Fairwood Capital specializes in value creation opportunities in the hospitality sector.

Bob Solmson is a Co-Managing Partner of Fairwood Capital. Since co-founding the firm in 2008, he has been responsible for overseeing the firm’s strategic direction in addition to having an integral role in the firm’s acquisitions, dispositions, and capital raising efforts.

Prior to Fairwood, Mr. Solmson was the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of RFS Hotel Investors, Inc., a publicly traded hotel REIT listed on the New York Stock Exchange, from its founding in 1993 through its sale in 2003, when the company was acquired by CNL Hotels and Resorts in an all-cash transaction for approximately $700 million. Prior to listing RFS on the NYSE, he co-founded RFS, Inc., a multi-faceted real estate company active in the ownership, operation, development, and management of industrial, retail, office, and hotel properties.

Mr. Solmson has served on the boards of The National Bank of Commerce, National Commerce Bancorporation, Morgan Keegan and Company, Independent Bank, The Colonial Williamsburg Company, Orgill Inc., and the Lazard Funds. In 1999 he founded the Memphis Opportunity Scholarship Trust, which provides scholarship assistance to financially disadvantaged children. He is a graduate of Washington & Lee University.

Todd Solmson is a Co-Managing Partner of Fairwood Capital. Since co-founding the firm in 2008, he has been responsible for overseeing the operations of the firm in addition to having an integral role in the firm’s acquisitions, dispositions, and capital raising efforts.

Prior to Fairwood, Mr. Solmson was a Principal at Aquiline, a New York-based private equity firm focused on investments in financial services, and an Associate at Fillmore Capital Partners, a San Francisco-based real estate private equity firm investing in equity and structured debt with a primary emphasis on hospitality and healthcare-related real estate. He also spent five years with Banc of America Securities, working most recently in the Real Estate, Gaming and Lodging Syndicated Finance Group. During his tenure at Aquiline, Fillmore, and Banc of America, he was involved in over $20 billion of equity and debt transactions.

Mr. Solmson is a graduate of the University of Southern California and a CFA charterholder.

Tom DeFreece is a Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer of Fairwood Capital. He joined the firm in 2010.

Prior to joining Fairwood, Mr. DeFreece worked for Hilton Hotels and its predecessors for twenty-four years, holding a number of management positions in Finance, Accounting, and Development, including directing Centralized Accounting Services for 330 hotels.

Mr. DeFreece received his undergraduate degree from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and his MBA from the University of Memphis. He is a Certified Public Accountant.

Ed Ansbro is a Managing Director of Fairwood Capital and focuses primarily on business development and acquisitions. He joined the firm at its formation in 2008.

Prior to joining Fairwood, Mr. Ansbro was Senior Vice President of Investments for Memphis-based Equity Inns Inc., a publicly traded, NYSE-listed lodging REIT, where he originated over $600 million of lodging investments. Equity Inns was sold to a Goldman Sachs-sponsored real estate private equity fund for $2.2 billion in 2007. Earlier, he spent six years as Senior Vice President of Real Estate for Storage USA prior to its sale to GE Capital, and fourteen years with Holiday Corporation and Promus Hotel Corporation, where he was responsible for the development of the companies’ brands in the western United States and Latin America.

Mr. Ansbro is a board member of the School of Hospitality Business at Michigan State University and serves on the board of the Memphis chapter of the Urban Land Institute. He is a graduate of Michigan State University.

Ted Cobbs is a Managing Director of Fairwood Capital and is primarily engaged in asset management and acquisitions. He joined the firm in 2020.

Active in the hospitality industry for more than two decades, Mr. Cobbs brings a diverse background in hotel operations spanning 17 markets across nine states, representing 11 brands and two independent concepts. Most recently, as Area Vice President of Operations with HP Hotels, he was responsible for the company’s largest and most complex portfolio, comprising more than 1,500 rooms and $60 million in revenue.

Mr. Cobbs is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.