J. Robison Hays, III is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Ashford Hospitality Trust (NYSE: AHT) and the Senior Managing Director of Ashford (NYSE American: AINC). He is also a member of the Board of Directors of Ashford Trust.

Mr. Hays has nearly two decades of business experience operating and growing companies, including 15 years of real estate experience. Previously, he served as Chief Strategy Officer for Ashford, Ashford Trust and Braemar Hotels & Resorts (NYSE: BHR). He also served as Co-President for Ashford. Prior to these roles he served as Senior Vice President Corporate Finance & Strategy for Ashford Trust and Braemar Hotels & Resorts.

During his tenure at Ashford, Mr. Hays has been responsible for leading the execution of key strategic and operating initiatives. He has overseen financial analyses related to mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, refinancings, hedging, capital market transactions and major capital outlays. Prior to 2013, in addition to his other responsibilities, Mr. Hays was in charge of Ashford Trust's investor relations efforts. Mr. Hays is a frequent speaker at industry and Wall Street investor conferences.

Prior to joining Ashford, Mr. Hays worked in the Corporate Development office of Dresser, Inc., a Dallas-based oil field service and manufacturing company, where he focused on mergers, acquisitions, and strategic direction. Before working at Dresser, Mr. Hays was a member of the Merrill Lynch Global Power & Energy Investment Banking Group based in Texas.

Mr. Hays earned his A.B. in Politics with a certificate in Political Economy from Princeton University and later studied philosophy at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome, Italy.

Mr. Eubanks is the Chief Financial Officer of Ashford and serves as the Chief Financial Officer of both Ashford Hospitality Trust and Braemar Hotels & Resorts. Mr. Eubanks oversees all corporate finance and financial reporting initiatives and is involved in all capital market activities including equity raises and debt financings. He also oversees investor relations. Mr. Eubanks formerly served as the Senior Vice President of Finance. Prior to this role, Mr. Eubanks was Vice President of Investments and was responsible for sourcing and underwriting hotel investments including direct equity investments, joint venture equity, preferred equity, mezzanine loans, first mortgages, B-notes, construction loans, and other debt securities for Ashford Trust. Mr. Eubanks has been with Ashford Trust since its initial public offering in August of 2003. He has written several articles for industry publications and is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and industry round tables. Before joining Ashford, Mr. Eubanks was a Manager of Financial Analysis for ClubCorp, where he assisted in underwriting and analyzing investment opportunities in the golf and resort industries.

Mr. Eubanks earned a B.B.A. from Southern Methodist University and is a CFA charter holder. He is a member of the CFA Institute and the CFA Society of Dallas-Fort Worth.

Mr. Nunneley is the Chief Accounting Officer of Ashford (NYSE American: AINC) and serves as the Chief Accounting Officer of both Ashford Hospitality Trust (NYSE: AHT) and Braemar Hotels & Resorts (NYSE: BHR). He has served as the Chief Accounting Officer of Ashford Hospitality Trust since May 2003 where he is responsible for the tax, accounting, ad valorem tax and treasury functions. From 1992 to 2003, Mr. Nunneley served as Chief Financial Officer of the Company's predecessor. He previously served as a tax consultant at Arthur Andersen & Company and as a tax manager at Deloitte & Touche. During his career, he has been responsible for the preparation, consultation and review of federal and state income tax, franchise and sales and use tax returns for hundreds of partnerships, corporations and individuals. Mr. Nunneley is also responsible for the ad valorem tax function which includes successfully appealing and receiving refunds in the millions of dollars.

Mr. Nunneley is a certified public accountant and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Texas Society of CPAs and Dallas Chapter of AICPAs.

Mr. Gupta was first elected to our Board in May 2014. Mr. Gupta currently serves as the Managing Partner of RETC, Limited Partnership, a property tax advisory firm that has represented over $30 billion in asset value nationally. He has led RETC since 2010, where he is responsible for overall operations and strategy. Additionally, Mr. Gupta founded Montfort Capital Partners (MCP), an asset management firm specializing in value-add real estate investments throughout the southern United States, where he serves as the Managing Partner. During this time, MCP has acquired $75M in assets and secured a programmatic partnership with a national private equity firm. Prior to joining RETC, Mr. Gupta served as a real estate associate at The Carlyle Group, a private equity firm headquartered in Washington D.C. with more than $189 billion in assets under management, for three years.

Mr. Gupta received his MBA from the Kellogg School of Management and his BA from Emory University.

Mr. Gupta's extensive real estate knowledge, stemming from his experiences with the RETC, MCP, and the Carlyle Group, combined with his business acumen, will generate valuable insights into the economic environment of the real estate industry for the board.

J. Robison Hays, III is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Ashford Hospitality Trust (NYSE: AHT) and the Senior Managing Director of Ashford (NYSE American: AINC). He is also a member of the Board of Directors of Ashford Trust.

Mr. Hays has nearly two decades of business experience operating and growing companies, including 15 years of real estate experience. Previously, he served as Chief Strategy Officer for Ashford, Ashford Trust and Braemar Hotels & Resorts (NYSE: BHR). He also served as Co-President for Ashford. Prior to these roles he served as Senior Vice President Corporate Finance & Strategy for Ashford Trust and Braemar Hotels & Resorts.

During his tenure at Ashford, Mr. Hays has been responsible for leading the execution of key strategic and operating initiatives. He has overseen financial analyses related to mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, refinancings, hedging, capital market transactions and major capital outlays. Prior to 2013, in addition to his other responsibilities, Mr. Hays was in charge of Ashford Trust's investor relations efforts. Mr. Hays is a frequent speaker at industry and Wall Street investor conferences.

Prior to joining Ashford, Mr. Hays worked in the Corporate Development office of Dresser, Inc., a Dallas-based oil field service and manufacturing company, where he focused on mergers, acquisitions, and strategic direction. Before working at Dresser, Mr. Hays was a member of the Merrill Lynch Global Power & Energy Investment Banking Group based in Texas.

Mr. Hays earned his A.B. in Politics with a certificate in Political Economy from Princeton University and later studied philosophy at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome, Italy.

Dr. Ansell was elected to the board of directors in May 2009. Dr. Ansell is the founder of and current Director and Chairman of the Board of the UCLA Executive Health Program, where he has been responsible for marketing and selling executive health program services to more than twenty Fortune 500 companies and 4,000 individual customers. Dr. Ansell also founded and serves as the Director of UCLA Medical Hospitality, which coordinates health services, concierge and some hospitality functions within the UCLA Health System. Dr. Ansell is also a senior practice physician within the UCLA Health System specializing in cardiovascular disease prevention and early detection strategies. Over the past two decades, Dr. Ansell has acted as senior advisor to the pharmaceutical industry and financial community with respect to U.S. marketing, sales and branding strategies for cardiovascular medication.

Kamal Jafarnia was appointed to the board of directors effective January 2013. Mr. Jafarnia currently serves as Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary at Lonsdale Digital Management, Inc. Mr. Jafarnia also served as General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer at Artivest Holdings, Inc. and as Chief Compliance Officer for Altegris Advisors, LLC. Prior to Artivest, Mr. Jafarnia served as Managing Director for Legal and Business Development at Provasi Capital Partners LP. Prior to that, from October 2014 to December 2017, he served as Senior Vice President of W.P. Carey Inc. (NYSE: WPC), as well as Senior Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer of Carey Credit Advisors, Inc. and as Chief Compliance Officer and General Counsel of Carey Financial, LLC. Prior to joining W. P. Carey Inc., Mr. Jafarnia served as Counsel to two American Lawyer Global 100 law firms in New York. From March 2014 to October 2014, Mr. Jafarnia served as Counsel in the REIT practice group at the law firm of Greenberg Traurig, LLP. From August 2012 to March 2014, Mr. Jafarnia served as Counsel in the Financial Services & Products Group and was a member of the REIT practice group of Alston & Bird, LLP. Between 2006 and 2012, Mr. Jafarnia served as a senior executive, in-house counsel, and Chief Compliance Officer for several alternative investment program sponsors, including, among others, American Realty Capital, a real estate investment program sponsor, and its affiliated broker-dealer, Realty Capital Securities, LLC.

Mr. Jafarnia received his JD from Temple University School of Law and LLM from Georgetown University. Mr. Jafarnia is a licensed attorney admitted to practice law in four states and the District of Columbia and has spent a majority of his career specifically as a regulatory compliance officer. He has over 16 years of experience in the real estate and financial services industry as an attorney, owner, principal, compliance officer and executive. In addition, since June 2019, Mr. Jafarnia has served as a director of Bluerock Residential Growth REIT (NYSE American: BRG), a publicly listed REIT that focuses on the acquisition of multi-family apartment properties. His experience in these multiple roles provides unique perspectives and benefits to the board, including specifically with respect to regulatory compliance. Mr. Jafarnia also has and maintains numerous relationships in the real estate industry that may be beneficial to his service on the board.

Mr. Kleisner served as President and a director of Hard Rock Hotel Holdings, LLC, a destination casino and resort company, from October 2007 to March 2011. From December 2007 until March 2011, Mr. Kleisner also served as Chief Executive Officer of Morgans Hotel Group Co. (NASDAQ: MHGC), or Morgans, a hospitality company, and as President and Chief Executive Officer (including interim President and Chief Executive Officer) of Morgans from September 2007 until March 2009. Mr. Kleisner also served as a director of Morgans from February 2006 until March 2011. From January 2006 to September 2007, Mr. Kleisner was the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Rex Advisors, LLC, a hotel advisory firm. From August 1999 to December 31, 2005, Mr. Kleisner served as President, Chief Operating Officer and, from March 2000 to August, 2005, Chief Executive Officer of Wyndham International, Inc., or Wyndham International, a global hotel company. Mr. Kleisner also has served as Chairman of Wyndham International’s Board from October 2000 to August 2005. From January 1998 to August 1999, he served as President and Chief Operating Officer of The Americas for Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. Hotel Group. He has held senior positions with Westin Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, where he served as President and Chief Operating Officer from 1995 to 1998,Interstate Hotels Company, where he served as Executive Vice President and Group President of Operations from 1990 to 1995, The ITT Sheraton Corporation, where he served as Senior Vice President, Director of Operations, North America Division-East from 1985 to 1990, and Hilton Hotels, Corp. where for 16 years he served as General Manager of several landmark hotels. Since 2013, Mr. Kleisner serves as a director of Caesars Entertainment Corporation (NASDAQ: CZR). Mr. Kleisner has served as a director of Innkeepers USA Trust, a subsidiary of Apollo Investment Corporation (NASDAQ: AINV), from November 2007 to August 2010, and serves as a director of Kindred Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE: KND), a healthcare services company, since April 2009.He is currently a director of Playtime, LLC, a manufacturer of antibacterial and antimicrobial playground equipment and play systems, and Aimbridge Hospitality, Inc., a hotel investment and management firm. He also serves as a Real Estate Investment Management Advisory Board member of Michigan State University’s Eli Broad College of Business, School of Hospitality Business. Mr. Kleisner graduated from Michigan State University with a BA in Hotel Management, completed advanced studies at the University of Virginia, Darden School of Business and attended The Catholic University of America. Mr. Kleisner qualifies as an “audit committee financial expert” under the guidelines of the SEC.

Ms. Pantermuehl has been serving as the Chief Financial Officer of Alan Ritchey, Inc. since May 2015, which has operations in the transportation and agriculture segments. From February 2011 to April 2015, Ms. Pantermuehl performed back office functions and acted as the Chief Financial Officer for a number of small to medium size firms, including a software development/document imaging firm and a bio-technology firm. From April 2007 to January 2011, Ms. Pantermuehl served as Controller and Chief Financial Officer of Riptide Worldwide, Inc. Prior to that, Ms. Pantermuehl served as the Chief Financial Officer of Intrametrics Corporation and Vertical Computer Systems, Inc., and as Director of Finance of Blockbuster, Inc. Ms. Pantermuehl is a former Treasurer and member of the board of directors of the Arthritis Foundation. Ms. Pantermuehl received a bachelor's degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Accounting and Finance from Texas A&M University and graduated magna cum laude. She has been a Certified Public Accountant since 1981, currently inactive status.