Expanded Seven-Member Board Includes Five Independent Trustees and Two Women
Elections Underscore Progress on Board’s Multi-year Review of Governance Policies
NEWTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Service Properties Trust (Nasdaq: SVC) today announced that it has elected Laurie B. Burns and Robert E. Cramer to the Company’s Board as Independent Trustees, effective immediately. The elections are in furtherance of SVC’s previously announced multi-year review of its governance policies and that it was working with executive search firm Korn Ferry to expand and refresh the Board. With the addition of Ms. Burns and Mr. Cramer, SVC’s Board now has seven Trustees, including five independent Trustees, two of whom are women.
Ms. Burns founded LBB Growth Partners, a real estate advisory firm focusing on restaurant and hospitality businesses, in 2017 and currently serves as its Chief Executive Officer. From 1999 to 2016, Ms. Burns held senior leaderships positions with Darden Restaurants, Inc., a full-service restaurant company, where she served for ten years as President of Bahama Breeze and culminated in her role as Senior Vice President and Chief Development Officer. She previously held leadership positions with Homestead Village, an extended stay hotel company and Taco Bell. Ms. Burns currently serves on the Board of Directors of The First Tee of Central Florida and the City of Orlando Historic Preservation Board and previously served on the Board of Trustees of the Darden Foundation.
Mr. Cramer has been Managing Partner of Riparian Partners, LLC, a middle market M&A advisory firm located in Providence, RI, since 2019. Beginning in 2013, he was Managing Director/Head of Financial Institutions and Real Estate Group for Oppenheimer and Co. Inc. Beginning in 2001, he was Managing Director, Financial Services Group for RBC Capital Markets, LLC. Mr. Cramer is also currently an adjunct professor of finance at Boston College Carroll School of Management.
Adam D. Portnoy, Chair of SVC’s Board of Trustees, made the following statement on today’s announcement:
“We are excited to welcome Laurie and Rob as we refresh and strengthen SVC’s Board. Laurie has extensive experience as a leader in the service and hotel industries and Rob has substantial real estate and capital markets experience. The rest of the Board joins me in welcoming them both, and I am confident they will both be tremendous assets for SVC.”
“Last year, we announced the beginning of a multi-year process examining SVC’s governance policies. The additions of Laurie and Rob to our Board, along with other governance initiatives, including adopting proxy access bylaws in response to shareholder requests last year, demonstrates the Board’s commitment to enhanced governance.”
Korn Ferry assisted SVC’s Nominating and Governance Committee in placing Laurie B. Burns and Robert E. Cramer on SVC’s Board of Trustees.
Service Properties Trust is a real estate investment trust, or REIT, which owns a diverse portfolio of hotels and net lease service and necessity-based retail properties across the United States and in Puerto Rico and Canada with 185 distinct brands across 24 industries. SVC's properties are operated under long term management or lease agreements. SVC is managed by the operating subsidiary of The RMR Group Inc. (Nasdaq: RMR), an alternative asset management company that is headquartered in Newton, Massachusetts.
A Maryland Real Estate Investment Trust with transferable shares of beneficial interest listed on the Nasdaq.
No shareholder, Trustee or officer is personally liable for any act or obligation of the Trust.
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Kristin Brown, Director, Investor Relations
(617) 796-8232
Source: Service Properties Trust