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John A. Griswold Trading President's Title at Tishman Hotel Corp. to Become President of CNL Hospitality Corp.
By Jerry W. Jackson, The Orlando Sentinel, Fla.
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News 

Feb. 24, 2003 - Since 1997, hotel industry executive John A. Griswold has spent hundreds of hours flying from his home in Windermere to New York, where Tishman Hotel Corp. is based. 

As president of Tishman, he divided his schedule between his New York office and his Orlando offices on the second floor of the Tishman-owned Walt Disney World Swan Hotel. 

That will change in a few weeks: Griswold is trading his president's title at Tishman to become president of CNL Hospitality Corp., the fast-growing hotel company based at the CNL Center in downtown Orlando. 

"My commute will be a lot shorter," said Griswold, 54, a veteran hospitality industry leader who has lived in the Orlando area for 25 years. 

While Griswold's frequent-flier miles may be curbed, his challenges are expanding. 

Taking on the role of president of CNL Hospitality and its real estate investment trust, Griswold will help oversee one of the country's fastest-growing hotel companies. 

Since it bought its first hotel in 1998, CNL has grown to 60 properties in 23 states, including 18 through joint ventures. 

CNL Hospitality is part of the CNL Financial Group Inc. family in Orlando, one of the nation's largest, privately held real estate investment and finance companies, which got its start in the 1970s. 

The parent CNL Financial and its entities together hold more than $5.3 billion in assets, representing more than 2,850 properties in 49 states. The hospitality financing and development arm has raised more than $1.5 billion for growth and acquisitions through stock offerings and debt raised by its real estate investment trust, organized in June 1996. 

People who know Griswold say he has the right mix of experience and skills to help lead CNL Hospitality as it builds its portfolio. 

"He's a good leader, fair-minded and has a lot of common sense," said Ed Moriarty, a former Disney executive and Griswold's boss at Disney in the 1970s. 

Griswold came to Orlando to work for Disney fresh out of college at Cornell University, where he earned a bachelor of science degree in hospitality management. An Arlington, Va., native, Griswold was eager to strike out on his own and was recruited by Disney while still in college. 

"I packed up the car and moved here" in 1971, just before Walt Disney World opened. 

For seven years at Disney, he held various food and beverage jobs, including food operations manager at the former Lake Buena Vista Villages, the shopping and entertainment zone that later expanded to become Downtown Disney. He did everything from catering cocktail parties to box lunches for 1,000. 

Moriarty, who was vice president of Lake Buena Vista Communities, recalls Griswold as a "fearless, bright young executive. He was my No. 1 guy. I thought a lot of him." 

When Griswold told Moriarty he was going to move to Michigan to run resorts there, Moriarty tried to talk him out of it and went so far as to call Griswold's parents in Cleveland to plead with them. 

"His father sided with me. It didn't do any good," Moriarty said. "Being a Cornell graduate, his entrepreneurial side was too strong." 

But Griswold tired of the cold in Michigan after a few years, and Moriarty played a role in luring him back to Orlando. The Buena Vista Palace (now the Wyndham Palace) was being built, and Moriarty arranged for Griswold to interview for the general manager's job. He landed it and stayed five years, before Tishman hired him in 1985. 

Moriarty, who came out of retirement six years ago to become president of Ron Jon's Surf Shop, has remained close to Griswold, golfing occasionally at Isleworth where Griswold lives. 

Griswold said his years at Disney were meaningful to his career. 

"It was fun, and they gave us a lot of responsibility at a young age." Moreover, he said, he met his wife, Debra, who also worked at Disney. They have been married 25 years now, and have two grown daughters. 

Griswold has spent the past 17 years refining his hospitality-industry skills with Tishman Hotel Corp., which is an operating unit of the more than 100-year-old Tishman Realty & Construction Co., based in New York. 

Tishman, in addition to owning the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin hotels, currently has more than a dozen upscale properties in its portfolio, primarily in New York, Chicago and California. They range from the business-oriented Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers to the lush Westin Rio Mar Beach, a 500-acre resort in Puerto Rico. The company is a developer, owner and operator of hotels. 

While CNL Hospitality is structured differently, primarily as a real estate investment trust, and holds stakes in hotels managed by third parties, Griswold said he sees his job at CNL as similar to that at Tishman. 

"I'll be focusing a lot on marketing and finance," Griswold said. "CNL is growing and will be growing rapidly, and there's a lot of work to do." 

When he concludes his work at Tishman in about two weeks, Griswold will report to CNL Hospitality co-CEO Thomas J. Hutchison III, who shares the chief executive role with CNL founder and chairman James Seneff. Reporting to Griswold is Charles Muller, chief operating officer. 

Muller worked for Griswold at Tishman for about four years before joining CNL and helped develop the Westin Rio Mar, a 694-room Caribbean beachfront hotel. 

Aside from working with Muller, Griswold has another connection with CNL that helped convince him that the company has a solid future: he spent the past four years on CNL Hospitality's board of directors. 

Hutchison, co-CEO of CNL Hospitality, said Griswold adds "a wealth of experience and leadership" to the executive boardroom. "He's a true visionary in the hospitality sector," Hutchison said. 

In addition to his new role at CNL, Griswold also is chairman-elect of the Orlando/Orange County Convention & Visitors Bureau. He will assume the leadership position in January for at least a one-year term, overseeing the 26-member board that sets policy for the area's largest tourism promotion agency. 

Griswold already has begun attending monthly executive committee meetings, adding to his time demands that will only grow at CNL. 

"To have somebody in his position and from a company of that stature agree to stay on as chairman is personally and professionally flattering," said Bill Peeper, president of the convention and visitors bureau. Peeper said he has known Griswold for more than 20 years and describes him as "incredibly astute" as well as hard-working. 

A tall, former track and field athlete, Griswold does a half hour of aerobic exercises four or five days a week to stay in shape for long workdays. He will need stamina to keep up with his new boss, Seneff, who parlayed a $5,000 loan in 1973 into the $5.3 billion company of today. Seneff sets a brisk pace for others in the office tower, often dining at his desk and working half-days on Saturdays. 

While CNL Hospitality has been growing and adding to its portfolio, in part taking advantage of historic low borrowing costs, the entire hotel industry is wending its way through a weak travel market. The coming year could be particularly trying, if war erupts in Iraq. 

For motivation on tough days, Griswold reaches back to the memory of his father, a math teacher who went to law school at night to fulfill his dream of becoming an attorney -- despite suffering from polio. 

The last 15 years of his life, Griswold said, his dad was in a wheelchair but still practiced law. Even years before, when Griswold was in college running the high hurdles, soaring on strong legs, his father was faltering. But he would hobble across the field to see his son, beaming with pride. 

"The sight of that," Griswold said, as the years peel away in his mind, "is true motivation." 

CNL HOSPITALITY PROPERTIES INC. 

Co-CEOs: James Seneff and Thomas J. Hutchison III. 

President: John A. Griswold. 

Headquarters: Orlando. 

Assets: 60 hotels and plans for 4 more, in 23 states. 

Asset value: More than $1.54 billion. 

Business structure: Public, unlisted real estate investment trust and advisory company. 

Year founded: 1996 for Hospitality Properties and 1997 for Hospitality Corp. 

Capital available for investment in properties and mortgage loans: $88.6 million. 

Sampling of brands: Marriott, Hilton, Courtyard, SpringHill Suites, Hampton Inn, Residence Inn, TownePlace Suites. 

Sources: CNL, SEC 10-Q and prospectus supplement dated Feb. 5, 2003. 

-----To see more of The Orlando Sentinel -- including its homes, jobs, cars and other classified listings -- or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.OrlandoSentinel.com 

(c) 2003. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. DIS, NNN, WYN, 


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