Accomplished finance executive brings 30-plus years of extensive experience across hospitality, foodservice and retail to the top third-party hotel management company
PLANO, Texas, June 5, 2024—Aimbridge Hospitality, a leading, hospitality management company and the world’s largest third-party hotel operator, today announced William Davenport as its new Chief Financial Officer, effective July 8. Davenport will sit on the organization’s executive leadership team and report directly to Craig S. Smith, Chief Executive Officer.
As Chief Financial Officer, Davenport will oversee the financial management of the company and have direct responsibility for accounting, financial planning and analysis, compliance, tax, treasury, and procurement. He will utilize more than three decades of strategic experience across high growth businesses in hospitality, restaurants, franchising, and private equity to help drive Aimbridge’s global expansion strategy, build new core competencies, transform financial reporting systems, and simplify processes to enhance the comprehensive, best-in-class services provided to the company’s owners, brand partners, and vendors.
“As we build on our industry leadership and focus in on cultivating a collaborative, performance-driven culture, we plan to leverage William’s proven experience and leadership to strengthen our team and services,” Smith said. “His track record of establishing dynamic infrastructures, capabilities, and systems will enhance our business model by creating speed, efficiencies, and sustained property performance, leading to the outsized results for our owners and partners.”
Davenport joins Aimbridge following his most recent role as Chief Financial Officer with Velvet Taco, a fast-growing restaurant chain. Prior to Velvet Taco he served as Chief Financial Officer at Topgolf for a decade where he helped the concept grow from nine venues to its current scale of more than 80 U.S.-based locations, a global footprint, and revenues exceeding $1.75 billion. Davenport was instrumental in Topgolf’s growth journey, including hiring critical functional talent and scaling the team, working with capital markets, and overseeing the integration of Topgolf into Callaway Golf following the brand acquisition.
“Aimbridge is incredibly well positioned for growth, which makes this an exciting time to join the company and be part of shaping the vision for the future,” said Davenport. “I look forward to leveraging my diverse experience in hospitality and franchising to help the company deepen its hotel-centric approach, improve the services we provide at scale, and realize its partners’ aggressive growth goals.”
Davenport’s experience also includes senior level finance leadership roles at Haggar Clothing Co, Neiman Marcus Group, and Brinker International Inc., after beginning his career at KPMG Peat Marwick.
Davenport will work closely with the senior leadership team, including the company’s recently appointed Chief Global Growth Officer, Eric Jacobs, and its news Chief Legal Officer, Greg Moundas.
