R.M. WOODWORTH & ASSOCIATES - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Principal
- Principal of Woodworth Core Group
Professional Experience
Adam Cowart, a principal of Woodworth Core Group based in Birmingham, previously served as principal with Core Hospitality Advisors, where he co-led their national appraisal practice since 2016. Before this he served as manager at Cowart Hospitality Services, a hospitality appraisal and consulting firm. He has nearly 20 years of hospitality industry experience with a heavy focus on valuation, advisory and market analysis. Mr. Cowart has appraised thousands of lodging properties in a diverse variety of markets across the United States. His experience spans a wide range of lodging property types, ranging from small inns to franchised hotels to large resorts.
Mr. Cowart began his career in hotel operations, working at Sonesta Resorts and Sheraton Hotels. He joined Cowart Hospitality Services in 2006 as an appraiser and became manager in 2010. In 2016, he co-founded Core Hospitality Advisors, but remains a Vice President at Cowart Hospitality Services, which has transitioned into hotel development and operations.
Adam Cowart attained the MAI designation from the Appraisal Institute in 2012. He holds a Bachelor of Hotel & Restaurant Management from Auburn University, with a minor in Business Administration.
Job Titles:
- Vice President
- Vice President of Woodworth Core Group
Professional Experience
Daniel Riley, Vice President of Woodworth Core Group, is based in Atlanta, GA. Daniel began working at Core Hospitality Advisors in 2021, later joining Woodworth Core Group following the merger in 2024. He brings nearly 20 years of experience in hotel brokerage, consulting, and analysis experience. Daniel has worked in markets across the entire United States and Puerto Rico and has completed appraisals, fractional or minority interest (partial ownership) valuations, market/feasibility analyses, and impact studies for private sector hotel owners and developers, large/national hotel ownership companies, municipalities, and local/regional/national lending institutions.
Prior to joining Core Hospitality Advisors, Mr. Riley spent nearly 10 years as Senior Analyst with Hunter Hotel Advisors and over 8 years as Vice President of the Select Service Division with Hodges Ward Elliott, both based in Atlanta, GA. Over his career, Daniel has worked with tens of thousands of hotel properties and a wide array of management and ownership structures ranging from individual investors to institutional/sovereign wealth funds.
Professional Experience
Ed leads Woodworth Core Group's asset management practice from Atlanta, Georgia, and provides advisory services for operations management, financial analysis, sales and marketing, revenue management and property operations. He is responsible for owner, franchise and management company relationships.
Mr. Walls was previously President of Walls Hospitality Advisors, a hospitality consulting firm offering expertise in sales and marketing, financial analysis and solutions, hotel operations and litigation support. Ed's 42 years of experience includes leading boutique independents to large complex convention and resort hotels in property transition management, and renovation, hotel openings, project management and branding with major brands such as Westin, Sheraton, Marriott and Hilton.
Job Titles:
- Business Development Manager
- Business Development Manager at Woodworth Core Group
Professional Experience
Elaine, Business Development Manager at Woodworth Core Group, is based in Boise, ID. She is responsible for maintaining and growing our client base. She has over 20 years' experience in the hospitality industry in research and development.
After graduation, she began a sales career with Xerox Corporation in Birmingham, AL. She was transferred to San Diego, CA and spent her years there in management until moving back to Birmingham to raise her family. She started a company, employing 35 teachers, to teach computers in preschools, after-school programs and training teachers at college workshops.
She was introduced to the hospitality market by veteran hotel developer and appraiser, Mike Cowart and it quickly became her dream job of managing the in-house database, making connections with hotel brokers and owners, and supporting the appraisers by providing the research for the appraisals. She continues to manage the client base as she enjoys a "semi-retired" life biking and hiking Idaho and spending time with her husband and four grandchildren.
Job Titles:
- MAI, CPA, ISHC, CRE
- Principal of Woodworth Core Group
Hank Staley, a principal of Woodworth Core Group based in Jacksonville, was responsible for managing CBRE Hotels' advisory practice in the Southeast until leaving the firm in December 2020 to join R.M. Woodworth & Associates as principal. His focus is on market analysis, valuation, and dispute resolution services. He has over 35 years of consulting experience, has analyzed lodging markets in 46 states, and has studied over 2,500 hotels. He is a member of the Appraisal Institute (MAI designation), Certified Public Accountant (CPA), a member of the International Society of Hospitality Consultants (ISHC), and a Counselor of Real Estate (CRE).
Job Titles:
- Vice President
- Vice President With Woodworth Core Group
Jeremy Gilston, Vice President with Woodworth Core Group based in Washington, DC, offers a varied background of consulting, acquisitions, and asset management experience. He began his consulting career in 2014 with LW Hospitality Advisors based in New York City where he conducted feasibility studies and appraisals on more than $1 billion of hotel assets across the U.S. for a wide variety of owners and lenders.
Job Titles:
- Principal
- Principal of Woodworth Core Group
Jill L. Bidwell, a principal of Woodworth Core Group based in Atlanta, previously was a a principal of R.M. Woodworth & Associates, and a senior director in CBRE Hotels' advisory practice until her departure in December 2020. She has 35 years of hospitality industry consulting experience and has conducted studies throughout the continental United States. Her areas of expertise include market/feasibility analyses, impact studies, and appraisals. Clients include private sector developers, owners, and investors; major hotel companies; municipalities; national, regional, and local lending institutions; and life insurance companies/pension funds.
Job Titles:
- Principal
- Principal of Woodworth Core Group
Professional Experience
Mark Woodworth, a principal of Woodworth Core Group based in Atlanta, was formerly the senior managing director of CBRE Hotels | Americas Research and CBRE Econometric Advisers. He has over 40 years of hospitality industry advisory experience. Mr. Woodworth was previously with PKF Consulting USA/Hospitality Research from 1996 through 2014, at which time the company was acquired by CBRE. He left CBRE in April 2020. Before joining PKF Consulting USA, Mr. Woodworth was a partner and industry chairman of the Hospitality Industry Consulting practice for Coopers & Lybrand L.L.P.
Mr. Woodworth has been quoted on hospitality issues in such noted publications as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, Barron's, USA Today, The Financial Times and numerous industry publications. Furthermore, Mr. Woodworth is a frequent speaker at industry conferences, a Dean's Distinguished Lecturer at Cornell University, a member of the Travel and Tourism Advisory Council for the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, a past chairman of the Conference of Business Economists in Washington, D.C., and is a former member of the Lodging Investment Roundtable of the American Hotel & Lodging Association. He serves on the Finance Committee of the United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta and advises the Georgia Hospitality & Lodging Association. He also was a member of the Board of Advisors for the Center for Hospitality Research at Cornell University. Mr. Woodworth received the 2016 Award of Excellence from the International Association of Conference Centers for publishing IACC's annual conference center trends report.
Mr. Woodworth has managed and conducted consulting assignments involving both the public and private sectors throughout the U.S. He has worked for the industry's leading lenders, developers, chains, and management companies and has dealt with all aspects of management contract negotiation, operations, development, and financing.