Chairman & CEO, The Kessler Collection
Richard C. Kessler has spent 37 years in the field of hotel development and operations, including nine as President and Chairman of Days Inn of America and 23 as Chairman & CEO of The Kessler Enterprise Inc., a portfolio of ten boutique three-, four- and five-star quality properties located in Florida, Georgia, Colorado and New Mexico (including the conference’s Grand Bohemian Hotel).
Richard is the former chairman of the board for Lutheran Brotherhood (a Fortune 500, $30 billion Minneapolis-based financial services organization), founder and chairman of the New Ebenezer Conference and Retreat Center, founder and board member of Treutlen House for children, founder and sustainer of the Kessler Reformation Collection at Emory University’s Pitts Theological Library, and sponsor of six scholarship programs. In 2000, he was named the Florida Master Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young.
Richard has received the Effingham County Honored Treutlen Award for Outstanding Leadership, the distinguished Alumnus Award at Georgia Tech, and the Dean’s Medal for singular commitment and contribution to the Candler School of Theology at Emory University.