DALLAS, May 14, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Ashford Hospitality
Trust, Inc. (NYSE: AHT) ("Ashford Trust" or the "Company") today
announced that David Kimichik, Chief
Financial Officer and Treasurer, will retire on June 13, 2014, following a career spanning over
32 years with the Company and its predecessor. Deric Eubanks, currently the Company's Senior
Vice President of Finance, will succeed David as Chief Financial
Officer and Treasurer reporting to Ashford Trust Chairman and Chief
Executive Officer, Monty J.
Bennett. Mr. Kimichik will transition his
responsibilities to Mr. Eubanks over the next month allowing for a
seamless transition and will continue to be available to the
Company as needed over the next several months.
Monty J. Bennett, Ashford Trust's
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, commented, "Kimo has been
with us since graduating from Cornell
University in 1982. He played an integral role in our
predecessor's purchase of hotel loans from the RTC in the early
1990s and has been the CFO of Ashford Trust since its IPO in
2003. During his tenure, he has been instrumental in our
growth as a public company including the recent spin-off of Ashford
Hospitality Prime. His extensive understanding of the
hospitality industry and our business in particular has been a
large part of our success over the years. We are all very
grateful to Kimo for his contributions which have been a key part
of the Company's tremendous growth and success. I want to
personally thank him for his many years of service to Ashford and
wish him a long and enjoyable retirement."
![David Kimichik David Kimichik](http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnvar/20140514/87769)
"Deric has been with the Company since our 2003 IPO and has
played a central role in our history as a public company. He
is a strong leader whose exceptional business and financial acumen
was essential in successfully executing several key initiatives
including our interest rate hedging strategy, the purchase of the
CNL and Highland portfolios, and the recent spin-off of
Ashford Prime. He's already
well respected by the investor and analyst community for his solid
grasp of our industry and corporate strategy. Deric is
well-suited for this key leadership role."
![Deric Eubanks Deric Eubanks](http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnvar/20140514/87768)
Mr. Kimichik is currently the Chief Financial Officer of Ashford
Hospitality Advisors and serves as the Chief Financial Officer of
both Ashford Hospitality Trust and Ashford Hospitality Prime.
He has served as the Chief Financial Officer for Ashford Trust
since its inception in May 2003.
In addition to his duties as Chief Financial Officer, he has
served as Director of Asset Management with responsibility for
leading a team of Asset Managers in the daily supervision of the
Company's Hotels and annual capital improvement activities.
He is also part of our active acquisitions team, responsible
for the Company's underwriting function which generates financial
projections for potential transactions. Ashford Trust and
Ashford Prime currently own 124
hotels that Mr. Kimichik has underwritten.
During the 1980s, Mr. Kimichik ran the Company's affiliated
hotel property management company. In the 1990s, Mr. Kimichik
was the President of Ashford Financial Corporation and oversaw the
acquisition of over 170 properties representing over $1 billion in value. His underwriting of
acquisitions for Ashford Trust include the 21 hotel portfolio
acquired from the Fisher Brothers, the Gordon Getty Trust and
George Soros for $250 million in 2005, the 30 hotel portfolio
acquired from CNL Hotels and Resorts for $465 million in 2006, the 51 hotel portfolio
acquired from CNL Hotels and Resorts for $2.4 billion in 2007, and the 28 hotel Highland
Hospitality portfolio acquired in 2011 for $1.3 billion. Mr. Kimichik holds a Bachelor
of Science degree from the School of Hotel Administration at
Cornell University.
Mr. Eubanks is currently the Senior Vice President of Finance of
Ashford Hospitality Advisors and serves as the Senior Vice
President of finance of both Ashford Hospitality Trust and Ashford
Hospitality Prime. In this role, he is responsible for
assisting the CEO and CFO with all corporate finance and financial
reporting initiatives and capital market activities including
equity raises and debt financings. He also oversees the
Investor Relations function and is responsible for supervision and
executing the Company's hedging strategies.
Prior to his present 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.
Before joining Ashford Trust, 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 BBA from Southern Methodist University and is a CFA
charterholder.
Ashford Hospitality Trust is a real estate investment trust
(REIT) focused on investing opportunistically in the hospitality
industry across all segments and at all levels of the capital
structure primarily within the United States.
Follow Chairman and CEO Monty
Bennett on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MBennettAshford or
@MBennettAshford.
Ashford has created an Ashford App for the hospitality REIT
investor community. The Ashford App is available for free
download at Apple's App Store by
searching "Ashford."
Certain statements and assumptions in this press release
contain or are based upon "forward-looking" information and are
being made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These
forward-looking statements are subject to risks and
uncertainties. When we use the words "will likely result,"
"may," "anticipate," "estimate," "should," "expect," "believe,"
"intend," or similar expressions, we intend to identify
forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to
numerous assumptions and uncertainties, many of which are outside
Ashford Trust's control.
These forward-looking statements are subject to known and
unknown risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results
to differ materially from those anticipated, including, without
limitation: general volatility of the capital markets and the
market price of our common stock; changes in our business or
investment strategy; availability, terms and deployment of capital;
availability of qualified personnel; changes in our industry and
the market in which we operate, interest rates or the general
economy; and the degree and nature of our competition. These
and other risk factors are more fully discussed in Ashford Trust's
filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The forward-looking statements included in this press release
are only made as of the date of this press release. Investors
should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking
statements. We are not obligated to publicly update or revise
any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new
information, future events or circumstances, changes in
expectations or otherwise.
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140514/87769
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140514/87768
SOURCE Ashford Hospitality Trust, Inc.