20 ONE-ON-ONE August 2022 | HOTELMANAGEMENT.NET Red Roof’s GEORGE LIMBERT From politics to associations to education, Red Roof’s president makes being involved a fundamental part of his business full-time at a hotel when he was in college. Limbert said that lessons learned through law and eaching out and giving back. At barely 41 years hospitality actually mesh well together, starting with his old (his birthday was in the middle of July), Red judicial temperament, which he de nes as understand-Roof President George Limbert has already given ing and seeing all sides of every aspect of every angle and a career’s worth of service to the hospitality industry. making sure that all voices are heard. From his work as an adjunct professor of franchise law “When I rst came to Red Roof, I found myself in to his e orts with the American Hotel & Lodging As-many di erent situations that weren’t necessarily purely sociation, TourismOhio and more, he believes in sharing legal in nature,” he said. “ ere were conversations that his knowledge and talents. And he’s just getting were more about the business, or more about started. how to advance the business. Being a mediator, “I think I’m the youngest CEO in this in-being someone who’s drawing out the thoughts ONE dustry right now, which means I have quite a bit and engaging in facilitating the conversations – ON – of runway in front of me,” he said. “I thoroughly and solutions is a role that I relished. I did well ONE enjoy and love what I do. Being at the helm of at Red Roof in my capacity as corporate counsel such an iconic hotel brand is just such an honor and then general counsel. I think that is part of for me. When you can wake up every morning with a big what also propelled me to the presidency.” smile on your face, you know you’re in the right place.” BY ELAINE YETZER SIMON ESIMON@QUESTEX.COM R GETTING INVOLVED FAMILY BUSINESS Limbert grew up in Youngstown, Ohio, on the far eastern edge of the state (in mixed territory, he chose to be a fan of the Cleveland Browns instead of the Pittsburgh Steelers at a young age, for better or for worse—usually worse). e son of a father who is a lawyer and a judge and a mother who was a high school English teacher with a master’s degree, Limbert said law was the family business and education was its foundation. Two of his three siblings are lawyers and he started on the same path. “It was all about following the lead from my parents and so I wanted to be an attorney e ectively from the day that I was born,” he said. “My father was an attorney. He’s also currently a federal magistrate judge and so I grew up watching him go to work six days a week. I thought this is what I wanted to do. But if he had a Greek diner I’d be working at the Greek diner.” He rst earned a bachelor of science degree in ac-counting from e Ohio State University, followed by his law degree from the University of Dayton. He joined a Columbus, Ohio, law rm for six years, focusing on contract negotiations and dispute resolution, business entity formation, sales and use tax issues, landlord and tenant issues and fraud claims. en in 2013, Red Roof came calling. Limbert served as corporate counsel and then general counsel, taking over as interim president at the end of 2020. In August of 2021, Red Roof removed the “interim” label. e move from private law to hotel company president is not a common one, but Limbert’s family history played a part this career move as well. Limbert’s grandfather was one of the rst La Quinta franchisees in Ohio and also was a Sheraton franchisee. And Limbert himself worked ➔ RED ■ Limbert is an advisory board member for TourismOhio, on the board of trustees for the Ohio Hotel & Lodging Association, on the board of directors of the American Hotel & Lodging Association and more. ese roles are a great honor, Limbert said. “To be a member of the AHLA board and to be a member of the OH&LA board, it’s my way of giving back. But it’s also my way of representing the voices of the 675 Red Roof franchisees and having a seat at the table to be able to help craft the future advocacy of our industry,” he said. “TourismOhio is a little bit di erent—it’s a little bit more civic-minded for me. Ohio is trying to become what they’re calling the silicon heartland and tourism is a major piece of the hospitality industry—tourism is your rst glimpse into an area. So I want to be part of that welcome committee for the state of Ohio.” Politics is another area where Limbert is active and has been most of his life. In fact, he said politics was a religion in his hometown and there are pictures of him as a 5-year-old walking in Fourth of July parades wearing oversized campaign T-shirts. “Northeast Ohio is a very highly politically charged area and Ohio in general—being the bellwether for many presidential elections—is a hotbed of political activity,” he said. “But what I always saw was an avenue for ef-fectuating positive change and I’ve always been politically involved in order to help our industry. ” Limbert followed his father’s footsteps into the family business, but his educator mother had an equally strong in uence on his professional life in terms of teaching. “I’ve always been passionate about franchise law. Education is at the root of my family and has been from the day we came to this country [from Greece],” he said. “Sharing my legal experience and now sharing my experi-ence as president of Red Roof with young law students has been a real thrill. I hope that they get as much out of it as I get, but it’s de nitely something I enjoy and wish to continue to do.” HM The properties in Red Roof’s four brands, which are in the economy and midscale segments, are located across the U.S. as well as in Brazil and Japan. ROOF Headquarters: New Albany, Ohio Structure: Franchisor Portfolio: 59,597 guestrooms, 674 properties Website: www.redroof.com
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