studio 54 and The Palladium. In 1988, he transitioned into hotel management, becoming the opening managing director of the Royalton Hotel NYC (1988–90), Paramount Hotel (1990–94) and Delano South Beach (1994–98). These hotels were the first of their kind and created the roadmap for what eventually became known in the industry as boutique hotels. With their innovative modern designs, gracious and eager young staff, inventive food and beverage concepts, and many other transformations of the accepted status quo within the hotel industry, a new segment of savvy travelers found a refreshing and new hotel genre of choice. David also had multiproperty portfolio management oversight during his tenure with Ian Schrager Hotels of Morgans, Royalton, and Paramount Hotels, Mondrian LA., and Delano South Beach.

David retired from his role as director of KenMont KenWood in 2012, and in 2013, he founded a 501(c)(3) nonprofit project called Small World Symphony. The mission of this project was to find common ground between teenagers from regions of conflict around the world through the power of music and the internet. Most recently, David reunited with Ian Schrager – this time to cultivate Ian’s new PUBLIC Hotel brand at the first of its kind: PUBLIC Hotel Chicago.

Thirty years ago, Don discovered a way to combine his passion for travel with his love of marketing. He credits a degree in architecture for his obsession with building things. In the case of MMGY Global, he’s built the largest and most respected marketing firm in the world that specializes solely in travel and hospitality. In 1997, he created the Vail Summit as a think tank for the top marketing minds in the industry. Now approaching its 15th year, the Vail Summit has attracted brand leaders from around the world.

Bernard Muir was named Stanford’s Jaquish & Kenninger Director of Athletics in 2012. Through four seasons under Bernard’s leadership, Stanford has extended two of the most unfathomable streaks in college athletics. In 2015–16, the Cardinal captured its 22nd consecutive Learfield Directors’ Cup, presented to the most successful intercollegiate athletic department in the nation. Bernard’s leadership was also recognized with recent achievements. This past spring, Bernard was an Athletic Director of the Year finalist for the Sports Business Awards. In 2015, Bernard was a recipient of the NCAA’s prestigious Silver Anniversary Award, which annually recognizes distinguished individuals on the 25th anniversary of the conclusion of their collegiate athletic careers while taking into account professional achievements.

Tim is a principal at Audax Private Equity, a middle-market PE firm based in Boston that manages over $3 billion in assets with over $3 billion of assets under management. Tim focuses on evaluating and executing leveraged buyouts and assisting portfolio companies with strategic initiatives and add-on acquisitions. Prior to Audax, Tim worked at L.E.K. Consulting. He received a Bachelor of Arts in history from Duke University. He lives in Boston with his wife, Liz, and daughter, Isabel.

Geof Rochester is currently managing director, in essence acting as chief visibility officer and spokesperson, for The Nature Conservancy (TNC). TNC’s mission is to conserve the lands and waters on which all life depends. Prior to this new role, he had functioned as TNC’s chief marketing officer since 2010. As CMO, he was responsible for steering the organization’s marketing, membership and brand strategies. Since coming to TNC, Geof has pushed the organization to broaden support for the environment by going after mega brand partners and unusual collaborations. Some of these have included Macy’s, Subway, Harley-Davidson, Univision and Globo. TNC has been recognized for its marketing prowess, winning several awards over the years, including the DMA Nonprofit Organization’s Nonprofit of the Year Award (2012), a Shorty Award for Charity in Social Media (2013 – finalist) and also Harris Poll EquiTrend Environmental Non-Profit Brand of the Year (2013).

An innovative technology leader and widely recognized entrepreneur, Davyeon Ross has more than 15 years of experience in the technology space. Davyeon is co-founder and chief operations officer of DDSports Inc., a team sports performance platform fueled by wearable and smart equipment data. DDSports’ first product is ShotTracker, which is wearable tech for basketball that automatically tracks a basketball player’s shot attempts, makes, misses and location on the court while providing real-time statistics and data. Prior to launching Digital Sports Ventures, Davyeon served as lead technical and management consultant for eVergance Partners (acquired in 2007), managing projects across the United States, Europe and Canada for clients including Research In Motion Limited (now BlackBerry), T-Online, Business Objects, SaskTel, Mattel, Siemens Healthineers, Nortel Networks Inc. and others.

In her role as global managing director of corporate and executive communications at Accenture, Jayme is responsible for developing and managing communications strategies to tell the Accenture story and elevate the company’s brand. She oversees executive communications, financial communications, corporate content development and crisis communications, and she is a communications advisor to Accenture Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Pierre Nanterme. In addition, she serves as chief of staff to Accenture’s chief marketing officer, with a focus on marketing strategy, operations and measurement. She is a member of Accenture’s global marketing and communications leadership team.

Thomas has worked in the hospitality industry for more than 25 years and is currently the chairman of the board for Summit Hotel Properties. He was formerly the president for SONIFI, a hotel industry technology company, and prior to that was the executive vice president business strategy for Fairmont Raffles Hotels International (FRHI), a leading global hotel company with over 100 hotels worldwide under the Fairmont, Raffles and Swissôtel brands. Having helped launch FRHI as a publicly traded company and assisted with its subsequent privatization, Tom was responsible for strategic planning and helping to identify new opportunities for FRHI that capitalized on improving business fundamentals. Tom held a series of progressive leadership positions with FRHI, including executive vice president development and executive vice president business strategy, as well as president of Fairmont Hotels and Resorts. Tom has been a member of various hospitality industry organizations, including the American Hotel & Lodging Association, the Travel Industry Association of America and PCMA. Tom received a BA in economics from Bates College and an MBA from the Johnson School at Cornell University.

Peter is regarded as one of the most respected and insightful sources on the habits and preferences of American travelers. He is a frequent commentator on travel trends in such publications as The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, USA TODAY, Time, Newsweek and Business Week. He has also appeared on the CNN, CNBC, MSNBC and BBC World television networks and is frequently heard on National Public Radio. Listed in Who’s Who in America, Peter is the recipient of the World Travel Award from the American Association of Travel Editors, the Albert E. Koehl Award from the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI), the Silver Medal from the American Advertising Federation and the Spirit of Hospitality Award from Destination Marketing Association International (DMAI). He was named one of the “25 Most Extraordinary Marketing Minds” by HSMAI and is a former member of the board of directors of the Travel Industry Association of America. He is also the coauthor of Marketing Leadership in Hospitality and Tourism, published by Prentice Hall.