John Faught

John directs the expansion of IHG’s mainstream brands in southern Texas. Over his 22 years with IHG, he has developed hotels throughout America’s heartland in Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas. A lifelong hotel industry professional, John previously served as the Director of Franchise Sales and Development, Mountain Region, for Wyndham Hotels (previously HFS, Inc.). Outside of the office, John spends his free time with his five children and traveling to new destinations.

Estefania Fausto

Estefania joined IHG in 2013 as an assistant in Development upon graduating from Universidad de Guadalajara with a degree in tourism administration. As a business development manager, she supports franchise sales and development in Mexico for the growth of all brands across the country. Her duties also include driving strategic negotiations of all retentions in Mexico, Latin America & the Caribbean. Estefania is originally from California but moved to Mexico at the age of 5. She enjoys soccer, painting, discovering new restaurants, and traveling with her daughters and partner. 

Pedro Freire

Pedro Freire has over 20 years of significant experience in the hotel industry.

Before joining IHG team, Pedro was a Vice President of Asset Management at hotelAVE. In this role, he was responsible for overseeing the company´s assignments throughout Latin America, which included All-Inclusive and luxury resorts and hotels, totaling more than $1 billion invested and encompassing three thousand keys.

Before hAVE, Pedro has worked for near 15 years at JLL, where he oversaw the Advisory, Asset Management and Investment Sales activities for Hotels & Hospitality team in Brazil. With JLL, Pedro has participated of a wide-variety of valuations and feasibility studies, as well as operator selection processes, management and franchise contract negotiations and asset management assignments, ranging from budget and limited-service properties to luxury hotels and branded residences, destination all-inclusive resorts and luxury second homes in Brazil, Mexico and other Latin American countries.

Additionally, he has been involved in hotel transactions, capital raising and IPO processes related to the development of hotels and resorts with branded residences and second homes.

Prior to joining JLL, Pedro worked as Manager, Acquisitions & Development – Latin America for Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, where he participated in franchise and management agreements negotiations and prepared market research and financial analysis for investment opportunities in Brazil and Latin America.

Previously, Pedro worked as sales account executive at the Gran Meliá Mofarrej in São Paulo, Brazil and as a Revenue Management trainee at Marriott Brazil.

Pedro has also completed hotel operations internships at the Rome Cavalieri Waldorf Astoria in Rome, Italy and at the Hotel Astor in Switzerland.

Pedro has a MBA from the Fundação Getúlio Vargas in São Paulo and graduated with Merit from the Les Roches International School of Hotel Management School in Switzerland. He has also undertaken further study in Real Estate Investment, in the Professional Development Program, at the Fundação Getúlio Vargas in São Paulo, Brazil. He is proficient in Portuguese and English, fluent in Spanish and communicates well in French and Italian.

In his leisure time, he enjoys spending time with his wife, son, and friends. He also likes running and walking, watching movies, reading, and traveling.

Cooper Gantt

Cooper is responsible for expediting the growth of IHG’s mainstream brands across the Midwest region of the United States. Advancing within IHG, Cooper’s previous experience includes the role of Business Development Manager where she strove to expand existing franchisee portfolios and identify opportunity markets for future development. Prior to that, she also excelled in various positions as part of IHG's Global Sales Organization. Cooper holds a degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management with a minor in Business Administration from Auburn University. In her free time, she enjoys chanting “War Eagle” in support of her beloved Auburn Tigers football team.

Celina Hargrove

Celina supports the development and growth of IHG’s mainstream brands for the USA and Canada. Prior to joining the Development Team, she began her career with IHG in 2004 in the Accounts Payable Department. Since then, she spent the past 14 years excelling in the Franchising Licensing and Compliance department where she led the process of issuing and executing license agreements, managed negotiations with lenders, and served as the primary liaison between Franchisees and internal personnel. In addition to her career with IHG, Celina owns and manages a trucking company with her husband and has experience as a Real Estate Agent with Keller Williams Realty. Currently, she resides in Snellville, GA with her husband and children. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, traveling, salsa dancing and cheering on the New York Giants.

Normann Hauck

Normann Hauck serves as Regional Development Director for Louisiana, Missouri, Arkansas, and Tennessee. Prior to joining the Development team, Normann worked with IHG for three years as Feasibility Manager in Investment Analysis. Normann brings over 14 years of international operational hotel experience to the role, working with some of the best-known hotel brands in the industry across the United Kingdom and United States. While working in the U.K., Normann held the role of Director of Operations for an independent hotel where he managed day-to-day operations. After living in Europe for 9 years, Normann returned to the United States taking on an Analyst role. Other cities where Normann has worked include Atlanta, Chicago, Washington, DC, Glasgow, Birmingham and London. He currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia where in addition to his Development role, he teaches at Georgia State University in the Masters of Global Hospitality Management program.

Carolyn Hervert

Carolyn is responsible for the growth of our lifestyle collections and premium brands across the Southwestern region of the US. Prior to joining IHG, Carolyn spent several years as the Senior Investment Director for NuovoRE, a private owner and developer of historic adaptive reuse lifestyle and luxury hotels across the country. During her tenure, Carolyn was responsible for both asset management of the existing hotel portfolio and development of the pipeline projects, while specializing in Opportunity Zone and Historic Tax Credit investments. As one of the first hires, she created investment models and projections to quickly scale the company. Prior to its merger with Hyatt, Carolyn developed hotels on behalf of Two Roads Hospitality to expand Thompson, AlilA, Joie de Vivre, tommie and Destination brands across the US and Mexico. Carolyn also worked for Pebblebrook Hotel Trust (NYSE: PEB), where she asset managed properties with a focus on the Western region. Carolyn graduated from Cornell University with a degree in Hotel Administration and is an advisory board member for the Cornell Real Estate Council (CREC Women). She lives with her husband in Denver where they enjoy hiking, skiing, running, and spending time with friends.

Arik Kono

Arik spearheads new-build and conversion hotel development activity across the southern United States and the Caribbean for IHG’s upscale brands. With over 20 years of experience, Arik specializes in hotel real estate development. As Vice President, North America Development and Acquisitions for Starwood Hotels and Resorts, Arik delivered against global growth objectives by expanding the development pipeline across all segments and project types. He was responsible for developing seven of Starwood’s nine franchise brands, including Four Points by Sheraton, Aloft, Element, Sheraton, Westin, Le Meridien, and Luxury Collection in the United States and the Caribbean. During football season, Arik never misses an opportunity to watch his alma mater, the University of Alabama. Additionally, he is an avid golfer and enjoys traveling and spending time at home with his two dogs.

Lauren Kroymann

Lauren works closely with hotel owners to expand the footprint of IHG’s Essentials & Suites Brands across Kansas City Metro, Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Lauren was a Business Development Manager for two years responsible for supporting the Essentials & Suites Brands covering the Midwest. Residing in Kansas City, Lauren enjoys reading, cooking, attending concerts and cheering on all Arizona sports teams.