Ben Brunt, Chief Investment Officer, Noble Investment Group, interviewed by Lan Elliott

Ben's story is a reminder that longevity in one place can be just as powerful a career move as chasing the next opportunity. The depth of trust he has built at Noble - with partners, with his team, and through the cycles of the industry - did not happen by accident; it was the result of showing up fully, year after year. For those earlier in their careers: choose your environment wisely, invest in the people around you, and never stop asking how you can contribute more. In hospitality, relationships are the real currency, and the ones built on genuine trust compound over time.

Transcript

Lan Elliott 0:01

Hello and welcome to It's Personal Stories. My name is Lan Elliott on behalf of It's Personal Stories, and today I am really pleased to have Ben Brunt on with us. Welcome, Ben.

Ben Brunt 0:14

Thanks, Lan. Great to be here. Thank you for having me.

Lan Elliott 0:17

I'm delighted today is finally when we get to hear your story. And Ben, I've had the chance to work with you in the past. Hospitality is wonderful 'cause you can even become friends negotiating across the table from one another, which is what you did. Which we had to do, we had to do on a couple deals many years ago.

Ben Brunt 0:37

Yep.

Lan Elliott 0:37

But it's a wonderful industry, and we get to stay in touch-

Ben Brunt 0:40

Yeah

Lan Elliott 0:40

as a result. I wonder if you could start by sharing some of the inflection points in your career because you've had a tremendous career. How did you get to where you are now?

Ben Brunt 0:53

Would it be helpful to start at the beginning and maybe start with, some of the opportunities or, inspirational, moments that kind of, gave me, an interest into the business? Absolutely. Yeah, so I didn't really start out, in life, thinking that I would wind up, in the hotel business really, even in commercial real estate. So I went to Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut for undergrad. I was a liberal arts, major focused on American studies which really means all I did was read and write, for four years. But I learned a lot and it was great. It gave me great perspective and outlook. However, when I finished I was not really certain, the direction that I wanted to go. And so I worked for a little while and then quickly, went to business school. And so I went to business school at SMU in Dallas, and while I was in at SMU, I had the opportunity really in my second year to take some elective courses, and I focused on commercial real estate, and literally took, a class from the guy who wrote the book Real Estate... I want to say it was Real Estate Finance and Investments. His name was Bill Brueggemann, and he was, a great inspiration. Really began to, enjoy just, the various segments of real estate, the opportunity that that real estate offers. And when it came time to focus, on, what came next, I j- I chose to focus on, real estate opportunities. So I wound up with, an opportunity to be an office broker in Houston, or I could have worked with, a guy that was a little more entrepreneurial that had done well coming out of the RTC. And then I also wound up with an opportunity to work with Security Capital Group, who at the time was a large, real estate umbrella corporation that had a variety of different business units. And they had one called Homestead Village, which was a fledgling an extended stay mid-scale business headquartered, in Atlanta. When I arrived, I took that opportunity. I thought that, you know- Going to a larger company would, give me more opportunity as someone that didn't have, a meaningful background prior to business school. And, as it turned out, it was a wonderful opportunity because the business had really just begun, and I think there were around 12 hotels when I arrived. We experienced rapid growth up, so I got to, participate, with a business that grew from 12 assets to, a little bit north of 130 in a very short period of time. That gave me, insight into a variety of disciplines, whether it was... first it was really learning the geography, of the US, the markets, the sub-markets, 'cause we were obviously very targeted, in terms of where we wanted to develop these assets. And so that was fantastic in terms of kinda learning, the important really business-oriented markets that, you know, and this was in the late '90s. So I got a, a good path, from that standpoint. But then, we also had, we had site selection, we had architecture, we had development, we had operations, and I got an opportunity to get my hands in everything while I was there. It was really a solid opportunity to, and an introduction, into the hotel space. Although we were, we were really dedicated to our brand and, obviously had some competitors that we, we learned about, along the way, but it was really really a brand-focused, opportunity. After that experience, I wound up moving also to in, within Atlanta to a general contractor that had a development arm, Harden Capital, and it was there that, I really began to develop relationships and learn, more about some of the larger brands, Marriott and Hilton for example. We did a lot of ground up and some acquisitions, and so that was really my kind of entrée into I guess more larger projects, more custom, oriented projects, versus the programmatic, development that we were doing at Homestead

Lan Elliott 4:58

And how did you get to Noble?

Ben Brunt 5:00

I was at Hardin for four or five years, and actually Rodney Williams, who was the CIO at Hardin and I were, joined at the hip. He was my mentor, one of my best friends, and we met Mitt at, had an opportunity to to move over to Noble joined in early 2005. Yeah.

Lan Elliott 5:22

That is incredible. And you have stayed at Noble since then, over 20 years, and I recently interviewed Addie, who also works with you at Noble- Yes and I think he has spent, I think his entire career at Noble. It speaks to the longevity that people love to spend a long time at that company. But I know someone like you has opportunities along the way. It's not like you chose to go to Noble and that was it. You probably had opportunities to leave along the way. I'm curious why someone would choose to stay at a company. How did you think about different opportunities that came up when you could have moved on and you decided staying at Noble was the right thing for you?

Ben Brunt 6:14

When I joined Noble Noble had been in business around 12 years in 2005. We've now been in business over 30, which is, a... just a I think a great, testament to the culture that is at Noble. We we had, I wanna say, 12 to 15 hotels, when I joined. Today we have a little over 200. We're obviously in the fund business and so there's a lot of, moving properties in and out, as funds go through realization, periods. But that's where we are today, so we've experienced a lot of growth. I've gotten to be, a big part of that. And I would say that when you find, a group of people that, you love and you trust and you're ready to go to battle, with day in and day out, there may be opportunities that, pop up along the way, but quite honestly, I ignored them. So I knew I was in a special place. I knew that, we had, a special leader, in Mitt. I love, the people that I was working with, my partners, the opportunity to grow and to be part of something that, that I really believed in and that we all believed in. And I think that's, one of the things that, one of the things that, really, sets Noble apart is the tenure, that we have, as a partnership. So it's pretty special and I'm, very fortunate to have been part of it

Lan Elliott 7:29

I love that. And I think it's important just to recognize when you're living it day to day, you don't always realize how special that opportunity is that you have, that you're in the middle of living it. Yeah. Sometimes people don't realize that until they look back. So good for you, and noble to, to be able to have people stay a long time. There is great value in having a shorthand with the people that you work with.

Ben Brunt 7:54

Yeah, for sure. No, the trust that, you know that we all have. And look, we've... the hotel business, has been, cyclical, in the past. Arguably, perhaps less, cyclical, going forward. But yeah, some of the, the challenges that, we as an industry, have faced. This group here has been in the trenches together many times. You, even though, it's a challenge whenever, something bad happens that can have an impact it's nice to know that, you're in it with people, that love and trust.

Lan Elliott 8:22

Absolutely. I wanted to touch on continuous growth because we hear from a lot of leaders that this is a big part of their path. But sometimes we encounter a skill that we didn't realize was going to be important to us later as we progressed in our careers. Is there an example of this that you found along the way, and how did you learn the skill?

Ben Brunt 8:48

Yeah. You know- As I was thinking about this question, honestly, it is, it's as simple as leadership. And when I started, at Noble, I've, It was a very small team. Actually, Addy and I just, worked with Rodney, and that was the investment team. And we had a cradle-to-grave, structure. Eventually, that dynamic changed and I had the opportunity to build a team, and that has continued, throughout my tenure at Noble. So for me, leadership, was nothing that we're it did not really come, I would say, naturally in terms of thinking about, okay, other people's careers, et cetera. I it was something that, that I knew that I needed to develop as, as a team as my team grew. So today, I think our team is, eight people. And, absolutely, you have to think about, not just, what deals are we doing? What, what is Where are we in this fund? What is, what are our goals from now through, the end of the investment period? But, how is, so and so doing, in, in their career, their family life, is any coaching, necessary at this point? There, so there's a variety of things that, I think you have to take into consideration. It's not just about you. It's about, others and, what you can do to help folks think about, where they are in their career. Is something working? Is it not? Do they need coaching? And we've also been fortunate in that we've had, some executive coaches that, have, helped us along the way to, help develop some of those skills and, that skill set

Lan Elliott 10:22

Yeah, absolutely. It's a big shift to go from being an individual contributor and learning how to do the job yourself to learning to work through other people and help them be successful.

Ben Brunt 10:35

Yeah.

Lan Elliott 10:35

And I-

Ben Brunt 10:36

And it takes time to, to develop, that trust in others. And, that's, another, I think unique thing, at Noble in that, a vast majority of the folks that, have, been part of, this team, have remained here. And so again, the tenure that I have with a lot of folks on the team here, is fantastic. And we just... Y- you develop a rhythm and, that's what I think is, super helpful because we're all traveling, we're all looking at deals, we're all coming back and, throwing it all into the cocktail shaker and then deciding, what is the right decision, at any moment in time. Having that level of trust, is paramount.

Lan Elliott 11:14

Yeah. It all starts with trust. It's hard to be a leader if your people don't trust you to begin with. You touched on looking at deals just now, and I wanted to unpack that because I think there is this perception that it's very glamorous going out and doing deals and just picking deals that you work on. But you don't get to where you are without taking calculated risks. And I think there is a piece that deal people learn to do after doing deals for a long time, is to know which deals am I going to take a risk on, and when to step off the ledge and to say, "This is the deal I'm gonna fight for. I'm gonna stand up in front of the company and my peers and say, this is going to be a great deal for the company." But that also is reflective of taking risks in your career and in your job generally. How do you approach taking risks? How do you think about them, maybe not just on the deal side, but more broadly, how do you approach taking risks?

Ben Brunt 12:20

I am, a deal guy, at its core. And so the, I guess the risk that I would, articulate that we take as the investment team, for example, is really articulating, new markets Perhaps a different brand, perhaps a different, situation. Something that, is new, for, our investment platform. And, the way that we, think about that is, we kinda have a playbook in terms of, okay, we know that this opportunity is different. It's gonna be new. Most folks may not, know this market. Just given the size of, Noble's funds, over the years, the investment team here has really had to become, experts around, the geography o- of the US and, again, not, to use the expression know where the puck is moving. So we, we want to, be on the forefront, of many markets. So in order to mitigate risk, what we do is, get smart around markets before we go out and spend a lot of time in them. So we spend a ton of time on, research. We pride ourselves around being data-driven. And so rather than saying, "Hey, I'm gonna go take this risk," it's, how can I mitigate the risks that, are part of investing in hotels? And I think the first one, is really understanding, where you wanna be, from a market perspective. Going to, going and learning those markets, spending time there, understanding the sub-market, the street corner. If you have an acquisition platform, figuring out, Or you obviously are gonna understand the segment that you wanna be in, and then go find, what assets are perhaps an opportunity for you. And so we spend a lot of time, doing that. So rather than saying, "Here's the risks I wanna go take," it's really I know what our business plan is. I know what we are investing in. How can I reduce those risks by becoming smarter? Finding the markets, that we believe are, have more run room, have more growth. Why is it growing? What businesses are there? Is it reliable? Is it sustainable? And so we're asking ourselves a series of questions constantly that help, I think, reduce the risk and help us, us then explain internally, why we should make this investment, why this market, why is it for Noble, and why now. Yeah.

Lan Elliott 14:42

I do think there is a lot in doing your homework and putting a box about around the risk and making it as small as you can the smarter you get- Yeah about the asset or the market. That risk does start to get smaller. But ultimately, as the chief investment officer You make the call to say it's a yes or a no on every deal, and there is risk in that. Ultimately, even though you've done all of the homework, at some point you need to make a call. And doing deals is a lot about predicting the future. What do we think is going to happen? And nobody knows.

Ben Brunt 15:22

But, again, that's where, I think, the way that, we have set our process up. So yeah, we have an investment team, and our role is to go out and source the opportunity. But we're not, doing all of the homework along the way. We have, a handful of other departments, whether it's asset management, design and construction, capital markets, finance and accounting, the various, other groups within Noble, we come together and collaborate. And so we're getting, the best input, around, every part of the process. And so sure we kinda quarterback that process, but at the end of the day, we... I am actually not making, the thumbs up or thumbs down decision on whether or not we move forward. It's a collective decision, that we have, worked on together. If something is wrong, in any particular area, it pops out, during our study, during our diligence, and we can then go address that, with the seller and, work to find a solution.

Lan Elliott 16:20

Yeah.

Ben Brunt 16:20

Having a... I would say having... It's another way to kinda de-risk, a, this business is to have, a group of professionals that are diverse, in terms of their understanding, whether it's understanding the building, a deeper understanding, of, how to run hotels or what's going on with labor in this market or, what's going on with certain businesses here. And then, obviously our debt relationships. That is a great way to enhance our opportunities and returns and, we just come together as a group and make those decisions together.

Lan Elliott 16:56

I love that. I love the team aspect of it.

Ben Brunt 16:58

Yeah.

Lan Elliott 16:59

I wanted to talk about Ben personally because you work on deals that can be tough. We've worked on a couple deals that had some rocky parts to them. Yeah. How do you stay motivated? Because the going can get rough, and every deal has its moments. How do you stay motivated and focused?

Ben Brunt 17:22

Yeah. I think, again at the core I'm a deal junkie. I love the hunt. I love, I love real estate and, s- still even, close, being close to 55 years old I still love going to markets and learning new markets. So I'm still motivated by, authentic, locations and markets, across the US. I'm motivated by, design. So that, that part of the process, I think is super important. But being in the fund business, there is, a discipline, that, that comes along with that. We are, investing capital for a period of time. And we map out, through our portfolio construction how we think about, what's the right kind of deal to make at this point, through the investment period. So we begin with a disciplined, thought process that we carry through that investment period, and that's what helps us, I think, stay motivated and focused on, the end goal, which is to invest the capital in the right deals in the right markets, for that particular fund. So I look at it, each fund is a challenge. We're currently investing fund five, which was $1 billion in, equity. And we're close to completing that investment period and fund six will, will begin. So we are just always, just thinking about, what's next where are we gonna go and, how are we gonna fund it?

Lan Elliott 18:45

I love that. Looking forward, always great. I touched on earlier how we connected, and I think that developing a network is so critical in any business, but I think in hospitality more the great thing is that people tend to stay in hospitality for a long time. Yeah. So the people that you meet, you will circle back and see them again in the future very likely. How have you gone about developing a network? Because that can be a bit daunting to some people, and they're not really sure, where do I start? How do I do that? How have you done it in a way that works for you?

Ben Brunt 19:25

Oh, I... for starters, I think our industry's really geared, towards, networking. Hospitality, the variety of conferences. Every, I think, major and even small mar- a lot of the smaller, markets, probably top- the top 50 markets, in the US have some kind of, local hospitality alliance opportunity. Whether you're a large shop or a small shop or just trying to get into the business, I think there are great opportunities really across the country to, get involved locally. So locally, and then, obviously through the relationships that come, through where you work. Obviously the conferences, have been, huge opportunities for, people to connect, especially, when I was younger, the late- later night events, late night events and, that was always a super opportunity to meet people and develop relationships. I've just taken advantage of what the industry has offered. And then, we, once we have, talk- whether it's a brand relationship, a management company relationship, a lender relationship, we take a lot of time, to cultivate those, outside of some of the larger events and truly, make, create special opportunities to connect with folks that we know that, we wanna have a great relationship with and do a lot of business with

Lan Elliott 20:43

Do you have any advice for people who walk into one of those industry events and don't know where to start? They just see a sea of people.

Ben Brunt 20:53

I, I think you just gotta, I think you just gotta start with, meeting one or two people and then beginning your, beginning to build the network that way. I continue to meet new people at all of the industry events, that I go to. So I, it's not like I feel like my network is built out and, and I'm done. I think that's also, something that's really interesting about our space is, it does attract, people that, are kinda geared, toward being social, being active and interested in a variety of different aspects of the business. Whether it's again, the design piece it's super interesting. The design conferences, if you haven't been to one of those, they're It is amazing, what our industry actually supports, from a design aspect and so I'm, I'm constantly amazed, by by everything that, you know, that this industry supports.

Lan Elliott 21:44

It's an incredible industry. Ben, you've offered some great advice and perspective on your career and your time at Noble. For our listeners who are looking to advance their careers, do you have any final advice for them?

Ben Brunt 22:01

Yeah, all I would say is attitude is everything. So attitude is everything. Relationships, are paramount and, a great attitude coming in every day, asking, young people or folks that are trying to, build a career if you're already, in a shop, what can you do? What c- continue to ask, continue to be inquisitive, continue to ask for more opportunity to grow yourself. Stay late, work hard, work harder than others. But, I think having the attitude that, articulates to others, "This is what I wanna do, and here's how I want to advance, the business that, I'm working on right now. And if I'm able to help, the firm grow, then I know that's, gonna be, an opportunity for me personally."

Lan Elliott 22:48

I love that. All right. Thank you very much, Ben, for sharing that wonderful advice, and thank you for coming on. It's been really great to have this conversation with you. Appreciate you, and for all you do for people in the industry, and just very grateful to have your friendship all these years.

Ben Brunt 23:09

Likewise, Lynn. Thank you so much for having me. It's been a pleasure, and congratulations on, such a successful and important podcast. I know you've spent a lot of time on it.

Lan Elliott 23:20

Thanks, Ben. And for our audience, if you've enjoyed this discussion with Ben, I hope you'll go to our website. It's personalstories.com, where you can see many more interviews with hospitality industry leaders.