Tracy Wray, Will Friedrichs & Shannon Foster Join Noelle
(NASHVILLE, TN; November 6, 2017) — Key leadership roles in areas of management, sales & marketing, and food & beverage have been announced at Noelle, the 224-room experiential hotel located at 400 Fourth Avenue North, adjacent to Nashville’s historic Printer's Alley. The property will open later this year.
Shannon Foster will serve as Noelle’s General Manager. A native Midwesterner, she began her career in hospitality while studying hospitality business at Michigan State University. In 2004, she went on to support the team at The Oxford Hotel in Denver, Colorado as Director of Operations of the 80-room luxury historic boutique hotel. Two years later, Foster made the move to Chicago, Illinois where, as Front Office Manager at the Fairmont Hotel, she led all operations of the front office department of the 750-room luxury hotel. Foster then spent five years managing operations at boutique Hotels Monaco Chicago and Salt Lake City — both part of the Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants collection. In 2012, she relocated to San Diego where she spent three years as General Manager of Kimpton’s Hotel La Jolla, a 110-room boutique, resort style hotel. From there, Foster went on to lead San Diego’s Hotel Solamar where as General Manager she was responsible for day-to-day hotel operations, guest relations and business development for the 235-room stylish boutique hotel, including 14,000 square feet of event space, the famed Jsix Restaurant and Upper East rooftop bar.
A Tennessee native, Tracy Wray has been a fixture in the Nashville hospitality industry for over 20 years. After graduating from the University of Tennessee in Hospitality Management, she began her career in hotel sales and has successfully assisted in the growth of the city’s hospitality landscape as Director of Group Sales at Sheraton Downtown, Director of Group Sales at Marriott Vanderbilt and Senior Sales Manager at Hutton Hotel (Winner of Smart Meetings' 2017 Smart Star Award – Best Boutique/Lifestyle Hotel). Most recently, Wray was the Director of Sales and Marketing at Sheraton Grand in Downtown Nashville where she effectively rebranded the property from the Sheraton Nashville to the Sheraton Grand. With her passion for hotels, Wray will head up both pre-opening sales and day-to-day operations of sales and marketing as Noelle’s Director of Sales and Marketing.
Will Friedrichs is General Manager of Food & Beverage Operations. Born in Sydney, Australia, Will Friedrichs developed an early interest in the hospitality industry while watching his father work in hotels as a musician and admiring the work of the restaurant’s maitre’d. He went on to study Business Administration and Management at University of Sydney, graduating in 1995. With over 15 years of hotel, cruise ship, and freestanding restaurant experience, Friedrichs has worked at top companies ranging from The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company in Australia, California, Florida, and New York, Princess Cruise Lines in California, and The Joule Hotel in Texas. Within the past three years, he has been a part of opening teams at luxury hotel The Knickerbocker and the iconic Rainbow Room in New York as well as luxury hotel The Dewberry in Charleston, South Carolina (Conde Nast Traveler‘s 2017 Hot List of best new hotels in the world).
The announcements were made by MAKEREADY, a distinctive operator of hotel, restaurant, and retail brands, which oversees Noelle’s management, operations, curation and partnerships. Noelle part of the Tribute Portfolio collection of independent hotels. Follow Noelle online at www.noelle-nashville.com.
