Aimbridge Hospitality names William Davenport as CFO

Aimbridge Hospitality has appointed William Davenport as its new chief financial officer, effective July 8. Davenport will sit on the organisation’s executive leadership team and report directly to CEO Craig S. Smith. As CFO, Davenport will oversee the financial management of the company and have direct responsibility for accounting, financial planning and analysis, compliance, tax, treasury, and procurement. Aimbridge said he will utilise more than three decades of strategic experience across high growth businesses in hospitality, restaurants, franchising, and private equity to help drive Aimbridge’s global expansion strategy, build new core competencies, transform financial reporting systems, and simplify processes to enhance the comprehensive, best-in-class services provided to the company’s owners, brand partners, and vendors. Davenport joins Aimbridge following his most recent role as CFO with Velvet Taco, a fast-growing restaurant chain. Prior to Velvet Taco he served as CFO at Topgolf for a decade where he helped the concept grow from nine venues to its current scale of more than 80 U.S.-based locations, a global footprint, and revenues exceeding $1.75bn (£1.3bn). Davenport’s experience also includes senior level finance leadership roles at Haggar Clothing Co, Neiman Marcus Group, and Brinker International Inc., after beginning his career at KPMG Peat Marwick. Davenport will work closely with the senior leadership team, including the company’s recently appointed chief global growth officer, Eric Jacobs, and its new chief legal officer, Greg Moundas. Davenport was “instrumental” in Topgolf’s growth journey, including hiring critical functional talent and scaling the team, working with capital markets, and overseeing the integration of Topgolf into Callaway Golf following the brand acquisition. Smith said: “As we build on our industry leadership and focus in on cultivating a collaborative, performance-driven culture, we plan to leverage William’s proven experience and leadership to strengthen our team and services. His track record of establishing dynamic infrastructures, capabilities, and systems will enhance our business model by creating speed, efficiencies, and sustained property performance, leading to the outsized results for our owners and partners.” Davenport added: “Aimbridge is incredibly well positioned for growth, which makes this an exciting time to join the company and be part of shaping the vision for the future. I look forward to leveraging my diverse experience in hospitality and franchising to help the company deepen its hotel-centric approach, improve the services we provide at scale, and realise its partners’ aggressive growth goals.”