Virgin Hotels, the lifestyle hotel brand by Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson, welcomes two new members to its growing management team: Dan Mathewes as Chief Financial Officer and Thayer Thompson as General Counsel and VP, Commercial. With their first hotel, Virgin Hotels Chicago, already open, and several others in development in cities including Nashville, New York and Dallas, the appointments come as demand for more Virgin Hotels across the world increases.
“It’s truly an exciting time for Virgin Hotels,” says CEO Raul Leal. “We just celebrated Virgin Hotels Chicago’s one year anniversary and Gold LEED Certification, and now that guests can truly experience the difference the Virgin lifestyle offers, people are clamoring for more of our hotels. Both Dan and Thayer will be key to our successful growth and development, and we’re thrilled to have them on our team.”
With more than 15 years of experience in the hospitality industry, Mathewes’ background includes senior financial positions at The World, Kerzner International Holdings Limited, Norwegian Cruise Lines and Royal Caribbean Cruises Limited. In these roles, he oversaw all aspects of financial planning and analysis, corporate strategic planning, investor relations, mergers and acquisitions as well as information technology and risk management.
Mathewes received his Bachelors of Science in accounting and economics from Florida State University, graduating summa cum laude.
Thompson spent seven years as the Assistant General Counsel at Virgin Management USA, Inc., the corporate development and investment management division of the Virgin Group. In this role, he served as acting general counsel of Virgin Hotels since its 2010 inception. Prior to Virgin Management, he held positions with Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz, PC and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.
Thompson is a graduate of Duke University (BA, 1996), where he was a member of the Duke University Swim Team, and the University of Minnesota Law School (JD, magna cum laude, 1999).
