Ashford Inc. Names New Legal Chief From Kirkland & Ellis

Ashford Inc., a hospitality real estate adviser and asset manager, has named named Kirkland & Ellis partner Alex Rose as its next general counsel following the retirement of former legal chief Robert Haiman.

Rose will also hold the title of general counsel for Ashford’s real estate investment trusts, Ashford Hospitality Trust and Braemar Hotels & Resorts. The trusts are both advised by Ashford and comprise 114 hotels branded by companies like Marriott International Inc. and Hilton Worldwide Holdings, Inc., according to company websites.

Haiman retired Wednesday after nearly two decades with Dallas-based Ashford and its subsidiaries. Rose will officially succeed Haiman on Thursday, and Haiman will aid the transition for three years, according to a Wednesday statement.

Like others in the hospitality industry, Ashford and its real estate investment trusts faced a slow recovery following the lowest occupancy rates on record in 2020 as the pandemic stunted travel and kept people home. Last year, the group received at least $59 million in Paycheck Protection Program loans intended for small business struggling during the pandemic.

Prior to joining Ashford, Rose was a partner with Kirkland & Ellis for three years, and he has also worked for law firms Jones Day, Vinson & Elkins, and Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy, according to his LinkedIn profile.

“We are pleased to welcome Alex to Ashford’s management team,” Ashford president and chief operating officer Jeremy Welter said in the statement. “His legal acumen, and insights working complex transactions for public and private companies as well as portfolio companies, makes him ideally suited as our next General Counsel.”

Loans and Losses

The companies were able to seek the PPP loans under a provision that allowed hotels and restaurants to apply for funds if each location had fewer than 500 employees. Restaurant chains like Potbelly Corp. and Shake Shack also obtained loans under the same rules.

Ashford said in May 2020 that while it had applied for the loans in “full compliance” with requirements, it would return all the funds following new rules and guidelines from the Small Business Administration.

“We are disappointed that, in an abundance of caution to avoid any risk of non-compliance with the changed PPP rules, our actions mean that our employees, vendors, communities and others in need will not benefit from the PPP as Congress intended,” Ashford CEO Monty Bennett, a major donor to former President Donald Trump, said in a statement then.

Ashford reported losses of over $215 million last year, compared to losses of around $15 million in 2019, and its advisee Ashford Trust avoided bankruptcy last year with $450 million in rescue financing from Oaktree Capital Management.

The first quarter of 2021 showed signs of improvement. Ashford reported a net loss of just over $8 million for the quarter ending on March 31, down from $178 million for the same quarter last year.

“We’re starting to see the recovery in our industry and are also seeing investment opportunities with very attractive unlevered returns that we did not see pre-pandemic,” Ashford President Jeremy Welter said in the company’s first quarter earnings call.