Laurence Geller is our President, Chief Executive Officer and Director and founder of Strategic Hotel Capital, L.L.C., or SHC LLC. Prior to founding SHC LLC in 1997, Mr. Geller was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Geller & Co., a gaming, tourism and lodging advisory company he founded in 1989. Geller & Co. specialized in major hotel, corporate and real estate development, financing and structuring on an international scope. Previously, Mr. Geller held positions as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Hyatt Development Corporation, Senior Vice President of Holiday Inns, Inc. and Director of Grand Metropolitan Hotels in London. Mr. Geller is a former Vice Chairman of the Commercial and Retail Council of the Urban Land Institute and the immediate past Chairman of the Industry Real Estate Financing Advisory Council of the American Hotel and Motel Association. Mr. Geller also sits on the board of Children’s Memorial Hospital and serves as a member of its finance committee and facilities sub-committee. Mr. Geller is Co-Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Churchill Centre and Ambassador for North America for the Hotel and Catering Institutional Management Association of the U.K. Mr. Geller is a graduate of Ealing Technical College’s school of hotel management and catering. Mr. Geller has over 40 years of experience in the lodging industry and has received numerous awards for his service to the lodging industry.