Deborah L. Cannon
President and Chief Executive Officer
Qualifying Broker
Ms. Cannon is a 40+ year hospitality veteran. She currently serves as the President and COO of CUSA, LLC – a nationally ranked and recognized hospitality and property management company. Ms. Cannon has worked in all facets of hotel operations and sales & marketing and has managed, over her career, over $550 million in hotel assets. Ms. Cannon’s expertise and experience spans full-service hotels and resorts, to boutique luxury hotels, to select service and limited service hotels. Ms. Cannon and CUSA have managed in over 45 states and the West Indies.
Ms. Cannon began her career with Hyatt Hotels focusing in sales & marketing. She was then with Peabody Court (Member of Leading Hotels of the World) as a Director of Sales and moved from there to Brookshire Hotels as Regional Director of Sales – overseeing sales & marketing for 15 hotels and then Corporate Vice President of Marketing & Sales – overseeing over 30 hotels and progressing into corporate development with Brookshire. She established Cannon & Associates – a full-service marketing company and then joined in the founding of Cornerstone Management later becoming CUSA, LLC and today serves as its President and COO. CUSA, LLC is ranked in the Top 100 Management Companies in the United States and has been consecutively ranked in the Top 100 for the last 20 years. CUSA, LLC is a pure third-party service management company and boasts an impressive number of awards and accolades for its managed hotels. CUSA, LLC has the distinction, under Ms. Cannons, leadership of being an approved management company for all of the major franchise brands in the country to include, but not limited to: Marriott Hotels, Hilton Hotels, IHG, Choice, Wyndham, Radisson. CUSA, LLC has over 500 employees across the United States and is a leader in the industry, enjoying an outstanding reputation for excellence in service and results for its clients. Ms. Cannon has managed hospitality assets through 4 economic downturns from the late 80s through to the COVID crisis of 2020. Specifically, in 2020 – CUSA’s hotel portfolio (which includes select service, limited, full and extended stay) performed 50% better in overall RevPar than the US Average – (75% better in occupancy). CUSA has been able to exceed the national averages in all categories of occupancy, rate and RevPar – its portfolio has achieved an average 126.8% RevPar Index over the last 3 years.
Ms. Cannon is a licensed Broker in the State of Georgia with reciprocal licenses in multiple states. She oversees, in addition, to the corporate staff of CUSA – 3 licensed real estate agents. Ms. Cannon is also a certified Receiver, since 2009, with the State of New York Receivership Certification Program with the New York State Bar Association.
Ms. Cannon serves as Chairman of the Board (2001 – Present) of First Care Women’s Clinic and Chairman of the Board (2016 – Present) of Waymark Foster Kids Program, Finance Committee – FBCW (3 year term – 2021 – 2024), Past President HSMAI. She has been active in community/charitable organizations for over 40 years. Ms. Cannon has outstanding leadership skills, she is an excellent communicator and cares deeply about others – desiring to see associates and owners grow and flourish. She is creative and organized and understands all aspects of hotel and corporate operations from sales/development to financial/feasibility.
Charles S. Taylor
Emeritus
Mr. Taylor began his career with Hyatt Hotels Corporation working in four and five star hotels from 230 to 1200 rooms. Mr. Taylor accepted the position of Manager of the internationally recognized 1000 room Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C. after leaving Hyatt Hotels, and later the position of General Manager of the four star Whitehall Hotel for Lex Hotels of Great Britain. Joining Beaumont Hotels in 1979 as Regional Director, Mr. Taylor has overseen all facets of operations to include: spa, conference center, food & beverage, golf course/country club and resort properties. Mr. Taylor remained with Beaumont until 1986, at which time he became President and partner of the newly formed Brookshire Hotels. After five years of building Brookshire Hotels into a nationally recognized management company and completing a private placement with a Wall Street investment group, Mr. Taylor established Cornerstone Management & Development, a full service management company located in Columbia, Maryland. He later moved that company to Atlanta, Georgia. Mr. Taylor served as the Chief Operating Officer for CUSA, LLC.
Melissa Mancini
Chief Operating Officer
Ms Mancini is a seasoned professional with over thirty-three (33) years in the hospitality industry. At the inception of her career in 1988, Ms. Mancini joined Brookshire Hotels, a Maryland based hospitality management company, with a portfolio of full-service, limited service and resort properties located throughout the United States. Melissa had the unique opportunity to learn the hospitality industry from the ground up in both the corporate office and property level, under the direction of Charles Taylor the founder and Chief Operating Officer of CUSA, LLC. Ms. Mancini has held a variety of positions from front office to sales to reservations to maintenance to human resources to General Manager.
In the early days, Ms. Mancini had the opportunity to work with Sheraton, Omni, Radisson, Choice and Wyndham, where she was responsible for everything from quality audits, front office, systems & programs, reporting, human resources, brand compliance, sales & marketing and operations.
Ms. Mancini joined CUSA, LLC at its inception in 1991 and today oversees all facets of hotel operations and sales and marketing for the CUSA portfolio of hotels. As the Chief Operating Officer, Ms. Mancini maintains strong relationships with all the major hotel brands to include but not limited to: Marriott, Hilton, IHG, Wyndham and Choice hotels. Her exceptionally diverse background has enabled her to work with hotels from roadside inns to full-service convention hotels. Ms. Mancini is excellent at achieving top line revenue goals and bottom line results, she is goal oriented and driven to surpass customer expectations.
Ms. Mancini holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business and minor in Marketing from the University of Towson in Towson, Maryland. She also has completed the Marriott Excellence Training Program.
Deanna Daughenbaugh
Corporate Director of Operations
Deanna has over 25 years of experience in the hospitality industry. She has developed successful teams across multiple hotel brands such as; Marriott, Hilton, IHG, Choice, and Best Western Brand. She has extensive experience across the Marriott portfolio of select service brands. Deanna has opened multiple hotels with great success. She has a true passion for training and leadership.
Away from work, Deanna enjoys spending her time with her 3 kids, and her 8 precious grandkids. You can also find her at the beach, shopping at any small boutique, or cheering on a Saturday for her Ohio State Buckeyes.
“A great leader can make a significant impact and a positive contribution to their teams with a strong commitment to high ethical and professional standards, and dedication to excellent customer service.”
Ed Samson
Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Samson has over 25 years of executive leadership experience in real estate investment and property operations including finance, corporate strategic planning and analysis, portfolio development, syndications, limited partnerships, acquisitions/dispositions, and asset management. Mr. Samson has held position in various capacities as Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer, President and Vice President of Property Management Operations. Placed financing and re-structured debt in excess of $300M. Experienced with all aspects of property management and financial operations of multi-family, commercial, hotel, retail, conventionally financed, tax credit and affordable housing real estate. His responsibilities encompassed 50,000+ multi-family units, 2.5M+ Sqft. of commercial properties and 7,000+ rooms in the hospitality industry. Mr. Samson holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration with emphasis in Business Management and Finance and a Master’s Degree (MBA) in Business Administration from Pepperdine University in Los Angeles, California
Steve Grainger
Vice President of Finance
Mr. Grainger, a graduate of Oakland University (MI), has over 35 years’ experience in the hospitality industry. With a background in Operations, Mr. Grainger moved to Finance with Hilton Corporation. After Hilton, he joined Omni Hotels, serving as Director of Finance with Omni Hotels in both Property and Regional Roles for several years before joining Orient-Express Hotels, a Five-Star luxury company based in London. He served as Director of Finance of North America, managing Domestic and International properties of over $200M in revenues with additional work in Acquisitions and Asset Management. Following Orient-Express, Mr. Grainger was Senior Vice President of Finance and COO of Ginn Clubs & Resorts, a private Resort and Planned Community Developer based in Florida with revenues over $150M annually including 6 resorts, 11 golf courses and 4 private clubs. Following this work, he continued as Corporate Controller with a private developer in Charleston, South Carolina, managing 21 hotels, including Hilton, Marriott, and IHG properties; 6 restaurants and a combination of 6 commercial properties, including multi-family residences. Mr. Grainger joined Crestline Hotels and Resorts, serving as Director of Centralized Accounting, with successful integration of 106 hotels, including Hilton, Marriott, Hyatt, and IHG properties. Prior to joining CUSA, he served most recently as Director of Finance of the Mandarin Oriental Atlanta. As Corporate Controller, he oversees all aspects of hotel accounting services for CUSA, including but not limited to reporting, analytics, cash management and transition of new properties.
Wayne Kastner
Senior Regional Controller
Mr. Kastner started his career in the hospitality industry over 17 years ago with Intown Suites as a Staff Accountant. He gained experience ranging from fixed assets for the entire portfolio to overseeing all accounting functions for 40 extended stay hotels. He then obtained a bachelor’s degree in business with an emphasis in Accounting at the University of Phoenix.
After Intown Suites, Wayne began working for Peachtree Hotel Group as a Property Accountant and then he was promoted to Assistant Controller. During his tenure his experience ranged from overseeing all accounting functions including producing financial statements for 10 full and limited-service hotels including brands such as: Hilton, IHG, Marriott, Hyatt and Choice Hotels. Additional accounting experience included 30 note entities and five corporate entities. A few projects included transferring all fixed assets from QuickBooks to BNA Software. He also created a new Concur template for hotel and corporate staff to help ease the accounting process of expense reporting.
Following Peachtree Hotel Group, Wayne worked for Atrium Hospitality where he began working as a Senior Accountant and continued to become a Corporate Accounting Supervisor. His experience included training various corporate team members to learn the Atrium way to assist Property Accountants with various daily and monthly processes. Other responsibilities were producing financial statements for several full and limited-service hotels.
After Atrium Hospitality, Wayne worked for Rohm Group and became a key member of the leadership team. Wayne was the Corporate Accounting Manager and worked closely with Operations, Ownership and the property management teams to keep processes on task and on time. He produced the financial statements for 10 hotels and a movie theatre. Several projects included entering the annual budgets in M3 to on boarding several hotels. This drives success while keeping the end goal in mind to our stakeholders.
After Rohm Group, Wayne is currently working for CUSA as a Senior Regional Controller from producing financial statements to transitioning new hotels into the portfolio.
Jeff Grate
Regional Controller
Mr. Grate is a graduate of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, He has over 20 years of experience in the hospitality industry. This experience includes in both hotel operations and accounting. Mr. Grate began his hospitality career as Assistant Hotel Manager at the Flamingo Hilton Laughlin. A 2000 room hotel casino in Laughlin, NV. After Hilton he joined the Adams Mark Hotel in Winston- Salem, NC an 800 room luxury hotel where he served as Assistant Director of Front Office. After Adams Mark Mr. Grate took a position with Tharaldson Hospitality Management serving as General Manager for the Fairfield Marriott in Scranton, PA. After Marriott Mr. Grate moved on to The Reunion Resort and Club, a 3000 acre private resort in Orlando, FL area. Mr. Grate served as income auditor here. He was responsible for the auditing of 7 restaurants, 3 golf courses and a 400 room hotel. After Reunion Mr. Grate moved onto Champions World resort a 500 room sports themed resort in the Orlando Florida area. Here he served as Accounting Manager. Here he was responsible for overseeing all accounting functions for the resort. After Champions World resort Mr. Grate served as Accounting Manager for Red Lion Hotel in Orlando, FL. He served most recently as Club Accountant at Hanover Seaside Club an exclusive 120 year old private beach club in Wrightsville Beach, NC. As Regional Controller Mr. Grate oversees the accounting functions and reporting for multi hotel properties.
Dante Mancini
Corporate Director of Operations Multi-Family and Commercial
Mr. Mancini has worked with CUSA since 2005 as a Commercial and Multi-Family Property Manager. Dante began his career with Enterprise Rent A Car in property management and regional operations for over ten years. Mr. Mancini’s operational experience covers all aspects of Commercial and Multi-Family property operations. His specialties include: insurance negotiation, revenue management and cost control. Dante is a graduate of Towson State University in Maryland with a degree in Business.
Adam Biesecker
Corporate Director of Development
Adam joined CUSA Hospitality in 2016 and brought with him over 30 years of top tier business development experience. Adam’s background is in technology sales, he successfully developed strong and lasting relationships with tech giants like Cisco, Dell, IBM, AT&T, Verizon, and many more. In 2016 Adam decided he wanted to tackle a different vertical of business and was presented the opportunity to come work with CUSA. “After I met with Debbie Cannon and Chuck Taylor, the leadership of CUSA, I knew that our values and business practices lined up and I wanted to be part of this wonderful team.” Adam’s philosophy on sales is simple, do the right things for your clients. Don’t mislead them and always be accessible to them. Look out for their best interests even if at times it feels as though it’s not in your best interest. Adam is a graduate of GA State University with a bachelor’s degree in business marketing. He has been married for 32 years to the love of his life Jana, and they have three incredible children. Adam volunteers in several ministries, he leads a homeless ministry in Atlanta, he is also on the board of Kids3 Foster Care Ministry and Abiding Word Counseling.
Todd Neuenschwander
Corporate Director of Operations Hotel Division
Todd Neuenschwander has more than forty years of hospitality industry experience which includes notable brands like Hilton, Marriott, and Radisson Hotels. He has worked in top US markets, such as Miami, Orlando, Atlanta, and San Francisco and has destination hotel and resort market experience as a general manager, food and beverage professional and Executive Chef.
Todd joined CUSA in 2014 as the Corporate Director of Operations and oversees a portfolio of branded and independent focused-service hotels expanding his brand knowledge to Intercontinental Hotel Group, Choice Hotels, Wyndham Hotels and Resorts where he is responsible for all aspects of hotel support, operational excellence, revenue generation, property performance, brand and owner relationships.
Prior to joining CUSA, he held the general manager position with Stonebridge Companies at the Radisson Hotel SFO and was task with converting this full-service hotel to a DoubleTree by Hilton. Todd also work with Sage Hospitality for more than a decade where he held food and beverage director and general manager leadership positions in the Hilton Garden Inn Brand. Earlier in Todd’s career, he worked as a food and beverage director in a 600-room full-service Orlando, Florida hotel, a four-star, four-diamond luxury ocean front hotel on the prestigious Miami Beach, and a top event and wedding destination resort in Southern California.
A graduate of the legendary Culinary Institute of America, he pursued his career aspirations to become an Executive Chef where he trained in three and four Star / Diamond rated hotels. On a path to become a Certified Executive Chef, Todd was fortunate to win multiple Gold, Silver and Bronze medals in hot food, cold display and ice carving competitions. Todd also established and administered several culinary and hospitality internship programs with Culinary Institute of America, Culinary Academy, Lutheran Services, and other institutions with many apprentices enjoying long and rewarding careers in the hospitality industry.
As a leader in the hospitality field, Todd has been involved with several community organizations, such as the Brisbane Chamber of Commerce, San Mateo Conventions and Visitors Bureau and Dekalb County Conventions and Visitors Bureau. He also was a member of the Sage Hospitality General Manager’s Counsel and Hilton Garden Inn Food and Beverage Advisory Board which developed and implemented the culture and framework of today’s Hilton Garden Inn food and beverage concept. Todd is certified to operate several hotel brands and has recently completed the Marriott Executive Excellence Program.
Candace Collins
Corporate Director of Operations
Candace Collins grew up in East Tennessee, surrounded by the beauty of the Smoky Mountains. Ms. Collins studied business and management at the University of Tennessee. During college, she was recruited and hired by Radisson Hotels. Upon graduation with a Bachelor of Science honors degree in Business Administration; she then started her hotel career at the Radisson Hotel Atlanta, a 300-room property with 80,000 sf of meeting space, as Sales Manager, embarking on a hospitality career that would span 34 years to date.
After 4 years and several promotions, she was recruited for The Holiday Inn Atlanta Decatur Conference Plaza, an IHG property, as Sales Manager, then promoted to Director of Sales and Marketing. At this hotel, she would meet and work under Deborah Cannon, at the inception of CUSA until 2000. Ms. Collins was promoted to Corporate Director of Sales and Development for CUSA with responsibilities of securing management contracts, hotel transitions, operations and sales. She also worked as General Manager, promoted from Director of Sales at The Holiday Inn Atlanta Northlake, an IHG property, which was managed by Sunway Hotel Group.
After 14 years in Atlanta, Ms. Collins returned to Knoxville, accepting a position initially as Director of Sales for The Holiday Inn World’s Fair Park, owned and operated by Franklin Haney. Ms. Collins was promoted to General Manager and oversaw a multi-million dollar renovation and increased hotel revenues to the highest ever in the history of the hotel. This 300 room property was connected to the Knoxville Convention and Exhibition Center with 45,000 sf of space. Five years later, Ms. Collins accepted the General Manager position with Gibson Hotel Management Inc. for the brand-new Hilton Garden Inn Knoxville. Ms. Collins received the Ramp Up Award, due to the exceptional revenue streams and customer service levels achieved during the first year of operation.
After 3 years, Ms. Collins was promoted to the GHMI corporate office as Vice President of Operations, Sales and Marketing. Until 2020, Ms. Collins worked in the following positions- Area Director, Corporate Director, Vice President and Executive Vice President. Ms. Collins had oversight for Operations and Sales and Marketing for select hotels and LLC groups with brands that include Hilton, IHG, Marriott, Choice and Wyndham in a portfolio of 20 hotels with separate LLCs.
Ms. Collins has received the Affiliate Broker license for commercial and residential real estate in Tennessee, representing Berkshire Hathaway and now CUSA. Ms. Collins has been affiliated with many professional associations, serving as a longstanding member and President of the Knoxville Tourism Alliance for 3 years. Ms. Collins was also a board member for the Tennessee Hospitality Association for 4 years.
Ms. Collins enjoys spending time with her daughters, Jordan and Lauren, family, attending UT Football games (Go Vols) and a pup named Tuxx.
Ms. Collins is so excited to once again be part of the CUSA team.
Christina Elias
Corporate Director of Operations
Christina Elias, a native of Pennsylvania, is a graduate from The University of Pittsburgh with a Degree in Business Administration and Hospitality and brings more than 30 years of experience in the Hotel Industry to her position as Regional Director of Operations. She began her career as part of the IHG team in Morgantown, West Virginia. Christina’s experience ranges from full-service hotels to beach properties, and limited-service facilities. She is well versed in Revenue Management, Hotel Accounting, and Operational Effectiveness. As a valuable part of the CUSA corporate team, she very effectively transitions incoming properties to the CUSA culture and process, is a CUSA corporate internal auditor ensuring property compliance for both brand and CUSA standards for all IHG, Hilton, Choice, Independent, and Wyndham brand franchised properties. Chris effectively ensures all life-safety, emergency, franchise and CUSA reporting, accounting and procurement, and human resource standards for each hotel. She also provides oversight and guidance for her own portfolio of properties throughout the US.
Christina Elias has served as General Manager of properties with both Interstate and Janus Hotels and has been part of the CUSA team for more than 12 years; starting off with CUSA in 2009 as General Manager of one the company’s premier hotels in the busy Atlanta Market. She has successfully completed multiple brand certifications that range from Marriott, IHG, Hilton, Wyndham with specialized certifications that include Revenue Management, Human Resources and Accounting, and the exclusive Marriott Executive Excellence training. Christina has successfully collaborated on updating CUSA’s policies and procedures manuals, and is currently engaged in the SHERM certification process.
Kimberly Houze
Corporate Director of Sales and Marketing
Kim Houze began her career in hotel sales in 1991 at the prestigious Lake Lanier Islands Hilton Hotel and Resort. After graduating from the University of Florida with a Bachelor of Science in Public Relations/minor in Business. Ms. Houze was selected by Hilton Hotels for an internship and completed the internship at the Hilton Hotel in Gainesville, FL. Ms. Houze was challenged and thoroughly enjoyed working in the hotel industry, she knew that her career would be focused in this industry. For her entire career in hospitality, now in her thirtieth year,she has been involved in sales efforts, managing sales and catering teams for full-service hotels, golf and resort properties, select service hotels, limited service hotels and extended stay properties. She spent the majority of her career with Hilton Hotels as the Director of Sales and Catering for the Hilton Atlanta Northwest in Atlanta, GA. Ms. Houze also had great success working as an Area Sales Director with US Hotel Investors where she was responsible for overseeing the Holiday Inn Select in Decatur, GA, the Hilton Atlanta Northwest, and the Belleview Biltmore Golf Resort in Clearwater, FL. Ms. Houze has worked with CUSA, LLC as the Corporate Director of Sales and Marketing for over 16 years.
During Ms. Houze’s extensive career in hospitality, she was always actively involved in membership in various leadership and hotel organizations. She was the President of HSMAI Georgia (Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International) for two years as well as the President of Cobb Executive Women. She has served as Vice President of Cobb Republican Women. Ms. Houze also served on the Board of Directors for The Cobb Chamber of Commerce as well as served on the Board of Directors for the Cobb Convention and Visitors Bureau. She is an active member of the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau. She is also a member of Leadership Cobb and the Honorary Commanders Association in Cobb County, GA.
Ms. Houze currently has oversight of the entire Sales and Marketing team, Directors of Sales and Regional Sales Directors for CUSA Hospitality Management. Under the direction of Ms. Houze, RevPar average index achievements with CUSA properties have been outstanding and that is reflected in the following current statistics: 2018 index 122.15, 2019 index 130.9, 2020 index 137.5. For many years she has worked directly with the Revenue Management teams at Hilton, Marriott, IHG, Wyndham and CHOICE Hotels and is a seasoned, highly skilled revenue management partner with expertise in each of their systems and programs.
Kathy Frazier-Kenney
Regional Director of Sales
Kathy Kenney is a Florida Native with over 20 years’ experience in the Hospitality Industry. Kathy originally joined CUSA in 2008 and in 2014 as the Director of Sales at the Clarion Suites Maingate at Walt Disney World in Kissimmee, Florida. Prior to CUSA, Kathy held Director of Sales positions within the hospitality industry including full service, limited service, branded and independent hotels as well as local winery.
Her extensive experience with previous roles as Executive Director of Sales and Marketing, Director of Catering and Senior Sales Manager, Sales & Catering Manager, Operations Manager in brands such as Choice Hotels (Clarion Suites, Comfort Suites and Suburban Extended Stay), Sheraton 5 Points, Best Western, Howard Johnsons, Travelodge, and Ramada equips her with valuable skills in all markets.
Kathy’s experience includes developing and executing marketing plans and leveraging brand tools to help analyze and improve optimal revenue growth to include driving revenue through a direct sales effort, tradeshows, maximizing rates and revenues and specifically development of International Markets.
Kathy has always had a passion for hospitality and community collaboration which has led her to a number of volunteer opportunities and to community leadership roles. Kathy works with Government Organizations, County Chambers of Commerce, Destination Management Companies, and Convention and Visitor Bureaus. Kathy volunteers for many nonprofit organizations giving back to the community.
Marsha R. Heard
Regional Director of sales
Marsha began working in hospitality in 1976. I started my career at the Hilton Hotel in downtown Tallahassee, Florida. My markets at that time were SMERF and Government. Since the major industries there were FSU Sports and State Government, I learned a lot very quickly. Within a few years I had progressed to become a Director of Sales. A title I have held throughout my career at Hilton, IHG, Wyndham and Choice Hotels.
I have worked with CUSA since January 2015. I started with the Comfort Suites at the Airport, and as smaller properties came available, I was able to fulfill the function of a Director of Sales in several hotels in the CUSA portfolio. I currently have four hotels, My Place Hotel, Greenville, SC, Kennesaw Inn, Kennesaw, GA., Microtel Inn & Suites, Woodstock, GA., and Comfort Inn, Demopolis, AL. These are diverse properties and markets so each one has its own set of challenges which really keep me on my toes.
I am a Georgia native, born in Forsyth, Georgia and raised in Bainbridge, Georgia. I attended Huntingdon College and Georgia Southwestern as well as independent studies at Florida State University. Mother of a son Russ, Army Veteran and father of 4 and a daughter Julia, brilliant child who is the mother of one. I have 7 grandchildren (3 are steps) and 1 great grandson who just arrived late in May.
I love what I do, since no two days are alike and I get to work with great people at CUSA As well as getting to know quite a number of my better clients.
For fun I scuba dive, fly small aircraft and love to read, and spend time with my close friends!! I live in Cobb County on the Chattahoochee River with my cat, Cece-Silly Cat.