Pete Sams is a C-suite hospitality executive with three decades of experience in hotel operations, finance and executive leadership. Most recently, he served as President of Highgate, responsible for a global portfolio of more than 450 hotels. Prior to Highgate, Pete spent seven years with KSL Capital, serving as Chief Operating Officer of Davidson Hospitality Group and later Peregrine Hospitality, where he was charged with creating and launching KSL's exclusive in-house hotel management platform. While at Davidson, Pete further optimized platform services and the operating vertical model. He championed commercial services enhancements that expanded support from tenured marketing professionals and scaled above-property sales, revenue management and operations teams leading to superior operational outcomes and revenue generation at hotels. During this time, the portfolio expanded to over 80 full-service hotels and resorts generating more than $2 billion in revenue. Also during his tenure, Davidson ranked highest in overall customer satisfaction in the J.D. Power North America Third-Party Hotel Management Guest Satisfaction Benchmark two years in a row.

Pete proudly served in the U.S. Army before earning his degree in finance while working as a restaurant server throughout college. He spent the first 20 years of his hospitality career with Omni Hotels & Resorts, beginning in on-property and above-property finance before moving into hotel operations and serving as General Manager of multiple major full-service hotels. Among them was the AAA Four Diamond, 836-room Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C., which was named a Best Place to Work during his tenure. In 2009, Pete was named Omni Hotels' General Manager of the Year. He later held senior operations leadership roles with White Lodging Services and Interstate Hotels & Resorts before joining KSL Capital.

Pete has been married to his wife, Sally, for 35 years and is the father of two children, Ryan and Sarah. Pete and Sally recently welcomed their first grandchild, Rhea.