Rob Hays is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Ashford Hospitality Trust (NYSE:AHT), a publicly-traded hotel ownership company with 100 hotels across the United States, representing more than 22,000 hotel rooms. The company has properties that are affiliated with various Marriott, Hilton, and Hyatt brands, as well as some that are independent boutique brands. Mr. Hays is also a member of the Board of Directors of Ashford Hospitality Trust. He has been with the company since 2005 and previously held a variety of positions including Chief Strategy Officer and Senior Vice President of Corporate Finance & Strategy. Mr. Hays has frequently appeared in both print and television media, including CNBC, the Wall Street Journal, and numerous real estate and industry publications. He is also a frequent speaker at industry and Wall Street investor conferences.
Prior to joining Ashford in 2005, Mr. Hays worked in the Corporate Development office of Dresser, Inc., a Dallas-based oil field service and manufacturing company, where he focused on mergers, acquisitions, and strategic direction. Before working at Dresser, Mr. Hays was a member of the Merrill Lynch Global Power & Energy Investment Banking Group based in Texas.
Outside of his professional work, Mr. Hays is involved in several charitable, formative and faith organizations. He is the Chairman of the Board of the Aquinas Institute for Catholic Life at Princeton University. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Dallas Forum on Law, Politics and Culture at the University of Dallas as well as the Ethics & Public Policy Center based in Washington DC. He is also on the executive committee of the International Business Leaders Advisory Council, an advisory council of global business leaders assisting the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome in the creation of a new school of church management.
In Dallas, he co-founded the Business Ethics Forum, which meets quarterly to provide business leaders regular formation in ethics, philosophy, natural law, and Catholic Social Doctrine. He also is the lead organizer for the annual Dallas Successful Fathers Conference, now going into its 22nd year. He and his wife Alicia have hosted nearly 30 lectures in their home, called the Cottonwood Lectures, on topics of faith, family and culture, now going into its seventh year.
Mr. Hays earned his A.B. in Politics with a certificate in Political Economy from Princeton University and later studied philosophy at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome, Italy. He and his wife Alicia have been married for 17 years and have 6 children. They reside in Coppell, Texas.