CoralTree Hospitality Group Announces Several New Hires
DENVER–Tom Luersen, president of CoralTree Hospitality, today announced several key new hires at the company including general manager positions in Colorado and California as well as home office appointments in the finance and design and development departments.
“With our strategic growth, CoralTree is fortune to seek new executives that align with our culture and values,” added Luersen. “We’re excited about all of this new talent joining our company and we can’t wait to see how they help us move efforts forward in the months to come.”
New General Managers
Sean Gazey joins the CoralTree team as general manager of Galleria Park Hotel in San Francisco. Gazey brings more than three decades of hospitality experience to Galleria Park. He started as a management trainee with The Ritz-Carlton and worked his way through learning all aspects of operations at hotels in Florida, Arizona and California. His first key leadership position was director of rooms at Carefree Resort and Conference Center in Arizona, then he became assistant general manager at Copperwynd Resort and Club in Scottsdale before becoming resort manager for One Ocean Resort and Spa in Florida. He moved to Northern California to be hotel manager of Hotel Yountville in 2018 before joining the team at Galleria Park. Gazey is a graduate of Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island.
Jay Dikeman was appointed general manager of Ptarmigan Inn in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Dikeman has more than 30 years of experience in the hospitality industry. Career highlights include stints as the director of sales and marketing at the historic Chase Park Plaza Hotel in St. Louis and vice president of Lewis Hotels, in Golden, Colorado where he supported the boutique Golden Hotel. He also was director of hospitality services for Denver’s South Suburban Parks & Recreation District, which is a 41 square mile recreation district that serves more than 155,000 people in six communities and three counties. Dikeman is a veteran of the United State Marine Corps.
Finance Team
Ben Hermon joins the CoralTree home office team as task force director of finance. Hermon brings an extensive background to the CoralTree team with nearly two decades of finance and hospitality experience in Colorado. His work in hospitality ranges from on-property support to being an area finance director managing several properties in a portfolio. Most recently, Hermon was the director of finance for the Sheraton Denver Tech Center, he also previously held that role at Great Wolf Lodge in Colorado Springs. While in Colorado Springs, he also was a cost controller for Cheyenne Mountain Resort. Hermon also worked in the Destination Hotels corporate office as an area director of finance overseeing several properties from both a finance and asset management standpoint. He received his Bachelor of Science in accounting, banking and corporate finance from Oregon State University in Corvallis.
Mark Bargioni returns to CoralTree as the company’s payroll systems analyst, supporting the hotels with payroll processing and systems. Bargioni has an extensive background working at several independent hotels ranging from the East Coast to Arizona. Most recently, he was the payroll manager at Cliff House in Maine. He also supported Two Road Hospitality as a payroll systems analyst and prior to that role his hospitality experience included several finance, information systems and human resources roles with Royal Palms Resort & Spa in Arizona. Bargioni is a graduate of Montana State University.
CoralTree also hired Fred Garcia as regional director of finance where he’s tasked with leading and supporting the finance and accounting functions of a portfolio of properties while acting as a strategic business partner to various levels of leadership at both hotels/resorts and the home office. Garcia has more than 20 years of experience in hospitality finance working with both branded and independent hotels. He most recently was director of finance for Embassy Suites San Diego Bay and subsequently worked for Springboard Hospitality where we helped to open a new resport property. While at Pyramid Hotel Group, he was the regional director of finance supporting a portfolio of properties. He is a graduate of San Diego Mesa College.
Design & Development Team
Kristin Spivey, AIA joins the design and development team at CoralTree as their newest design and technical services director bringing more than 25 years of hospitality design and architecture experience to the team. Spivey joins CoralTree from Tryba Architects in Denver where she was a senior interior architect. In her role, Spivey led efforts to oversee all realms relating to design, specification and procurement as well as oversight for furniture, fixtures and equipment and artwork for hospitality and multi-family projects. She also served as director of design for Stonebridge Companies overseeing all new build and renovations project for all levels of hotels from select service to mid and high-end properties as well as luxury lifestyle brands. Her work in Colorado also includes several design and architecture firms where she worked on mid to high-end hotels and resorts for brands such as Vail Resorts, RockResorts, Viceroy Hotel Group, The Ritz-Carlton and more. She received her Bachelor of Architecture from Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana.