UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State School of Hospitality Management (SHM) named Daniel H. Lesser, president and CEO of LW Hospitality Advisors (LWHA), as its fall 2015 Walter J. Conti Visiting Professor.
Conti Professors visit the School of Hospitality Management to interact with students and faculty members, to present guest lectures in hospitality management, and to speak at graduate and undergraduate colloquia.
“Dan Lesser's success within the hospitality industry is evidenced by the esteem in which he is held by clients, colleagues, and the many rising stars in the field he has mentored,” said Donna Quadri-Felitti, director of the School of Hospitality Management. “His clarity of purpose, technical acumen, and unabridged style are what make him a favored speaker and adviser in the lodging sector. Those same qualities will inspire our Penn State Hospitality Management students as Dan serves as Conti Professor.”
Lesser, member of the Penn State School of Hospitality Management Industry Advisory Board, provides a wide range of hospitality operational, investment counseling, valuation, advisory, and transactional services to corporate, institutional, and individual clients as well as public agencies on all facets of hospitality real estate including: litigation support and expert testimony; site evaluation; highest and best use analysis; appraisals for mortgage, acquisition, and portfolio management; workout strategies; operational analysis; development consulting; property tax assessment appeal evaluations; economic impact studies; fairness opinions; deal structuring; and negotiation of management and franchise agreements.
Lesser’s services have been retained in connection with a broad variety of lodging assets throughout the Americas, as well as in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
A leading international authority with ironclad credibility on the topic of hotel feasibility and valuation, Lesser is highly sought after to speak at lodging and real estate events throughout the United States, as well as lectures at higher education institutions, including Cornell University, Columbia University and New York University. He is widely published and quoted and has served as a quarterly columnist for GlobeSt.com, HotelNewsNow.com and HotelBusiness.com.
Lesser currently blogs for HOTELS magazine where he explores metrics and trends of U.S. hotel investment activity including single asset trades, portfolio sales, and corporate mergers/acquisitions and offers real time analysis and commentary on conditions affecting hotel real estate and market trends.
Prior to founding LWHA, Lesser created and served as the senior managing director-industry leader of the Hospitality & Gaming Valuation Advisory Services Group at CB Richard Ellis Hotels (CBRE). Prior to joining CBRE, Lesser founded and led the Hospitality & Gaming Group at Cushman & Wakefield and was a founding member of the team at HVS International.
Lesser has also held operational and administrative positions with Hilton Hotels Corporation and Eurotels-Switzerland. He earned a bachelor of science degree in hotel administration from Cornell University and also attended the Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne, Switzerland, and Baruch College- City University of New York.
Walter J. Conti, for whom the Conti Professorship is named, is a well-known restaurateur and industry leader from Doylestown, Pennsylvania. He is the retired owner and chief executive officer of Conti Cross Keys Inn and the Historic Piper Tavern (formerly Conti's Pipersville Inn), both located in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
Conti has held various leadership positions in the National Restaurant Association, including a term as chairman from 1981 to 1982, and he is a "diplomat" of the association's educational foundation. The Conti Professorship Program was established by alumni and friends of the Penn State School of Hospitality Management in 1987 to honor Walter J. Conti for his contributions to the school, to Penn State and to the hospitality profession.