Raymond Goad

Raymond Goad.

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aymond Goad is from Mount Airy, North Carolina along the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. His father was a fast food pioneer in the 1960's and recognized as the first to serve a breakfast menu. Raymond headed West and found his career in Seattle which America has long considered to be a gateway to Asia.

Education.

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aymond Goad was awarded his undergraduate degree while attending Brigham Young University, and Wake Forest University, BS ’66. He was awarded his law degree from The University of North Carolina School of Law, Chapel Hill, JD ‘70 (UNC is consistently listed among the top ten law schools in the United States). He is an inactive member of the North Carolina State Bar, the Washington State Bar and a past member of the American Bar Association where he was a member of the ABA Corporate Counsel Committee. He also served as Chairman of the American Hotel & Motel Association Corporate Counsel Committee. Since assuming his business responsibilities Mr. Goad has not been engaged in the active practice of law.

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Executive Biography.

[dropcap style=”background-color: #bc972c;”]A[/dropcap] proven executive of a Fortune 100 global conglomerate with more than 25 years of broadly based experience, Mr. Goad is widely respected for his leadership, creativity and vision in the management of the development, acquisition, redevelopment and profitable disposition of major hotels and resorts in the international hospitality industry. This has included experience with such well-known firms and brands as UAL Corporation, Westin Hotels & Resorts, Hertz Corporation, Hilton International, Hoteles Camino, Real, Residence Inns, Starwood Hotels & Resort.

During his tenure at Westin, he was a key player in dozens of major complex transactions during a period of the industry’s consolidation and emergence as a major segment of the international securitized real estate market. He possesses a richly varied scope of hands-on experience and executive responsibility which provide him with a broad view as to how things work and intuitive decision-making abilities.

However, he maintains that the most enduring influence of Westin was a corporate culture recognized for the quality of its operations and professional team-building from within, where the motto was “people make the difference.”

Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary
WESTIN HOTEL COMPANY
a wholly owned subsidiary of UAL Corporation
1975–1990

For fifteen years Westin Hotel Company employed Mr. Goad as in-house Legal Counsel. His tenure at Westin coincided with the company’s rise as a multi-billion dollar global leader in the hotel and resort industry and culminated with his serving as Vice President, General Counsel and Assistant Secretary. As an officer of Westin, Mr. Goad was directly involved in all aspects of the company’s business, specializing in mergers and acquisitions, and numerous major joint venture transactions.

A highlight of Mr. Goad’s career was his leading role is persuading the management of the company to find a more distinctive brand name to coincide with the company’s 50th Anniversary. Westin was founded in Seattle in 1930 as Western Hotels. It changed its name to Western International Hotels in 1954 and continued to operate under this name causing the company to often be confused with Best Western Hotels. Working with Landor & Associates, Mr. Goad led the daunting task of renaming the company “Westin Hotels & Resorts,” and managing the path to a trademarkable global brand. The original name recommended by Landor and rejected by the Board of Directors was “Windhover.”

Mr. Goad has a unique understanding of the Hospitality Industry and complex business transactions as a result of having been directly involved or solely responsible for numerous such transactions for Westin, including the sale of underperforming properties, often requiring restructuring of debt, and breakthrough approaches to termination and replacement of long-term management contracts. These transactions include among others:

50 million sale of the Anchorage Westin Hotel, in Anchorage Alaska, to the Bristol Bay Native Tribe under the provisions of the Alaska Native Land Claims Settlement Act.

$52 million sale of the Michigan Inn in Southfield, MI.

The $10 million purchase and redevelopment of the Cherry Creek Inn in Denver, CO as an exclusive crew housing facility for United Airline flight and training personnel.

The $92 million acquisition of the legendary Mauna Kea Beach Hotel on the Big Island of Hawaii from its developer Lawrence Rockefeller.

The later $12 million purchase of the 5200 acre land lease of the Mauna Kea Hotel from the Richard Smart Estate, enabling the development of the Hapuna Beach Hotel, and what is known today as the Mauna Kea Beach Resort, requiring Mr. Goad’s management of a successful two year land use approval general election campaign on the Big Island of Hawaii

The purchase of a majority joint venture interest in the legendary Arizona Biltmore Hotel, Phoenix, AZ.

The $71 million sale of The Ilikai Hotel on Waikiki Oahu, Honolulu, HI.

The $52 million debt restructuring for the Cascade Lodge, Vail, CO, facilitated by a successful negotiation with the National Forest Service for a single purpose dedicated ski lift to the base of the Lodge.

The Initiation of a proposal to Westin’s Management and Board of Directors to permit the $10 million purchase of shoreline water rights adjoining the Bayshore Hotel in Vancouver, CA; and, the successful negotiation of the purchase from the Government of the Province of British Columbia, later valued by Aoki Construction Company in the financing of the purchase of Westin at US$100 million.

Formation of a $350 million Merrill Lynch public limited partnership still traded on the New York Stock Exchange, and now considered as a catalyst for the prevailing trend of public financing for hospitality assets and the financial consolidation of the industry.

Assisted UAL Corporation in the $1.5 billion acquisition of Hilton International Corporation by creating a due diligence manual: and, organizing and directing six teams of Westin personnel in visiting and inspecting 110 Hilton properties on five continents; concluding with the preparation of a due diligence report of their findings for the UAL management team which resulted in major adjustments in the actual purchase price.

Assisted UAL Corporation in coordinating the acquisition of Hertz Corporation with the operations of its international hotel and resort holdings.

At the request of UAL Corporation led a $100 million diversification effort authorized by the UAL Board which included the investigation and extensive market study of the potential for acquiring a natural spring in Hot Springs, AK for the purpose of developing a new bottled water brand startup company to be launched in Westin Hotels and on-board all United flights.

Participated in the $1.53 billion sale and financing of Westin Hotel Company to Aoki Construction Company of Japan.

The $250 million sale of the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel to Seibu Railway Company, Ltd. of Japan.

The $300 million sale of The Plaza Hotel in New York to a Joint Venture of Aoki and Robert M. Bass, and then a year later the negotiation and and $407.5 million sale of The Plaza from the Joint Venture to to Donald Trump.

The $72.5 million acquisition of the InterContinental at Hilton Head, S.C. from a Shearson Lehman Brothers development subsidiary, and the termination and replacement of the long-term management contract.

The $90 million acquisition of a majority Joint Venture Interest in the InterContinental J. Willard Marriott Hotel, Lenox Square, Atlanta, and the termination and replacement of the long-term management contract.

Other Appointments, Engagements and Ventures
In the Years Following Westin Tenure
1990 to Present

Developed a Master Development Program for a 200 acre boutique island retreat in the San Juan Islands of Washington State on what came to be known as Allen Island when purchased by investor and philanthropist Paul G. Allen, a founder of Microsoft. Mr. Goad was also retained to develop a concept and program for a 250 room five-star boutique resort with eighteen holes of signature golf for Black Point Properties, LLC, on a spectacular 250 acre bluff site situated in Pleasant Harbor, overlooking Hood Canal, a pristine wilderness area of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington
State.

Represented a private ownership group in the acquisition of a large parcel within the Cabo del Sol Resort in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, which Mr. Goad had identified as suitable for their desired development of a private residence club. Services included completion of full conceptual plans and specifications for 48 residential units situated in a group of a dozen ocean and golf view Spanish styled hacienda estates with adjoining courtyards and pools.

Acquired FORMA, Inc. from Westin Hotel Company in 1992. This design and procurement subsidiary
of Westin with more than 100 employees, had been originally organized at the inception of Western International Hotel Company in the 1940’s. Under Mr. Goad’s leadership the firm was merged with Bent Severin & Associates, an international design group specializing in the hospitality industry with offices in San Francisco, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Sri Lanka, Bangkok, Copenhagen, London, and Paris. As the Principal and Managing Director of Bent Severin & Associates (Seattle) Mr. Goad obtained and managed numerous major hotel and resort design projects, including luxury hotel projects in the US and Mexico; and, an exclusive contract with the Government of Kuwait for the interior design and procurement of the VVIP areas of the Amiri Diwan (Amir’s Office), in the State of Kuwait.

Acted at the Manager. President and CEO of a limited liability company engaged in the development of a $350MM group meeting and golf destination on a 1,000 acre lakefront site. Managed more than 200 professionals engaged full-time in the design and production of complete design development plans and specifications for the infrastructure, a 500 room four-star hotel, 70,000 sq. ft. conference center, and two eighteen golf signature courses; and, a Guaranteed Maximum Price Construction Contract with Turner Construction Company. Negotiated and executed a subsidized 99-year lease for the site with the Army Corp of Engineers and the United States Government.

Objectives.

I recall being in Seattle reading with great interest articles from the perspective of the Pacific Northwest proclaiming that the 21st Century was sure to become the Pacific Century.

I eagerly gave priority to any of my Westin legal counsel opportunities in Asia. I thrived on the challenge of renegotiating the terms of Westin’s management agreement with representatives of the legendary Thanpuying Chanut Piyaoui, owner of the stately Dusit Thani Hotel.

My trips to Hong Kong working with The Kuok family and the opening of The Kowloon Shangri-La hotel managed by Westin were equally exciting to me. However, these encounters seemed merely appetizers on the promised Pacific Century menu, as my duties instead became more and more focused in Manhattan as the financial capital of most everything Westin.

Only now, years later does amerthai finally offer me the opportunity of full immersion in the vibrancy of the Asian experience. So it is through the prism of the intervening years that I return to my unrequited curiosity and interest in Southeast Asia.

Of course, it is my fortuitous association with Khun Nakarin Promtan that provides me with this opportunity. It is his Pacific Century to which amerthai is dedicated. With his talents, gifts, and the unlimited mutual opportunities between America and Thailand now within ever closer reach, we are most optimistic at what a promising century it will become.