KSL Resorts saw a change in its leadership this month when co-founder Scott Dalecio stepped down as chief executive after 20 years.
The Irvine-based hotel owner and operator appointed Greg Kennealey as its new CEO.
Dalecio isn’t retiring; he has become executive chairman of Outrigger Resorts & Hotels, which KSL Resorts acquired in 2016. He will also remain a senior adviser to KSL.
Kennealey is no stranger to the KSL business. The executive spent the past 10 years as principal and head of hospitality at KSL Capital Partners, the investor counterpart of KSL, before becoming head of the firm’s Colorado-based Mission Hill Hospitality in 2021.
He will continue to be CEO of Mission Hill as he leads KSL.
Previously, he was the vice president of asset management at Chicago-based Strategic Hotels & Resorts from 2006 to 2011 after working for companies such as IBM Global Services and LaSalle Investment Management in more business development roles at the start of his career.
Dalecio co-founded KSL Resorts in 2004 when the firm formed independently following its sale from KSL Capital Partners, which is headquartered in Colorado.
KSL was later behind one of Orange County’s largest-ever hotel transactions, selling the 400-room former Monarch Beach Resort for almost $500 million at the end of 2019. The firm has remained without a local investment since exiting the renamed Waldorf Astoria Monarch Beach Resort & Club.
KSL currently oversees 45 hotels and resorts worldwide.
