Leadership

Patrick Pacious is President and Chief Executive Officer of Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH), one of the largest and most successful lodging franchisors in the world, with more than 7,100 hotels, representing nearly 600,000 rooms, in over 40 countries and territories as of December 31, 2020. Throughout his 15-plus years of leadership in increasingly senior roles at Choice, Pacious has revitalized legacy brands, launched new brands, and acquired a brand that is the fastest growing in its segment, as well as led enterprise-wide technology transformation initiatives. He has improved business delivery to hotel owners and advanced a corporate culture focused on diversity, equity and belonging as well as performance for Choice associates.

In 2020, Pacious successfully navigated the company through the unprecedented circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic and delivered results that outperformed the industry. Throughout the pandemic, he also led advocacy efforts with Congress and the Administration to drive assistance for small business owners and the company’s franchisees, helping to ensure that their needs would be addressed in the economic relief bills enacted during the crisis.

Pacious has a proven track record of building, strengthening and fortifying hotel brands to appeal to the customers of tomorrow. In addition to leading the transformation of the company’s flagship Comfort brand with a multi-year, $2.5 billion joint investment with franchisees, he has significantly grown the company’s upscale presence with its Cambria Hotels brand, which has more than 50 hotels in top markets nationwide. Choice’s newest brands are fueling the company’s growth in the extended stay and midscale segments. In 2020, the company achieved nearly 450 open extended stay hotels and launched Everhome Suites, a new-construction midscale extended stay brand that marries the company’s eight decades of midscale expertise with its proven extended stay operating model. Under Pacious’ leadership, Choice Hotels acquired WoodSpring Suites in 2018 and dramatically increased the brand’s performance since. That same year, the company successfully launched Clarion Pointe, a select-service brand.

The continuous improvement of Choice’s business-delivery capabilities has driven strong results for Choice brands in all segments. In 2020, Choice grew its award-winning Choice Privileges loyalty program to 47 million members and significantly improved the proportion of revenue delivered to Choice-brand hotels via corporate channels. This has led to an industry-leading voluntary franchisee retention rate.

Pacious has significant experience in leading technological transformation to meet the demands of the digital economy. In 2018, the company launched choiceEDGE, the hotel industry’s most advanced cloud-based reservation system and distribution platform. In 2019, Choice further strengthened its technology leadership position by becoming the first hotel company to begin to migrate its legacy systems to the Amazon Web Services cloud to improve performance, scalability, and reliability. Choice has formed a strategic partnership with the Amazon ML Solutions Lab to identify uses for machine learning across the enterprise.

Among Choice’s over 1,000 associates, Pacious’ focus has been centered around the creation of an inclusive and performance-based corporate culture. In 2020, he was named one of the "Top 50 Best CEOs of Large Companies" by Comparably for a second-straight year, as determined by employee ratings, ranking No. 7 overall. He was also selected as one of Comparably’s “Best CEOs for Women” and, in 2019, he received the inaugural Veterans in Business Award from the Washington Business Journal for his work to help veterans in the workplace and beyond. The company has been recognized as a best-in-class employer by several groups since Pacious took the reins as CEO. Recent accolades include being named one of the “2020 Best Employers for Diversity” and “2020 Best Employers for Veterans,” both by Forbes, as well as earning a top score on Disability:IN's “2020 Disability Equality Index” and being recognized by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation's Corporate Equality Index as a “Best Place to Work for LGBTQ Equality.”

Pacious joined Choice in 2005 and steadily rose in responsibility. Before becoming CEO in 2017, he was the company’s president and chief operating officer, where he led strategy and growth initiatives within the areas of technology, innovation, distribution, brand, marketing, franchise services, and performance analytics. His first exposure to Choice was as a consultant at Arthur Andersen Business Consulting LLP and BearingPoint Inc., where he worked with executive management and boards of directors of clients that included several major hospitality companies in addition to Choice. From 1987 to 1993, Pacious served as a U.S. Navy officer in surface warfare and strategic planning.

Pacious received his bachelor’s degree in political science and Latin American studies from Duke University. He earned a master’s degree in business administration from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. Pacious serves on the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts’ board of directors.

Dominic Dragisich is Chief Financial Officer for Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH), one of the world’s leading hotel companies. In this role, he leads Choice’s overall financial strategy and corporate growth initiatives to drive ongoing expansion across major markets and maximize shareholder value. Mr. Dragisich also heads the company’s Corporate Development team, overseeing strategic corporate investments, joint ventures, acquisitions, and business alliances.

Mr. Dragisich joined Choice Hotels in 2017 in his current executive position. During his tenure, he successfully streamlined the company’s budgeting, forecasting and capital allocation processes, and has led several initiatives to support the company’s continued growth in the upscale hotel segment. Most notably, Mr. Dragisich established a strategic finance organization within the company to help define and support long-term business objectives, including those for Choice’s upscale brands.

Prior to joining Choice Hotels, Mr. Dragisich served as chief financial officer at XO Communications, a national provider of advanced telecommunications services. There, he oversaw all aspects of the company’s financial operations, including accounting, financial planning and analysis, revenue assurance, real estate, treasury, billing and credit and collections. In addition, he successfully returned the company to top-line growth, increased profitability and played a lead role in the company’s eventual sale to Verizon Communications, Inc. Earlier in his career, Mr. Dragisich held senior finance and operational positions at Marriott International, NII Holdings and Deloitte Consulting.

Mr. Dragisich earned his bachelor’s degree in finance and accounting from the University of Virginia’s McIntire School of Commerce and his MBA from Harvard Business School.

Noha Abdalla is Chief Marketing Officer for Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH), one of the world’s largest lodging franchisors. In this role, she leads the company’s marketing, advertising, communications, and brand-building functions to advance Choice’s corporate strategy across all guest touchpoints. Abdalla also plays a critical role in guiding the development of the company’s evolving technology blueprint and infrastructure roadmap to support future growth objectives and Choice’s marketing vision.

Abdalla joined Choice Hotels in 2022, bringing more than 20 years of experience shaping business strategies and marketing solutions for several of the world’s most well-known organizations. She came to Choice from MyEyeDr.—a Goldman Sachs-equity backed optical company with more than 800 locations nationwide—where she served as chief marketing officer. In this capacity, Abdalla led the company’s first-ever marketing transformation to support the launch of a new CRM (customer relationship management) system, online booking platform, patient portal and in-house media planning and buying function. Prior, Abdalla led all digital owned channels and oversaw all digital marketing communications as the global vice president of digital and content marketing for Hilton. Earlier in her career, Abdalla held roles of increasing responsibility on Capital One’s digital brand strategy and social media team, as well as Discovery Inc.’s Animal Planet marketing department.

Abdalla earned a Master of Business Administration and a Bachelor of Science in International Economics from Georgetown University.

Patrick Cimerola is the Chief Human Resources Officer of Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH), one of the world’s largest hotel franchisors. In this role, he oversees and ensures the alignment of the company’s broad spectrum of human resources programs and services with the company’s core business objectives and strategic roadmap.

During his successful tenure, Mr. Cimerola has led transformational efforts across the organization in regard to diversity, compensation, succession planning and employee engagement, to strengthen Choice’s value proposition and attract and retain top-talent. Most notably, Mr. Cimerola successfully led a deliberate, seamless orchestration of the company’s CEO succession planning and transition.

Mr. Cimerola champions a performance-based workplace in which all associates feel welcome, wanted and respected; with his guidance Choice Hotels notably implemented a range of associate programs and resource groups dedicated to career development, networking, mentorship and cultural awareness. Under Mr. Cimerola’s leadership, aligned with the core values of respect and inclusiveness, Choice Hotels has earned the reputation “Best Places to Work” by Washingtonian Magazine, and has been named “Best Places to Work for LGBT Equality” by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Corporate Equality Index for the past eight years.

Mr. Cimerola joined Choice Hotels in 2002 as a senior director of human resources, and leading up to the 2008 promotion to his current leadership role, held positions of increasing responsibility within the company. Prior to joining Choice, Mr. Cimerola held various positions in healthcare services and hospitality. From 2000 to 2001, he served as vice president of human resources for Capella Senior Living, LLC. Earlier in his career, he spent eight years with ManorCare (formerly the parent company of Choice Hotels), ultimately rising to the position of director of human resources.

Mr. Cimerola earned his bachelor’s degree in finance from La Salle University in Philadelphia and a master’s degree in administration from Central Michigan University.

Brian Kirkland is Chief Information Officer for Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH), one of the world’s largest hotel companies. In this role, he oversees the company’s Information Technology organization, and is responsible for leading overall IT strategy, infrastructure, development, all aligning with Choice’s business objectives.

Mr. Kirkland joined Choice Hotels in 2015, where he led engineering development and operations at the company’s Phoenix-based technology headquarters. Mr. Kirkland notably guided Choice’s efforts to successfully design and launch the industry’s first new global reservation system in 30 years, choiceEDGE. Subsequently, he kicked off a multi-year cloud transformation and migration strategy for which Choice Hotels is the first major hotel company to commit to going all-in on the cloud with Amazon Web Services (AWS). Recently, leveraging cloud capabilities Mr. Kirkland is leading Choice’s innovation and modernization in technology.

Prior to joining Choice Hotels, Mr. Kirkland held key leadership positions at leading technology companies, GoDaddy and Media Temple (acquired by Go Daddy in 2013), most recently serving as vice president of engineering. There, Mr. Kirkland helped integrate the company’s IT structure as well as directed engineering. Earlier in his career, he held various software development positions at Hewlett-Packard and Intel.

Mr. Kirkland earned his bachelor’s degree in computer science and a master’s degree in business administration from Arizona State University. He is currently a member of Arizona’s Information Technology Authorization Committee (ITAC) and Arizona State University’s Executive Council for the Department of Information Systems. He also serves on the Executive Leadership Group for Hospitality Technology Next Generation (HTNG).

Robert McDowell is Chief Commercial Officer for Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH), one of the world’s leading hotel companies. In this role, he is responsible for developing and leading Choice’s digital commerce, loyalty, revenue management, procurement and customer care.

Mr. McDowell joined Choice Hotels in May 2011 as senior vice president of marketing and distribution, and was appointed to his current leadership position in 2016. During his tenure, he successfully developed and executed the company’s customer acquisition strategy through an integrated digital advertising campaign, built an industry-leading revenue management platform, relaunched Choice Privileges, a now top-rated and the fastest-growing loyalty program in the industry, and continued to evolve Choice’s digital platform.

Prior to joining Choice Hotels, Mr. McDowell spent nearly 15 years with United Airlines, where he served as managing director of distribution and eCommerce.While at United, he led efforts in international route planning, revenue management, e-commerce and global distribution. Previously, Mr. McDowell also served as chief operating officer for C&H International, a $600 million international travel agency.

Mr. McDowell has a proven track record of building high performing teams focused on customer engagement rooted in technology innovation, market research, and data to continually drive bottom line performance for the enterprise. Mr. McDowell earned his bachelor’s degree from the New York Institute of Technology, and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Notre Dame.

David Pepper is Chief Development Officer of Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH), one of the largest and most successful lodging franchisors in the world. In this role, he is responsible for driving unit growth for each of the company’s brands in key markets worldwide.

Pepper joined Choice Hotels in 2002 as vice president, franchise sales and development for the company’s new construction brands. Shortly thereafter, he was promoted to senior vice president of franchise development for North America, and later to his current executive position.

During his tenure, Pepper notably led the company to record levels of franchise sales, including more than doubling franchise sales in his first three years of leadership. He also played an integral role in expanding Choice’s presence in both the upscale and extended stay hotel markets by launching and growing the Cambria Hotels brand, including overseeing up to $475 million in corporate capital that the company is authorized to invest. In addition, he helped with the acquisitions of the WoodSpring Suites and Suburban Extended Stay Hotel brands.

Prior to joining Choice Hotels, Pepper served as vice president of franchise sales for Hawthorn Suites and Microtel Inns. He also served as director of franchise sales for Holiday Inn Worldwide.

Pepper earned his bachelor’s degree in economics from Tufts University. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the International Franchise Association.

Raul Ramirez is Chief Strategy and International Operations Officer for Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH), one of the world’s leading hotel companies. In this role, he is responsible for developing the company’s corporate strategy and leading enterprise transformation efforts. Mr. Ramirez also provides management, direction, and development of the company’s international business. He oversees more than 1,100 franchised properties across 40 territories and countries.

Mr. Ramirez joined the company in 2017 as VP, Strategic Finance and FP&A. During his time at Choice, he oversaw various functions for the company, including its FP&A, Strategic Finance, Investor Relation, Revenue Assurance, IT Vendor Management, International Corporate Development, and Corporate Strategy. Most notably, he successfully transformed the FP&A and Strategic Finance function, led the integration of the WoodSpring Suites brand, launched an enterprise strategic planning process to help define and support long-term business and financial goals, and led the transformation and expansion of the company’s international division.

Prior to joining Choice Hotels, Mr. Ramirez served as Head of Finance for Verizon’s XO Wireline business unit. Prior to Verizon, Ramirez held senior finance and operational leadership roles at XO Communications and Nextel International. Ramirez is an electronic and communications engineering graduate of the Tec de Monterrey in Mexico City, holds an MBA from UNC at Chapel Hill, and has completed additional graduate studies at Kellogg Business School. He sits on Choice Canada and Choice Barbados Board of Directors.

Scott E. Oaksmith is Senior Vice President, Deputy Chief Financial Officer for Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH), one of the world’s largest and most successful lodging franchisors. In this role, he oversees the company’s deployment of capital through real estate development and investments to grow the company’s brands as well as leading the company’s advanced analytics team leveraging data to improve company performance. Mr. Oaksmith also plays an integral role in the company’s investor relation efforts and leads the company’s domestic and international treasury operations with a focus on capital allocation strategies to maximize shareholder value.

Mr. Oaksmith joined Choice Hotels in 2002 as director of marketing and reservation finance, and has since held positions of increasing responsibilities in the area of finance including most recently senior vice president, finance & chief accounting officer with oversight of the company accounting, financial planning and analysis and treasury operations. In 2020, he assumed his current role as senior vice president, real estate & finance. Throughout his tenure, Mr. Oaksmith has worked closely with key stakeholders to identify opportunities to grow the company’s core business and adjacent lines of business, streamlined financial operations, enhanced capital allocation strategies and utilized business intelligence services to drive strategic and operating decisions in support of the company’s goals.

Prior to joining Choice Hotels, Mr. Oaksmith held various accounting and consulting positions at American Express Tax and Business Services, Inc. and its predecessor Wolfpoff & Company, LLP.

Mr. Oaksmith earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Towson University in Maryland and a master’s in business administration, with a concentration in finance, from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

John Bonds is senior vice president of enterprise operations and technology for Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH), one of the world’s largest hotel companies. In this role, Mr. Bonds is responsible for the developing the company’s corporate and brand strategies as well as leading Choice’s franchisee operations and technology functions.

Mr. Bonds joined Choice Hotels in 2006 and throughout his successful tenure has held roles of increasing responsibility. In 2011, Mr. Bonds was named vice president of corporate strategy and business transformation and in 2012, he was promoted to senior vice president of strategy and services. Under his leadership, Choice Hotels most notably transformed the Comfort brand, further positioning the company and its franchisees for long-term growth and profitability. Mr. Bonds was appointed to his current leadership position in 2017, which expanded his oversight to include the brand management and information technology organizations. In this position, Mr. Bonds played a key role in transitioning the business to choiceEDGE, the industry’s first new global reservation system from a hotel company in over 30 years.

Prior to joining Choice, Mr. Bonds spent more than seven years in business consulting at Navigant Consulting, BearingPoint and Arthur Andersen Business Consulting. In these positions, he advised clients on topics pertaining to operations optimization, revenue assurance, systems implementation and compliance. Earlier in his career, he also held product development and marketing roles for Bravo and Rain Bird Corporations.

Mr. Bonds earned his master's degree in business administration from Georgetown University and a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of California, San Diego. Currently, he serves on the advisory council for Artis Senior Living, a developer-owner-operator of assisted living residences.

Simone Wu serves as Senior Vice President, General Counsel, Corporate Secretary & External Affairs for Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH), one of the largest and most successful lodging franchisors in the world. In this role, Wu serves as the primary legal advisor to the company’s senior management team and Board of Directors. In addition to leading the company’s legal function as general counsel, she also oversees government affairs, risk management, procurement services, external communications and public relations.

Wu joined Choice Hotels in 2012 and has over 30 years of legal and regulatory experience and expertise, particularly in corporate matters, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, employment law, and intellectual property issues. Earlier in her career, Wu served as executive vice president, general counsel, and secretary for XO Communications. She has also held leadership roles at MCI and AOL, and practiced corporate transactional and communications law at Skadden, Arps, Slate and Meagher & Flom.

Throughout her career, Wu has been an outspoken proponent of women and diversity in the workplace, advocating for these themes at numerous industry and legal conferences. She received the 2020 Diamond Award of Excellence from the Corporate Counsel Women of Color in recognition of her career achievements and commitment to the leadership and professional development of women.

Wu earned a degree in political science from the University of Michigan and a law degree from Columbia University. She currently serves on the Boards of Directors of Alarm.com (NASDAQ: ALRM) and the American Hotel & Lodging Association and is a past board member of the International Franchise Association.

Sally Bartas is the Chief Talent and Culture Officer for Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH), one of the world’s largest lodging franchisors. In this role, she spearheads and expands our talent and culture initiatives, working closely with leaders across the company to develop integrated and forward-thinking talent and related-human resources strategies. Bartas also plays a critical role in the implementation of the programs and processes that guide our succession planning, talent segmentation, talent assessment, talent acquisition, workforce planning, diversity, equity, and belonging, performance management, and organizational design efforts.

Bartas joined Choice Hotels in 2022, bringing more than 15 years of experience shaping human resources processes, talent management, and culture. She came to Choice from Stanley Black and Decker—the world's largest tool company with 55,000 employees, 50 manufacturing American facilities, and more than 100 worldwide—where she held several positions across DE&I, talent management, and recently served as vice president, human resources corporate. Earlier in her career, she started in human resources within the hospitality industry and spent eight years in sales and marketing.

Bartas earned her bachelor’s degree at Central CT State University in Communications with a concentration on Marketing and Public Relations.

Anna Scozzafava is the vice president and general manager, extended stay brands for Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH), one of the largest lodging franchisors in the world. In this role, she is responsible for the strategy, growth and performance of the company’s extended-stay brand portfolio, which includes MainStay Suites, Everhome Suites, WoodSpring Suites, and Suburban Studios.

Previously, Scozzafava oversaw Choice’s corporate strategy, business transformation and technology planning functions, ensuring the company’s continued alignment between business and technology objectives. She helped to successfully outline Choice’s business objectives and technology blueprint as well as implement leading technology advancements to help maximize franchisee return on investment. Scozzafava has played a critical cross-enterprise role in several strategic areas, including the global growth of the company’s upscale brands, the execution of the Comfort brand transformation strategy, the acquisition and growth of the WoodSpring Suites brand, and most recently the launch of the company’s newest brand Everhome Suites.

Scozzafava was honored in the 2019 “Influential Women in Hospitality” issue of Hotel Management. Prior to joining Choice, Scozzafava worked at Corporate Executive Board (now Gartner), a leading technology advisory firm. Scozzafava earned her bachelor’s degree from Washington College and was inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame in 2019 for her achievements in women’s rowing, including the first ever All-American coxswain.

Megan Brumagim is the vice president, ESG for Choice Hotels International, one of the world’s largest lodging franchisors. In this role, she leads the company’s sustainability and social impact initiatives and is responsible for growing Choice’s ESG platform.

Prior to this role, she was the vice president, brand management, design and compliance, where she led brand strategy, design, and operations for Choice’s largest portfolio of brands across 5,200 units. Brumagim joined Choice Hotels in 2015 as the leader of the Comfort brand family and has led several of the company’s most significant brand initiatives in recent years, including the transformation of the Comfort brand, the launch of the Rise & Shine™ prototype, and the pandemic response for Choice’s core brands.

Before joining Choice Hotels, Brumagim was Senior Director of Global Brand Management at Marriott International. She was previously a strategy consultant with McKinsey & Company and Booz Allen Hamilton, where she led strategy, brand, operations, and marketing projects across a variety of sectors. Brumagim has worked and studied in multiple countries, including the United Kingdom, India, Kenya, Peru, and Argentina. She also worked on the planning committee for the London 2012 Olympic Games and was the National Spokesperson and Director of Marketing for Let’s Go travel guides.

Brumagim holds a BA cum laude from Harvard University and an MBA and Forté Fellowship from London Business School.