Originality and the Spirit of Hospitality

Tom Gilliland has oversight of Crescent Operations and Culinary teams, driving operational excellence and accountability within the Crescent portfolio. Having an illustrious career with Marriott International for the past 23 years, Tom has spent the last 10 years in Franchise Operations, most recently as Vice President of Franchise Operations. Partnering with the Marriott Development Team, he was responsible for analyzing business and operations proficiency for new hotels and proposed franchises. Prior to that, he held the role of Vice President, Hotel Openings and Transitions. In this role, Tom was responsible for over 650 hotel openings and 250 hotel transitions for Marriott in the US, Canada, Caribbean, and Latin America.

Tom held the position of Board Chair of Marriott's Guest Experience and Food and Beverage Advisory Councils, partnering with valuable franchise executives to collaborate on new initiatives and drive operational performance.

Sherry most recently oversaw the commercial team efforts of 29 hotels with CSM corporation, where she led the redevelopment of the 
Marketing, revenue, and sales efforts to better serve the hotels within the portfolio.  Before CSM, she worked for Aimbridge/Interstate for seven years, starting as a Vice President of Sales and working her way up to SR Vice President of Sales and Marketing, at the time, overseeing new builds and transitions as well as a full region of hotels.  She oversaw the  Aimbridge trophy assets such as South Seas Island Resorts and The Diplomat Hollywood,  She is an accomplished sales and marketing professional with deep experience in independents, resorts, new builds, and branded hotels.  Sherry lives in Florida with her husband and two sons, all of which are firefighters! 

Vice President, Revenue Strategy 

Alfio has worked in the food and beverage industry for over 17 years. Through his career he has worked with celebrity chefs, won food network shows, led successful celebrity chef galas for universities and has been key in product development and operations for over 45 successful openings, transitions and re-concepting efforts. Through tenure at Hornblower Cruises and Events and PM Hotel Group, he has worked to elevate product offerings, operations and efficiencies for multiple companies and ownership groups.

His last position with TPG Hotels, Resorts & Marinas he served as Vice-President of Food &  Beverage Prior to that he worked as Corporate Director, Bars & Restaurants at PM Hotel Group where he was accountable for overall revenue generation for all bar and restaurant outlets across the portfolio and oversaw 90+ million in outlet sales.

With nearly 10 years of hospitality-focused digital marketing experience, and a combined 14 years of copywriting, public relations, social media and digital marketing experience, Katy has honed her creative and analytical skills with hotels and resorts across the U.S., Mexico and Europe. She has had the pleasure of working both on-property in markets including San Diego, Miami and Virginia Beach, and at the corporate level overseeing ecommerce efforts for over 100 hotels and resorts.

Having started her hospitality career while working at La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, CA, Katy found her passion by focusing specifically on independent, boutique and lifestyle hotels and resorts. While at La Costa Resort, Katy oversaw and implemented a full-scale, strategic overhaul of the resort's CRM program, resulting in a 65% increase in YOY email-generated revenue. A lifelong, self-professed creative writer, it wasn't until Katy's introduction to Google Analytics when she found particular interest in marrying her love for writing with data-driven insights to guide her hotels' strategies and successes.

Originally from Plymouth, MA, Katy first discovered her love for travel (and warmer weather) while studying abroad in Sydney, Australia. Since then, she's chased sunshine and coastal living, never living more than a few miles from the beach.

Greg Simons, a 20-year veteran of the hospitality industry, Simons has spent his career overseeing fine dining restaurants, speakeasy's, cocktail bars, nightclubs, spas, and golf courses.  Prior to Crescent Hotels , Simons most recent position was as Corporate Director of Food & Beverage, where he was responsible for overseeing the brand's food and beverage portfolio in its entirety. Prior to Pacifica Hotels Simons held a Director of Operations Position with startup Los Angeles based restaurant group Blackhouse Hospitality where within his responsibilities lied the opening and operations of all of the groups locations.  In addition Simons has also held many positions for Marriott International.