Meet Jessica Myers, HVMG's new Vice President of Finance
& Accounting.
Jessica brings the best of big-brand discipline,
owner-operator scrappiness, and field empathy. She's built accounting from the
ground up, opened complex assets, and led large portfolios. She's now
channeling that experience to elevate HVMG's finance and accounting function
with clear standards, stronger training, and controls that protect results and
people alike.
Snapshot
Experience: 29 years in hospitality; roles across
property, regional, corporate, and owner-operator environments.
Superpower: Turning chaos into clean, scalable finance
operations: credit, payroll, reconciliations, and month-end that actually
close.
Leadership style: Fair, consistent, and teacher-coach.
Values: Do the right thing. Share what you know. Consistency over shortcuts.
Crazy hotel story: Once (almost) locked herself out of a
brand-new, not-yet-opened hotel with rice cooking on the stove when the wind
slammed a connecting door shut. An engineering rescue averted disaster.
Q & A
Q: What was your path into hospitality?
A: I started in high school as a PBX operator at the
Hyatt Lodge on McDonald's corporate campus in Oak Brook, Illinois. It was a
private hotel for employees and shareholders, so we hosted guests from all over
the world heading to "Hamburger University." I moved from PBX to front desk and
reservations, then into accounting—AR, payroll, credit—the whole stack. From
there, I spent time at Hyatt corporate, then with Kor Hospitality, White
Lodging, Pyramid, and an owner-operator group in Houston. I've opened hotels,
served as opening controller, regional controller, and ultimately VP of
Finance, overseeing up to 23 hotels before joining HVMG in May.
Q: What kind of work lights you up?
A: Building the function. I love stepping into complex
situations and putting in the right processes, like credit card reconciliation,
month-end discipline, all of the standardized SOPs, so teams can run fast and
clean. Openings scratched that itch early in my career, and now I get to apply
that same builder mindset across HVMG's portfolio as we grow.
Q: What are some of your guiding principles you won't
bend on?
A: Do the right thing, fairly and consistently. In
finance, I'm responsible to owners, properties, and the company. There's little
gray area in the numbers, so our practices must be consistent across the board.
And I believe in teaching the "why," not just the "how." If people understand
the reason behind a task, they'll do it right.
Q: Do you have advice for line-level team members who
want to grow their careers?
A: Attitude first. Be hospitable in a hospitality
business. Ask questions, learn across departments, pick up shifts when another
team needs help. When people see you're a team player who's curious and
dependable, they'll invest in you, even if you haven't done the next job yet.
Q: What is your priority right now?
A: We are conducting training audits so that we can set a
clear bar for our field teams by aligning on SOPs, best practices, and
controls. It's about running the most profitable business we can and
eliminating room for "silent partners," meaning bad actors. Strong controls
protect our teams and our owners.
Q: Who has influenced you most as a leader?
A: Leaders I've worked with directly. Jerry Keyes
(Retired, White Lodging) gave me my first shot as a young controller and
modeled hands-on, fair, and fun but no-nonsense leadership.
Q: If you weren't in hotels, what would you do?
A: As a teenager, I would have said "poet." Today,
probably a business school teacher focused on opening doors for students who
don't always get the same guidance about interviews, professionalism, and
workplace basics.
Q: Dream trip?
A: Greece.
Q: Comfort read (or listen)?
A: Harry Potter audiobooks. They keep me calm on the road.
