Gary Beasley has been appointed Chief Executive Officer at Commune Hotels & Resorts

Beasley, a partner at Geolo Capital, the private equity arm of the John A. Pritzker family, has been working alongside senior executives on the company’s strategic growth plan since Geolo acquired a controlling interest in the company in June. Joie de Vivre Founder Chip Conley, who previously held the CEO title, transitions to executive chairman and chief creative officer and continues to be actively involved in the company. Conley will share co-chairman duties with non-executive chairman John A. Pritzker. As part of the agreement with Joie de Vivre, Geolo Capital established an investment fund to capitalize the hotel company’s growth and national expansion, with the objective of acquiring $300 million to $500 million of hospitality assets over the next five years. Geolo plans to double Joie de Vivre’s revenues and grow the number of managed properties over that time period from the current 34 in California to approximately 50 throughout the U.S., adding hotels and resorts in key gateway cities and resort markets through new third party management agreements, joint ventures, and acquisitions. In 2009 Geolo acquired Carmel Valley Ranch, an iconic 139-room resort property located on 490 acres in the lush Carmel Valley. The Ranch joined the Joie de Vivre Hotels collection this month as part of its luxury portfolio. The company anticipates announcing its first acquisition via this new capital partnership in the upcoming weeks.