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NASDAQPLYA

Board of Directors

  • Bruce D. Wardinski

    Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

    Bruce D. Wardinski serves as Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and executive director of Playa Hotels & Resorts N.V. From May 2006 to March 2017, he served as founding Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and director of the company’s predecessors. From 2002 to 2010, Mr. Wardinski served as Chief Executive Officer of Barceló Crestline. From 1998 to 2002, Mr. Wardinski was Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Crestline Capital Corporation. Mr. Wardinski served as a member of the Executive Commission of Barceló Corporación Empresarial of Palma de Mallorca, Spain from 2004 to 2010. Mr. Wardinski was Senior Vice President and Treasurer of Host Marriott Corporation (now Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc.), a hotel asset management company, from 1996 to 1998. Before this appointment, he served in various other capacities with Host Marriott Corporation and Marriott Corporation (now Marriott International, Inc.) from 1987 to 1996. In 2003, Mr. Wardinski formed Highland Hospitality Corporation, a lodging and hospitality REIT, where he served as Chairman of its board of directors until the sale of the company in 2007. Prior to joining Host Marriott and Marriott Corporation, Mr. Wardinski worked for Price Waterhouse (now PricewaterhouseCoopers) in Washington D.C., and for Goodyear International in Caracas, Venezuela. Mr. Wardinski was a founding member and currently serves as Chairman of the ServiceSource Foundation, a not-for-profit advocacy group representing people with disabilities. In addition, Mr. Wardinski serves on the board of directors and audit committee of DiamondRock Hospitality (NYSE: DRH). Mr. Wardinski graduated with honors from the University of Virginia with a Bachelor of Science in Commerce and from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania with a Master of Business Administration in Finance.

  • Hal Stanley Jones

    • Financial Expert

    Director

    Hal Stanley Jones served as Chief Financial Officer of Graham Holdings Company, a diversified education and media company from 2013 until 2018. From 1989 until 2013, Mr. Jones worked in various capacities at The Washington Post Company, an American daily newspaper, the most widely circulated newspaper published in Washington, D.C. From January 2009 to September 2013, he served as the Senior Vice President – Finance and Chief Financial Officer. From January 2008 to December 2009 he served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Kaplan Professional, a subsidiary of The Washington Post Company. From 2003 to 2006 he served as the Chief Operating Officer of Kaplan International, a subsidiary of The Washington Post Company. Prior to joining The Washington Post Company, Mr. Jones worked for Price Waterhouse (now PricewaterhouseCoopers) from 1977 to 1988. In addition, Mr. Jones serves on the board of directors of Lumen Technologies (NYSE: LUMN) since December 2019, and Carolina Migrant Network, a non-profit entity that provides legal assistance. Mr. Jones received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Washington and a Master of Business Administration in Finance from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business.

  • Elizabeth Lieberman

    Director

    Elizabeth Lieberman has an extensive background in the hospitality industry, and served as Senior Vice President, Corporate Secretary and General Counsel of Crestline Hotels & Resorts, Inc. and Barceló Crestline from 2004 until retiring in 2006. She provided consulting services to Crestline Hotels during 2006 to 2008, and returned as Executive Vice President, Corporate Secretary and General Counsel in 2009 until her retirement in 2012. As General Counsel at Crestline Hotels, she provided a hands-on approach to executive leadership and legal oversight of corporate, finance, owner relations and hotel operations matters. Prior to her appointment as General Counsel in 2004, she served as Associate General Counsel for Crestline Hotels and Barceló from 2002 to 2004, and Crestline Capital Corporation from 1998 to 2002, prior to its acquisition by Barceló. Ms. Lieberman was an Assistant General Counsel at Host Marriott Corporation (now Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc.), heading up the law department’s asset management division, from 1995 until the spin-off of Crestline Capital Corporation by Host Marriott Corporation in 1998. Before joining Host Marriott Corporation, she served as attorney on the hotel acquisitions/development and hotel operations legal teams at Marriott Corporation (now Marriott International, Inc.) from 1988 to 1995. Prior to joining Marriott Corporation, Ms. Lieberman worked at the Washington D.C. law firm of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton from 1985 to 1988. Ms. Lieberman earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Sociology from Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln, Nebraska, and a Juris Doctor from The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law in Washington, D.C.

  • Jeanmarie Cooney

    • Financial Expert

    Director

    Jeanmarie Cooney is an accomplished global finance executive with over thirty years’ experience providing strategic financial and operational management across a diverse spectrum of industries. Since 2020 Ms. Cooney has served as the Chief Financial Officer/Senior Vice President of Finance, Strategy and Planning for New York Road Runners Inc. From 2018 to 2020 Ms. Cooney served as the President of JM Consulting and Coaching Services, and from 2015 to 2018 she served as the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Wyndham Hotel Group (now Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, Inc.). Ms. Cooney began her career at Ernst & Young and has held many senior-level positions with blue-chip corporations including Cendant and PepsiCo, Inc. She is a graduate of Iona College with a BBA in accounting and earned her CPA.

  • Karl Peterson

    Director

    Karl Peterson leads CapitalKP and Peterson Capital Partners, LP, family offices overseeing several public stock investments and numerous private investments. Previously, he was a Senior Partner of TPG and the Managing Partner of TPG Pace Group, TPG’s effort to sponsor SPACs and other permanent capital solutions for companies. After rejoining TPG in 2004, Mr. Peterson led investments for the firm in technology, media, financial services and travel sectors and oversaw TPG’s European operations from 2010 until 2017 and served on the Executive Committee of TPG. Prior to 2004, he was a co-founder and the president and chief executive officer of Hotwire.com. He led the business from its launch through its sale to InterActiveCorp in 2003. Before Hotwire, Mr. Peterson was a principal at TPG in San Francisco, and from 1992 to 1995 he was a financial analyst at Goldman, Sachs & Co. Mr. Peterson currently serves on the board of Sabre Corporation (NASDAQ: SABR), is the Chairman of Accel Entertainment (NYSE: ACEL), and is a director of Vacasa, Inc. (NASDAQ: VCSA) and is non-executive Chairman of TPG Beneficial Finance II (NYSE: YTPG). Mr. Peterson is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame, where he earned a Bachelor of Business Administration Degree with High Honors.

  • Leticia Navarro

    Director

    Leticia Navarro, is an entrepreneur who formerly served as the Secretary of Tourism of Mexico in President Vicente Fox’s cabinet from 2000 to 2003. She has extensive business experience, most recently as the CEO and International VP of DHL Express Mexico from 2003 to 2008, and previously as the worldwide CEO of Jafra Cosmetics, then a subsidiary of The Gillette Co. She has served as a board member of Alta Growth Capital, a Mexican private equity fund, since 2014, and is a board member for several private companies, including CTS (Corporate Travel Services), Teletec, Turistore, Consolid, and Grupo Empresarial Maldonado. She is actively involved with non-governmental organizations and institutes in Mexico and abroad related to education. Ms. Navarro earned a Bachelor of Business Administration from the Universidad Autónoma de Mexico and a Masters in Mexican History from the Instituto Cultural Helénico Mexico.

  • Mahmood Khimji

    Director

    Mahmood Khimji is a founding Principal of Highgate, a leading real estate investment and hospitality management company, and has been involved in all aspects of Highgate’s development since its founding in 1988. Prior to founding Highgate, Mr. Khimji practiced law at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. Mr. Khimji is the chairman of the board of directors of Sagicor Financial Corporation Limited and is a member of the boards of directors of American Hotel Income Properties and Canyon Bancorporation, Inc. Mr. Khimji also serves on the National Committee of Aga Khan Foundation USA, on the boards of Aga Khan Museum and the Asia Society, and on the Board of Visitors for Columbia Law School. He attended the University of British Columbia, and received a Bachelor of Arts, summa cum laude, from the University of Houston and a Juris Doctor from Columbia Law School.

  • Maria Miller

    Director 

    Maria Miller is a marketing executive with over 30 years of experience in innovative marketing and digital communications which includes the consumer products, financial services, e- commerce, travel, cruise and hospitality industries. She has held several C-suite and executive level positions with expertise leading innovative marketing and digital strategies to deliver profitable growth and superior business results. Most recently, Ms. Miller spent eight years in the cruise industry. From 2017 to 2019, she served as Chief Marketing Officer for Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line. Prior to that, she was Senior Vice President – Chief Marketing Officer for Norwegian Cruise Line from 2009 to 2015. Ms. Miller also held various senior marketing roles at several companies, including Dave & Buster’s, Inc., Elance, Inc. (now Upwork), Avis Rent A Car, Inc., and American Express. She currently serves on the board of directors of Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI). Ms. Miller earned her Bachelor of Science from New York University and her Master of Business Administration from Stanford University Graduate School of Business.