Ryman Hospitality Properties, Inc. (NYSE: RHP) (the “Company”)
today announced Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Colin Reed
will transition to Executive Chairman of the Company after more
than 21 years as CEO. The Company’s Board of Directors has
appointed President Mark Fioravanti to succeed Reed as Chief
Executive Officer, under the title President and Chief Executive
Officer, effective January 1, 2023.
Reed’s role as Executive Chairman will include
his responsibilities as Executive Chairman of the Company’s Board
of Directors and as Chairman of the Opry Entertainment Group
(“OEG”) Board of Directors. Reed will also focus on working with
OEG strategic investor Atairos and with NBCUniversal to unlock
opportunities for value creation; advancing the Company’s ESG and
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion goals; and community and
government affairs. Reed will continue his role with artist and
shareholder relations alongside Fioravanti.
Reed said, “It has been my honor to lead this
Company for over two decades as we transformed our business into
the hospitality and entertainment powerhouse it is today. With our
businesses operating at record or near-record levels of performance
and another strong year on the horizon, this is an ideal time for
me to transition into a new role.”
Since joining predecessor company Gaylord
Entertainment in 2001, Reed led a strategic reorganization of the
Company’s holdings, divesting non-core assets and refocusing the
Company under its Hospitality and Entertainment segments. In the
years that followed, the Company built a portfolio of hotel assets,
flagged under the Gaylord Hotels brand, which now includes five of
the top 10 largest non-gaming resort and convention center hotels
in the United States. Reed instituted a people-first philosophy
that created high levels of employee satisfaction and retention in
the Company’s core Hospitality business, leading to strong customer
loyalty that endures today. In 2012, Reed led the Company through
its conversion to a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) after
selling the Gaylord Hotels brand and the rights to manage its
hotels to Marriott International. Since then, the Company has
strategically improved and added to its one-of-a-kind portfolio of
purpose-built resort and convention center assets and its growing
entertainment portfolio of iconic and emerging music brands.
In 2002, Reed recruited Fioravanti to join the
Company’s management team to oversee marketing as the Company
further refined its Gaylord Hotels brand. His roles included Senior
Vice President (SVP) of Sales and Marketing for Gaylord
Entertainment; President of Gaylord Entertainment’s subsidiary
ResortQuest, a position he held until 2007; and SVP and Treasurer
of Gaylord Entertainment. Fioravanti took on oversight of Finance
in 2008 and was promoted to SVP and Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
in 2009 after helping the Company successfully navigate the 2008
financial crisis.
As the Company’s Executive Vice President and
CFO from 2011 to 2015, Fioravanti was instrumental in the 2012 REIT
conversion and subsequent value creation. Since the REIT
conversion, Fioravanti has overseen initiatives to strengthen the
Company’s balance sheet, strategically deploy capital for future
growth and generate meaningful shareholder returns. He was named
President and CFO in 2015.
Fioravanti played an important role in managing
the Company’s response to the COVID-19 crisis, overseeing the
Company’s cash conservation and managing its liquidity, all while
taking steps to retain a stable workforce. Most recently, he played
a leading role in securing a minority interest strategic investor
for the Company’s growing OEG segment. In February 2022, Fioravanti
joined the Company’s Board of Directors.
Reed continued, “One of the earliest and best
decisions I made in my time with the Company was recruiting Mark to
join me as I worked to refocus the business. After working with him
for over 20 years and navigating many twists and turns along the
way, I am confident he is uniquely qualified to lead this Company
and to ensure the momentum we have created over the past two
decades continues.”
Robert S. Prather, Jr., Lead Independent
Director for Ryman Hospitality Properties said, “On behalf of the
Board, I would like to thank Colin for his many years of service as
CEO and his continued commitment moving forward as Executive
Chairman. After spending many years working closely with Mark, the
Board agrees he is the ideal successor to take Ryman Hospitality
Properties into its next phase of growth, and we look forward to
working with him in this new capacity.”
Fioravanti said, “I am grateful to Colin and my
fellow Board members for the opportunity to lead Ryman Hospitality
Properties. I have the privilege of entering this role with a
long-tenured management team that shares my passion for these
unique businesses. Together with my team, I look forward to
continuing to work to shape our vision, support our employees and
create value for all our stakeholders.”
Reed concluded, “I would like to thank our
employees, board members, shareholders, customers, and our many
beloved Opry members for their support and confidence in me over
the past 21 years. We have built a truly magnificent business, and
I am eager to work toward its continued success in the years
ahead.”
About Ryman Hospitality Properties,
Inc.Ryman Hospitality Properties, Inc. (NYSE: RHP) is
a leading lodging and hospitality real estate investment trust that
specializes in upscale convention center resorts and country music
entertainment experiences. The Company’s core
holdings, Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention
Center, Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention
Center, Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention
Center, Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center,
and Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center, are five
of the top ten largest non-gaming convention center hotels
in the United States based on total indoor meeting space.
These convention center resorts operating under the Gaylord Hotels
brand, along with two adjacent ancillary hotels, are managed by
Marriott International and represent a combined total of 10,412
rooms and more than 2.8 million square feet of total indoor and
outdoor meeting space in top convention and leisure destinations
across the country. The Company also owns a 70% controlling
ownership interest in Opry Entertainment Group (OEG), which is
composed of entities owning a growing collection of iconic and
emerging country music brands, including the Grand Ole
Opry, Ryman Auditorium, WSM 650 AM, Ole Red, Circle, a
country lifestyle media network the Company owns in a joint venture
with Gray Television, Nashville-area attractions managed by
Marriott, and Block 21, a mixed-use entertainment, lodging, office
and retail complex, including the W Austin Hotel and the ACL Live
at Moody Theater, located in downtown Austin, Texas. The Company
operates OEG as part of a taxable REIT subsidiary.
Visit RymanHP.com for more information.
Cautionary Note Regarding
Forward-Looking StatementsThis press release contains
statements as to the Company’s beliefs and expectations of the
outcome of future events that are forward-looking statements as
defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
You can identify these statements by the fact that they do not
relate strictly to historical or current facts. Examples of these
statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding
the future performance of our business, future value creation, and
other business or operational issues. These forward-looking
statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause
actual results to differ materially from the statements made. These
include the risks and uncertainties associated with the COVID-19
pandemic, including the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on us and
the hospitality and entertainment industries generally, the effects
of the COVID-19 pandemic on the demand for travel, leisure and
group business (including government-imposed restrictions), levels
of consumer confidence in the safety of travel and group gathering
as a result of COVID-19, the duration and severity of the COVID-19
pandemic in the United States and the pace of recovery
following the COVID-19 pandemic, the duration and severity of the
COVID-19 pandemic in the markets where our assets are located,
governmental restrictions on our businesses, economic conditions
affecting the hospitality business generally, the geographic
concentration of the Company’s hotel properties, business levels at
the Company’s hotels, the effects of inflation on the Company’s
business and on its customers, including group business at its
hotels, the Company’s ability to remain qualified as a REIT for
federal income tax purposes, the Company’s ability to execute its
strategic goals as a REIT, the Company’s ability to generate cash
flows to support dividends, the suspension of our dividend and our
dividend policy, including the frequency and amount of any dividend
we may pay, the Company’s ability to borrow funds pursuant to its
credit agreements, the occurrence of any event, change or other
circumstance that could affect the integration of Block 21 or the
strategic position of OEG after the Atairos investment. Other
factors that could cause operating and financial results to differ
are described in the filings made from time to time by the Company
with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
and include the risk factors and other risks and uncertainties
described in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the
fiscal year ended December 31, 2021, and its Quarterly Reports
on Form 10-Q and subsequent filings. The Company does not undertake
any obligation to release publicly any revisions to forward-looking
statements made by it to reflect events or circumstances occurring
after the date hereof or the occurrence of unanticipated
events.
Investor Relations Contacts: |
Media Contacts: |
Jennifer Hutcheson, Chief Financial Officer |
Hillary Prim, Vice President of Corporate and Brand
Communications |
Ryman Hospitality Properties, Inc. |
Finn Partners |
(615) 316-6320 |
(615) 610-0293 |
jhutcheson@rymanhp.com |
hillary.prim@finnpartners.com |
~or~ |
~or~ |
Todd Siefert, SVP Finance & Treasurer |
Robert Winters |
Ryman Hospitality Properties, Inc. |
Alpha IR Group |
(615) 316-6344 |
(929) 266-6315 |
tsiefert@rymanhp.com |
robert.winters@alpha-ir.com |
Ryman Hospitality Proper... (NYSE:RHP)
Historical Stock Chart
From May 2024 to Jun 2024
Ryman Hospitality Proper... (NYSE:RHP)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jun 2023 to Jun 2024