Steven C. Olson

CEO/President, Leisure Hotels & Resorts

Mr. Olson is co-founder and co-owner of Leisure Hotels Group of Companies.  A twenty eight year veteran in the hotel industry, Mr. Olson began his hospitality career early working in his family’s business of owning and operating two convention hotels and a full service resort complex.  After attending the University of Minnesota, majoring in business administration, Mr. Olson joined Sheraton’s extensive management training program.  Subsequently, Mr. Olson joined Brock Hotel Corporation, which operated more than sixty Holiday Inns nationwide.

During Mr. Olson’s tenure with Brock Hotel Corporation, he worked at a variety of hotels ranging in size from 100-320 rooms and gained invaluable hands-on experience in both food and beverage and hotel management.  Several of those properties received many awards for increased sales and profitability from Brock Hotel Corporation.

In 1985, Mr. Olson teamed up with two partners to form Leisure Hotel Corporation.  The partners subsequently pursued hotel ownership and grew the corporation to over 24 hotels with hotel acquisitions and management in Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Minnesota.  Leisure employs more than 800 people and
operates its own construction management company, Purchasing & Management LLC, property management
company, Leisure Hotels, LLC,  reservation system/service, LeisureRes.com, as well as its commercial brokerage company, Leisure Real Estate Advisors, LLC.

In 2005, Mr. Olson became the majority share holder of Leisure Group of Companies.  His extensive experience in all facets of the lodging industry, from operational experience to negotiating, financing and developing
multi-million dollar hotel and land development projects, well suits him for his position as CEO of this
fast-growing company.  He has continued to grow Leisure’s management portfolio by adding properties in
Colorado and Texas.

Mr. Olson is a member and former member of several board of directors and committees.  He sat for 5 years on Intercontinental Hotels Group’s National Franchise Advisory Committee for Holiday Inn Express & Suites, The American Hotel & Lodging Association’s Committee of Inns & Suites, and is a former member of the U.S.
Franchise Systems Hawthorn Suites Franchise Advisory Committee.  In addition, Mr. Olson is a member of the Board of Directors of the Kansas Cosmosphere, a Smithsonian Institute member organization promoting space and science education, and a member of the Leawood Chamber of Commerce and is a Director for Signature Bank
located in Kansas City, KS.