HEI Hotels & Resorts has announced the promotion of Clark Hanrattie to chief executive officer and managing partner, marking a significant leadership transition at one of the United States’ most prominent privately held hotel investment and management companies. The appointment takes effect on 1 July 2026, at which point Hanrattie will succeed Anthony Rutledge, who has led the organisation since 2012.
Hanrattie brings more than three decades of hospitality investment experience to the role, including 23 years as a partner at HEI. His elevation to the top position represents a natural progression for a leader who has been central to the company’s transformation from a mid-sized owner–operator into a portfolio spanning over 100 luxury, upper-upscale and upscale hotels and resorts across the United States.
His career began in 1993 at Olympus Real Estate Partners, the hotel investment affiliate of private equity firm Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst. Over a decade with that organisation, he rose from analyst to partner and investment committee member, eventually assuming full responsibility for the firm’s hotel investment and asset management activities. During that period, he led or played a key role in the acquisition of 63 hotels and resorts representing approximately $1.35 billion in transaction value – a body of work that established him as a seasoned dealmaker well before he joined HEI.
Hanrattie joined HEI in February 2004 as senior vice president and chief investment officer, tasked with sourcing and negotiating new investment opportunities and supporting the firm’s capital markets and investor relations functions. He subsequently held the position of managing director, overseeing all investment and disposition activities, and served as CFO for HEI’s subsidiaries. Over his two decades with the company, he has been instrumental in growing its portfolio from 35 properties to the more than 100 hotels it manages today.
Under Rutledge’s leadership, HEI grew the real estate value of its third-party hotel and joint venture assets under management from $2 billion in 2012 to over $20 billion today – a tenfold expansion that positions Hanrattie to inherit a business of considerable institutional scale. Following the transition, Rutledge will remain a significant owner of the firm.
Founded in 1985 and headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut, HEI Hotels & Resorts is one of the nation’s leading privately held hotel investment and third-party management companies. HEI Hotels + Resorts The company owns and manages over 100 properties – ranging from limited service to full service, upper-upscale and luxury – operating under brand names including Marriott, Hilton, Embassy Suites, Westin, Le Méridien and Sheraton. Its growth trajectory has remained active in recent months, with the addition of several properties across the country, including a three-property portfolio in The Woodlands, Texas and the Mayfair House Hotel & Garden in Miami’s Coconut Grove neighbourhood.
Central to HEI’s identity is its owner–operator model, which places investment and operations teams in close alignment. The company’s associate culture, known as HEI Loves, has become a defining element of its approach to talent development and workplace engagement – a priority Hanrattie has pledged to sustain. In his own words, he described the programme’s impact on associates and their families as profound, and committed to advancing it as a foremost priority in his tenure as CEO.
Reflecting on the transition, co-founder and chairman Gary Mendell expressed full confidence in the incoming chief executive, noting that HEI’s model – built on long-standing brand and investor relationships, rigorous operational discipline and a distinctive culture – provides a strong platform for continued value creation. Rutledge, in turn, cited Hanrattie’s deep experience across all investment and operating disciplines as ideally suited to driving the company forward.
Hanrattie holds a Bachelor of Applied Science from Texas A&M University. He will lead HEI alongside fellow senior leaders Rachel Moniz and Dan Walworth as the company pursues its next phase of growth across the institutional hotel investment and management landscape.
