SPRINGFIELD, MISSOURI Scott Tarwater, the longtime executive for John Q. Hammons Hotels & Resorts who left the company when its ailing founder was placed in a nursing home last year, has joined O’Reilly Hospitality Management LLC as its chief development officer.
Tarwater will direct the strategic public/private hotel and convention center development and third party management strategy Springfield-based O’Reilly.
“I am thrilled to be joining the very talented O’Reilly Hospitality Management family, and I am looking very forward to leveraging our many assets for new public/private hotel developments, acquisitions and third party management opportunities,” Tarwater says.
Tarwater previously served as executive vice president of development for John Q. Hammons Hotels & Resorts. In October, John Q. Hammons himself was placed in a senior care facility by Jacquie Dowdy, the company’s executive vice president of finance who had power of attorney privileges for Hammons. Days later, Dowdy took over as CEO of the company, and Tarwater was among several top executives who were forced out in the shakeup.
Tarwater and Dowdy clashed months later in a Missouri court, when Tarwater was among 27 people who petitioned to have Dowdy removed as Hammons’ guardian. That request was granted last month.
O’Reilly Hospitality was formed in 2007 by CEO Tim O’Reilly. It owns and manages six hotels, including DoubleTree Hotel Springfield, and Hilton Garden Inn Springfield.