WICHITA, KS—WaterWalk Hotel & Apartments, hotel entrepreneur Jack DeBoer’s fifth national brand, has hired three executives to help build the brand.
Kay Auer joins WaterWalk as chief financial officer. Most recently, she was CFO of Quality Solutions, Inc., a facilities management firm. Prior to that, Auer was CFO at extended-stay hotel brand Value Place.
Julie Olson, the new director of franchise development for WaterWalk, has more than 20 years of sales, training and marketing experience. Olson will be responsible for putting procedures in place for franchise expansion, working closely with franchisees and growing the brand with franchise sales.
Prior to WaterWalk, she worked for pharmaceutical company Teva Respiratory as an executive sales accountant. Olson also worked as a national sales director for Candlewood Suites.
Erica Weishaar joins WaterWalk as a business analyst, managing market research for national development of the company’s all-inclusive apartment properties. Weishaar joins WaterWalk from Koch Industries, where she supported Koch Methanol as a trade support analyst. Prior to Koch, Weishaar managed the new property marketing analysis and site selection process for Value Place Development Services, LLC.
“Each one of these hires brings a unique skill set and their own flavor to the WaterWalk team at a time of enormous growth for the company. I welcome them aboard as we continue to build the WaterWalk brand and prepare for rapid expansion in the upcoming months,” stated David Redfern, president of WaterWalk.
In 2015, construction will begin on eight new WaterWalk Hotel & Apartments complexes in seven cities: Louisville, KY; Charlotte, NC; Houston; Atlanta; Denver; St. Louis; and two in San Antonio, according to the company.