Tom Walsh founded Staycity in 2004 with his brother Ger when they spotted a gap in the market for a mid-market, user-friendly alternative to hotel accommodation. Beginning with just one apartment in Dublin, strong bookings for short let stays prompted the addition of further aparthotels in London, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Manchester and Paris. The company now has over 7,000 apartments across 14 European cities with plans to operate 15,000 by 2026. Tom was previously an engineer, working as plant manager of Henkel Loctite Ireland, a high-tech chemical and biomedical manufacturer. He holds a primary degree in engineering (Dublin) and a first class honours business degree from UCD.

Wayne Arthur joined Staycity in January 2019 from casual dining chain Prezzo, where he had been CFO. Prior to that he was Finance Director of Premier Inn having held a number of positions at the company including Financial Controller, Head of Trading - responsible for revenue management and pricing, Strategic Planning Director, and three years as Finance Director for the UK business.

Paul has over 30 years experience in general management with very strong business development skills. He is currently working as director and private investor in a number of companies including power trading company ElectroRoute, H2OZone, Ardgowan Distillery, Island Renewable Energy and Pioneer Green Energy. His previous roles include head of strategy for SSE Group and leading the renewable energy business for SSE. One of Paul’s most notable achievements has been the development and sale of the Airtricity Business to EON and SSE for circa €2 billion in 2007/2008.

Patrick’s distinguished career in the hotel business began at Forte, where he become Managing Director of the Posthouse chain as well as the London Forte hotels division. In 2001 he was appointed CEO of Compass-owned Restaurant Associates UK & Ireland. In 2004 he joined Whitbread as Managing Director of Marriott in the UK, becoming Managing Director for Premier Inn in 2005. In 2009 he was appointed Managing Director of Whitbread Hotels and Restaurants as well as joining the board of this FTSE 50 company as Executive Director.
Patrick is one of the UK’s most highly respected hoteliers and was awarded an OBE in 2012 for services to the industry.

Sarah is a Senior Investment Manager with the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) where she is responsible for driving the Fund’s commercial real estate strategy. The ISIF mandate is to invest on a commercial basis to support economic activity and employment in Ireland. Prior to working with the ISIF, Sarah was a Director with Davy Real Estate where she was responsible for sourcing and executing transactions and managing a portfolio of Irish commercial real estate assets for high net worth clients, family offices and institutions. Sarah graduated from Trinity College Dublin with an honours degrees in Civil Engineering and is also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).

Stephen Vernon is one of Ireland’s most accomplished property entrepreneurs and a well-known philanthropist through the John Pollard Foundation, named after his grandfather. He is also the co-founder of Dublin and London listed property investment company Green REIT Plc and Chairman of the Investment Manager.

James George is International Managing Partner of the global consulting firm OC&C; Strategy Consultants. James has been at OC&C; for more than 20 years and has helped to shape their global footprint and hugely successful multimarket growth plans. At OC&C; James serves clients across a range of industries with a specific focus on defining transformational strategies for Retail and Leisure companies. Alongside his consulting career James invests in a number of highly successful and high growth leisure businesses as well as owning a 750 year old pub in Cornwall (www.tinnersarms.com). James is a graduate in Chemistry from Oxford University, a father of 4 and a keen runner on the cliffs of his native Cornwall.

Marie is CFO and board director of NTR plc, an international sustainable infrastructure investor and institutional fund manager. Over the course of her career, she has managed over €1.5bn of infrastructure investments and raised over €2.5bn of equity and debt capital. Marie is also a non-executive director of daa plc, a global airports and travel retail group with businesses in 16 countries, and serves on the Audit and Risk Committee and Strategic Infrastructure and Sustainability Committee. She also sits on the Programme Board of the MSc. in International Accounting and Analytics Degree of NUI Galway as well as the Sustainability Expert Working Group of Chartered Accountants Ireland. She is formerly the Chair of the Board of Make-A-Wish Ireland. Prior to NTR, Marie was Senior Director of Strategic Planning for Élan Corporation plc and was previously an Audit & Corporate Finance Manager at Arthur Andersen. She holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from University College Galway and a Master of Accounting from the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School. She is a fellow of Chartered Accountants Ireland.