SONMAR - Key Persons
Mr. Maring is a successful entrepreneur with management experience in several diverse industries. He graduated Cum Laude from Concordia College, Moorhead, MN with a BA in Business Administration and Accounting with a minor in Spanish. Barry developed his financial skills as an auditor with KPMG in Minneapolis, MN and he passed the CPA exam the fall after graduation. Subsequently, Barry joined the North Dakota Department of Banking as a Bank Examiner. During his six years as an Examiner, he attended numerous training schools and gained an in-depth knowledge of banking and analyzing bank credits in numerous industries. Barry began following his entrepreneurial spirit early in his career when he developed a quick-serve Italian restaurant and purchased three Subway restaurants with a partner. Mr. Maring left his position as a Bank Examiner in May 1998. Barry has been involved in many successful land transactions, restaurants, hotels, and other commercial real estate deals during the next decade before joining Sonmar Management, Fargo, ND in 2008.
Job Titles:
- Regional Sales Director
- Regional Director of Sales and Marketing
Jason is a nearly 25 year hospitality industry lifer who loves what he does. He has worked with Select Service, Full Service and Extended Stay hotels both branded and independent; some of which include IHG, Hilton, Marriott, Wyndham, Choice and Best Western flags. This experience influences his duties of developing and assisting the sales and marketing efforts for all Sonmar Management hotel properties. He has a firm grasp of operations which lends versatility to his sales strategies. He is a layer cake: fun loving and a prankster yet intense, driven and committed.
Jason was born in the small town of St. Maries in the panhandle of Idaho. He has called the Midwest home, though, since his sophomore year in Apple Valley (MN) High School. He loves his three daughters, his grandson and granddaughter. He is an avid sports fan(atic) who loves his G.B. Packers, LA Lakers, NY Rangers and Mets. He knows; geographically it does not make sense. He currently calls Fargo / Moorhead his home.
Job Titles:
- Regional Operations Director
With over 30 years in the hospitality industry, Michelle brings the knowledge, experience and leadership to not only run a successful hotel, but has proven to turn around struggling hotels, and also lead multiple hotel teams to success. Michelle believes employees are your greatest assets. She mentors, trains and strives for the best, so that you receive the best. She is very driven and will do everything she can to produce results that you desire.
Michelle started her career at 14 years old doing housekeeping on weekends. From there her interest was piqued to learn the other areas of the hotel business. She went on to learn the front desk, night audit, operations, and became a Certified Trainer in which she trained all incoming managers to the company on operations. Her goal-oriented mind set took her career down the path of later becoming a Sales Manager, an Assistant Manager, and eventually a General Manager all by the age of 21.
Michelle did not stop there. She went on to become a Regional Manager and also part owner of a hotel. She understands the inner workings of the hotel and knows the importance of a solid staff and management team, from the employee, employer, and owner perspectives. From cleaning rooms to your Profit and Loss statement, Michelle understands what it takes to run a successful hotel.
Michelle loves to travel and seek out new adventures. She has a daughter who also shares her passion for adventure, and together, they would never pass up an amusement park or chance to zip line. With the position she is in now as the Regional Director of Operations, travelling and new adventures are high on the list, so that checks off one of her favorite things to do. That is why Michelle loves hospitality so much. Every day is a new adventure.
Mr. Maring was born in Moorhead, MN December 17, 1941. He graduated from North Dakota State University in 1963 with an Economics Degree and from the University of North Dakota in 1967 with a Law Degree. He was in private practice in Fargo, North Dakota, from 1967-2000.
During his law practice, he developed hotels and restaurants as follows:
In 1975, he was the executive officer of a company that developed eight economy hotels. Six of these properties were in North Dakota, one in South Dakota, and one in Minnesota. The size of these hotels ranged from 50 units to 180. The company was originally called Econo-Inn and later changed to Select-Inn. The properties were sold in 1988 to three different purchasers, and the hotels are still doing well today.
During that same period, he developed and franchised a Mexican restaurant concept called Sergio's. 15 restaurants were developed throughout Wisconsin, Minnesota, and North Dakota. His share of ownership in these restaurants was sold periodically over the past seven years, with the final two locations sold in January 2007.
From 1982 to 1985 he was in an investor group and manager of a 122 unit full-service hotel in Fargo, North Dakota called the Oak Manor. This property was purchased from the Kahler Hotel Corporation and subsequently resold to an independent purchaser in 1985.
In 1988 he started a hotel development and management company with one individual, Denis J. Olson, developing Comfort Inn, Comfort Inn & Suites, Sleep Inn, and Holiday Inn Express hotels in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, and Washington. They built and managed 32 hotels, and in 1998 sold 20 hotels to Tharaldson Enterprises and retained 11 properties in Washington and Oregon.