HORNBLOWER - Key Persons
With Hornblower's overarching goal of becoming a Global Experiences and Transportation Leader, Peakes works in partnership with the division leaders to enable the strategic business plans across the organization.
Peakes comes to Hornblower from Merichem Corporation, a large private industrial services company, serving as the company CFO, and previously as CFO at Noble Corporation, one of the largest publicly traded offshore drilling contractors in the oil and gas industry. Prior to that, he had a nearly 20-year career as an Investment Banker, serving as a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs, then as a Partner at the boutique investment banking firm of Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Company. Peakes additionally spent time working in the sports industry, including playing professional basketball in Europe and later as a member of the Houston Rockets management team.
Peakes graduated from Rice University where he played Division I basketball and was a two-time Academic All-American, and the Southwest Conference Scholar Athlete of the Year. He gained his MBA from Harvard Business School. Additionally, Peakes serves on the Board of Directors for Trecora Resources (NYSE: TREC) and Diamond Offshore Drilling (NYSE: DO), and he is Chairman of the Board of Advisors for Rice University Jones School of Management (Rice MBA).
Outside of work, Peakes enjoys spending time with his wife and four children as well as traveling, reading, and playing golf. He currently resides in Houston, Texas.
Job Titles:
- Co - Chief Operating Officer of the City Cruises U.S
- Co - COO, City Cruises U.S.
Christine Metivier is Co-Chief Operating Officer of the City Cruises U.S. division, overseeing all areas of the business in 16 ports across the country.
Christine has over two decades of sales and operations experience. She began her career at the Boston port of City Cruises before transferring to the New York City port. Christine held various positions throughout the organization including a position in Event Management, Sales Director, General Manager, and Regional Vice President.
Christine received her Bachelor of Science degree from UMASS Amherst and works out of the New York City office. She resides in New Jersey with her husband and labradoodle.
Job Titles:
- Co - Chief Operating Officer of the City Cruises U.S
- Co - COO, City Cruises U.S.
Dan Russell currently serves as Co-Chief Operating Officer of the City Cruises U.S. division, overseeing all areas of the business in 16 ports across the country.
Dan has been a Crew member of City Cruises for over 20 years and has lead teams in operations, sales and marketing, product development and general management.
Dan holds a BBA from Notre Dame and is a certified public accountant. He works out of the Chicago port and resides in the suburbs with his wife and two teenage children.
As Hornblower Group's Chief Financial Officer, Dunsford provides strategic financial insight, supports growth plans, and drives value creation while overseeing all financial and accounting matters related to the company. Dunsford's background is in private equity-backed companies and public companies, driving value creation in M&A acquisition, integrations, and change management initiatives.
Dunsford came to Hornblower Group from Youth Enrichment Brands, a private equity-backed youth activities company, serving as the company CFO. Prior to that, he spent over three years with Hornblower Group as the interim CFO and Vice President Corporate Controller. Prior to his first stint with Hornblower Group, Dunsford spent more than 18 years with KPMG Audit and Accounting Advisory.
Dunsford enjoys spending time with his wife Pramoda and their two children as well as traveling, hiking, listening to music, and playing cricket. He currently resides in the San Francisco Bay Area, California.
Job Titles:
- Board Director
- Chief Executive Officer
- Operating Executive in the Media Portfolio for Crestview Partners
Kevin M. Rabbitt is Chief Executive Officer and Board Director at Hornblower Group, a global experiences and transportation leader. The group's expansive portfolio includes land-based experiences (City Experiences), water-based experiences and dining and sightseeing cruises (City Cruises), ferry and transportation services (City Ferry), and small ship overnight cruises (American Queen Voyages). Hornblower is owned by management and private equity firm, Crestview Partners.
In addition to his role at Hornblower, Rabbitt serves as Operating Executive in the media portfolio for Crestview Partners. Rabbitt serves as a Board Director on behalf of Crestview for investments at Congruex Networks, Viad Corp and Framestore/Company 3. Additionally, Rabbitt serves on non-profit boards for Pittsburgh Children's Hospital Foundation and Jerome Bettis "The Bus Stops Here" Foundation.
Prior CEO roles for Rabbitt have included NEP Group, the worldwide leader of technical outsourced production services operating in 24 countries; 3 Day Blinds, a leading manufacturer and retailer of custom window coverings; and Global Experience Specialists (GES), a global face-to-face events and tradeshow services company.
Early roles for Rabbitt included consulting stops at Bain and Company and Deloitte Consulting; running a small entertainment business; time with the Houston Rockets basketball organization; and an Assistant Men's Basketball Coach at Texas State University.
Rabbitt holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School (2001), and a BA in Managerial Studies from Rice University (1995). While at Rice, Rabbitt was captain and point guard for the Men's Basketball team.
Rabbitt enjoys spending time with his wife Emily (Rice 1994; Jones School 1995) and their four children. Rabbitt is an avid sports fan including Rice Owls as well as his native Kansas City teams the Chiefs, Royals and Jayhawks. Rabbitt is an active supporter of college basketball programs including Pitt, Robert Morris University, UT-San Antonio, and Henderson State. In his free time, Rabbitt enjoys coaching youth sports and playing golf.
Job Titles:
- COO
- COO, Concessions & Park Services
- Statue City Cruises As VP & COO
Mike joined Statue City Cruises as VP & COO at the start of 2008. Statue City Cruises carries 4.5 million passengers annually to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island and on harbor cruises & charters. He directs all operations and fiscal affairs of Statue City Cruises. Commitment to safety & security, hospitality, guest service, innovation, and environmental initiatives has enabled Statue City Cruises to achieve results far exceeding industry standards. Mike is responsible for relationships with the National Park Service, U.S. Coast Guard, NYC Parks & Recreation, and numerous government agencies and not-for-profit partners.
Mitch Randall is the General Counsel of Hornblower Group, the holding company for City Experiences and American Queen Voyages. He is responsible for all of Hornblower's legal matters, including litigation, mergers & acquisitions, human resources, real estate and permitting, commercial contract negotiations, finance, risk management, corporate governance, and management of external counsel.
Mitch was previously the President and Chief Legal Officer of PureGen Power, a clean power company focused on the acquisition, improvement and operation of utility scale solar projects. Prior to joining PureGen in January 2017, he was the President of Recurrent Energy, one of North America's largest solar project developers.
Mitch has more than 20 years of legal experience in hospitality, energy, project development, regulatory, finance, and mergers & acquisitions. Prior to serving as President of Recurrent Energy, Mitch served as its General Counsel, overseeing the company's legal strategy across its operations. Prior to joining Recurrent Energy, Mitch was a partner with Morrison & Foerster LLP, where he represented energy, real estate, development, health care and technology companies in complex transactional, permitting and regulatory matters.
Mitch received a JD from University of California's Hastings College of the Law and a BS from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Job Titles:
- Chief Technology Officer
- President
Nasi Peretz President & Chief Technology Officer, Anchor Operating System X A graduate of the University of Southern California's Viterbi School of Engineering in Computer Engineering & Computer Science for both undergrad and grad. Created WestsideRentals.com along with Mark Verge and Kevin Miller, 70+ employees which after 15 years was sold to Apartments.com/Costar (CSGP on Nasdaq). Then created Ticketmob.com with Scot Richardson which was acquired in December of 2012 by Cvent (CVT on Nasdaq) and after 6 years of expanding that ticketing company moved to Ticketmaster/LiveNation where he created Taylor Swift's ticketing platform for the largest concert series in Ticketmaster history. Now Chief Technology Officer at the Hornblower Group after serving as the Vice President of Engineering for two years.
Job Titles:
- Senior Vice President of Strategy and Business Development
A graduate of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business (MBA) and the University of Colorado Leeds School of Business (BS Finance), Phil is an experienced travel and hospitality professional specializing in customer experience, service operations, and strategy. From his time consulting with McKinsey & Company, Deloitte, and Hitachi Consulting, he has wide industry knowledge and practice across airlines, hotels, casinos, airports, OTAs, transportation companies, and experience operators. Prior to consulting, Phil started his career with The Walt Disney Company and Six Flags. Today, as Chief of Staff, Phil works across Hornblower's businesses to set their long-term strategy and lead key strategic initiatives.
Job Titles:
- Chief Operating Officer of Venture Ashore
Rinat Glinert serves at the Chief Operating Officer of Venture Ashore, the largest independent shore excursion company in the world, delivering thousands of shore excursions, tours and activities led by professional guides in hundreds of ports worldwide. Venture Ashore is part of the City Experiences portfolio of brands as its newest addition, supporting the company's overall business strategy as the leader in amazing experiences. As Chief Operating Officer, Glinert leads the team in growing the Venture Ashore offerings on a global basis and establishing strong functionality of the business to drive extensive and sustainable growth through designing and implementing business strategies, plans and procedures.
Glinert's career spans more than 18 years in the cruise and travel industry beginning with Royal Caribbean International in operations aboard the Vision of the Seas. She then proceeded to hold several progressive leadership positions at the corporate headquarters, culminating in overseeing guest services operations for over 22 ships and nearly 5,000 employees. As head of the strategic projects group, she was responsible for identifying and implementing onboard staffing efficiencies to better serve both employees and guests, as well as launching new services throughout the fleet. As a part of the newbuild hotel operations team, Glinert was instrumental in the design, buildout, and launch of the largest ships in the world, including the Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas cruise ships, as well as overseeing the creation of Royal Caribbean's VIP suite operations in Labadee, Haiti. In 2012, Glinert left Royal Caribbean to launch her own company, ShoreFox, which created technology tools for independent tour guides for nearly 2,500 tours in more than 220 destinations worldwide. Glinert shares a deep passion for travel and loves the connectivity it provides for people to take part in new experiences and broaden their horizons.
Glinert is a graduate of Cornell University with a degree in Hotel Administration. She resides in Rockville, Maryland with her husband and 2 children. She is an avid scuba diver and her favorite excursions include swimming with the pigs in Nassau, Bahamas, hiking Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau, Alaska and sailing aboard a catamaran in the azure waters of Bora Bora.
Job Titles:
- COO
- COO of Hornblower Group 's Ferries & Transportation Division
- COO, City Ferry
Scott Thornton is the COO, City Ferry, where he leads the operations of all ferry systems it operates, including NYC Ferry, Puerto Rico Ferry, and more.
In his more than three decades with Hornblower, Scott has served at every level of the organization, beginning as a bartender onboard the California Hornblower in Los Angeles. In his time at Hornblower, Scott has exemplified the leadership and creativity that drives our growth and success, helping to lead each Hornblower start-up operation and ensuring the highest level of operational standards and focus on safety, quality, and crew development.
Prior to serving as COO of Hornblower Group's Ferries & Transportation Division, Scott served as Chief Operating Officer of NYC Ferry. Since its launch in 2017, NYC Ferry - a new public transit option serving Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, and The Bronx - has served more than 17.5 million riders.
Before leading NYC Ferry, Scott was General Manager and Vice President of Operations of Alcatraz City Cruises, which, under his leadership, introduced the first ever hybrid ferry in 2009. Soon after Alcatraz City Cruises became the first triple ISO-certified passenger maritime operation, Scott also led the Alcatraz City Cruises crew to their highest level of annual ridership while maintaining a dedication to safety and quality which led to Alcatraz City Cruises being named the No. 1 landmark in the U.S. in TripAdvisor's Traveler's Choice award. In addition to this experience, Scott spearheaded Hornblower's Statute City Cruises launch in New York City.
Scott is a certified Captain and resides in New York City.
Job Titles:
- President, Walks & Devour
Stephen is a serial travel industry entrepreneur and founded multiple companies in the tours & activities sector since 2005. He founded WalksofItaly.com, an online travel company for visitors to Italy offering sightseeing tours and travel activities, in 2009. Walks of Italy soon became one of the largest operators of experiential travel services in Italy.
Walks is now a global brand and one of the largest operators of guided tours in the world, handling hundreds of thousands of passengers annually. Walks operates travel experiences in 20 cities across 9 countries. During the pandemic, Stephen led development of Walks' virtual tour program "Tours from Home," receiving tens of thousands of paid bookings and widespread acclaim in Travel + Leisure, Forbes, Skift, Boston Globe, and more. In early 2021, Walks joined City Experiences (Hornblower Group) to start the next chapter of growth and expansion. He also led the acquisition of Devour Tours, a leading global food tour company, closing in late 2021.
Job Titles:
- Chief Information Security Officer
- Head of Technology
Currently serving as Hornblower's Chief Information Security Officer and Head of Technology, Stewart has extensive experience and expertise at the nexus of technology and business. Well versed in security, engineering and IT, he's held leadership roles in top companies such as VMware and Walmart Labs as well as several start-ups. Stewart holds a master's degree in software engineering, and a bachelor's degree in computer science.