HFTP Announces 2026 Paragon Award Recipient – Raymond Martz

Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP®) is pleased to announce Raymond Martz as this year's recipient of the Paragon Award. Martz is co-president and CFO of Pebblebrook Hotel Trust (NYSE: PEB). He has been recognized with this award for his dual impact across hospitality finance and technology, along with his longstanding dedication to HFTP and the broader industry. Recently, Martz served as the co-chair of the Global Finance Committee, jointly sponsored by the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) and HFTP, which helped guide the revision process for the Uniform System of Accounts for the Lodging Industry (USALI®), 12^th Revised Edition, published in July 2024.

Martz co-founded Pebblebrook Hotel Trust in 2009 and has served as chief financial officer since its inception and as co-president since 2023. Working with Pebblebrook’s leadership team, he has helped build the company from a $400 million blind-pool IPO with no hotel assets into one of the nation’s leading owners of lifestyle hotels and resorts. 

Throughout that growth, Martz has played a central role in shaping Pebblebrook’s strategy, capital allocation, financing and corporate development. Over his career, he has led more than $15 billion of capital markets transactions spanning public and private equity, debt financings and major refinancing transactions. His work also included financing Pebblebrook’s transformative $5.2 billion acquisition of LaSalle Hotel Properties.

Beyond Pebblebrook, Martz has helped shape the financial standards used throughout the global lodging industry. Through his leadership roles with the USALI, he helped lead development of the 12th Revised Edition of USALI. The new edition modernized the industry’s financial reporting framework in areas including labor, market segmentation, sustainability and other emerging issues, while expanding its relevance to hotel owners, operators and brands around the world.

Martz has increasingly focused on the convergence of strategy, finance and technology and on how emerging technologies can reshape the economics and operating model of the hospitality industry. A longtime supporter of HFTP and HITEC®, he has challenged hospitality leaders to evaluate technology based on measurable business outcomes rather than adoption alone, while advocating for greater use of artificial intelligence, automation and data analytics to improve productivity, accelerate decision-making and enhance the guest experience.

Ray is the definition of what volunteership is for nonprofit associations. Ray has been an excellent ambassador for both HFTP and AHLA and as a result of his leadership, the language of hospitality finance is not only clearer but also has expanded to a more global audience. HFTP CEO Frank Wolfe

Martz's career reflects decades of dedicated leadership in hospitality finance. Prior to Pebblebrook, he served as CFO for Phillips Edison & Company from 2007 to 2009, and as CFO, Secretary, and Treasurer of Eagle Hospitality Properties Trust from 2005 to 2007. From 1998 to 2005, he held multiple finance roles at LaSalle Hotel Properties, including Treasurer and VP of Finance. Earlier in his career, Martz worked as an Associate at Tishman Hotel Corp from 1995 to 1997 and held hotel operations roles at Orient Hotel Group from 1994 to 1995.

The Paragon Award celebrates individuals whose contributions have left a lasting mark on the hospitality finance and technology community. Martz's blend of real-world financial leadership and deep commitment to industry collaboration makes him a well-deserving honoree.

Previous Paragon Award winners include: Alice Banks, CHAE (1999); Henry "Buddy" Weeks, CHAE (1999); Frank Santos, CHAE, CHA (2000); Katherine Cavanagh, CHAE (2001); Raymond Schmidgall, PH.D., CPA, CHAE (2002); Frank Wolfe, CAE (2002); Len Bartello, CPA, CHAE, CHTP (2003); John J. Cahill, CHA, CHTP (2004); Wendy Zurstadt, CPA, CHAE, CHTP (2005); Richard Braa, CHAE (2006); Robert Patasnick, CPA (2007); George Glazer (2008); Agnes DeFranco, Ed.D., CHAE (2009); Stephen LeBruto, CPA, CHAE, Ed.D. (2009); and Steve Doherty, CHAE, CHTP (2010); Frank Agnello Jr., CMA, CHAE (2011); Howard Field, FBHA, FCA (2012); Joseph McInerney, CHA (2013); Evelyn Adams (2014); Ralph R. Miller, CPA, CA, CBV, CHA, CHAE (2015); Raman (R. P.) Rama B. Com, CHA Emeritus, CHTP, CHAE (2016); Kris S. Shoemaker, CMA, CGFO, CHAE, CHTP, CPFIM (2016); Mary Gerdts (2017); Anna McFarland, CPA, CFE, CHAE, CHTP (2018); Thomas Smith, CHAE (2019); Ian Millar, CHTP (2020); Tanya Venegas, MBA, MHM, CHIA (2021); Sanjay Nadkarni, Ph.D. (2021); Daniel Conti, Jr., CHAE+ (2022); Geneva Rinehart (2023); Robert Mandelbaum (2024); and Chris Garland (2025).

Media Contact

Eliza Selig

CMO [email protected] 15122204026