Michelle Russo

Founder & CEO, hotelAVE

A little bit about Michelle…

Michelle has more than 30 years of practical, hands-on experience with hotels, restaurants, resorts, convention centers, real estate, and finance. She has worked on thousands of hotel assets across the United States and in 2003, founded Hotel Asset Value Enhancement. While Russo oversees the practice, she is very involved in strategic asset positioning, management contract negotiations, and interacting with senior-level brand and management executives on behalf of the portfolio.

Michelle has been named one of the 30 Influential Women in Hospitality by Hotel Management Magazine (October 2017) and one of 20 Women in Lodging by Lodging Magazine (September 2015). hotelAVE is a 100% Women Owned Business Entity certified through the Center for Women & Enterprise (CWE).

Prior to founding hotelAVE, Michelle was Vice President, Senior Leisure Analyst for Deutsche Banc Alex Brown where she garnered capital markets experience covering lodging and leisure (including cruise, ski and golf industries). Michelle also managed a $500M portfolio for John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company where she improved the portfolio and achieved 20% cash-on-cash returns.

Michelle graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelor of Science in Hotel Administration. She is a regular guest lecturer at Cornell University and has appeared on CNBC and CNN to provide commentary on the hospitality and leisure industry. She is a regular speaker at including NYU, ALIS, ULI, Boston University, Distressed Hotel Summit, and Hunter Hotel Conference. Michelle serves on the Dean’s Advisory Board for Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration. She is also a member of ULI’s Hotel Council, Marriott’s Distribution Strategy Advisory Committee, the AHLA’s Financial Management Committee, Morgans Board of Directors, the Pillsbury Institute for Hospitality Entrepreneurship Advisory Board at Cornell University, and the Johnson Cornell SC Johnson College of Business Leadership Council. She is a Certified Hotel Asset Manager (CHAM), Certified Hotel Administrator (CHA) and a Member of the Appraisal Institute (MAI).