Elmsworth Advisors
Hotels · Senior Housing · Multifamily
We advise public REIT boards, private owners and the capital behind them on the questions that decide enterprise value: strategy, capital allocation, operator performance and governance.
Mark W. Brugger, Founder and Managing Partner
The founder does the work, with no handoff to junior staff.
No stake in whether a deal happens.
Built running a public REIT through two full cycles.
Why Elmsworth
Brokers and investment banks are paid when a transaction closes. Asset managers work one property's profit and loss. Defense counsel and proxy firms run the contest, not the business. Each is good at its own work — and each is a partner to us rather than a rival.
None of them sells counsel on whether a company should stay public, how to answer an activist's NAV arithmetic, whether to internalize a manager, or how to hold an operator to account. That is the seat Elmsworth takes. We can advise a board to sell, to stay public, to internalize or to do nothing — and mean it.
An independent view of every option before the board votes.
Management agreements that are enforced, renegotiated or replaced.
A NAV case built from the asset level up that stands up to scrutiny.
Underwriting that tests the operating plan, not just the price.
Our services
01
Retained strategic counsel on the decisions a board cannot outsource.
For public REIT boards and large private owners
02
Underwriting that sees the business behind the asset.
For private equity, family offices and sovereign capital
03
Owner-side counsel, alongside the broker or bank running the process.
For owners facing a sale, a maturity or a capital program
04
Experienced, independent leadership when a company needs it most.
Where Mark serves as a director, Elmsworth takes no advisory fee from that company.
Our focus
Wherever an owner hires an operator, prices its product continuously and carries labor as its largest cost, our experience applies directly.
Our core
Every enterprise-level question: strategy, capital allocation, operator and brand agreements, transactions and governance.
Private pay
Operating-portfolio strategy, operator selection and transitions, management agreements and margin. Clinical questions go to a named co-advisor.
Selective
Public-company governance; branded, serviced and student housing; hotel-to-residential conversions; platform diligence.
We do not take on skilled nursing and reimbursement work, clinical operations, or the brokering and financing of garden-style apartments.
Track record
$7B+
Career transactions across acquisitions, sales, financings and equity
$3B+
Hotel acquisitions underwritten
15+ years
As a public REIT chief executive and director
$2B+
Debt financings arranged
$1.5B
Equity raised in the public markets and privately
$1B+
Renovations and repositionings, including six brand conversions
Figures reflect Mark W. Brugger's career transactions, principally at DiamondRock Hospitality.
Founder and Managing Partner
Mark co-founded DiamondRock Hospitality (NYSE: DRH), led its initial public offering, and served as its chief executive for more than fifteen years, taking the company through two full cycles and delivering top-quartile shareholder returns.
He spent that career on the questions Elmsworth now advises on: underwriting acquisitions, negotiating with Marriott and other operators, raising debt and equity in public and private markets, and answering to a board and to shareholders for the results.
Before DiamondRock, he was a vice president in hotel transactions at Marriott International.
J.D., American University · B.A., University of Maryland
Urban Land Institute · Real Estate Roundtable · AHLA
Career
Marriott International
Vice President, hotel transactions
2004 to 2008
Co-founder, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer; led the NYSE initial public offering
2008 to 2024
President, Chief Executive Officer and Director
Industry and board roles
Marriott Ownership Advisory Council; former compensation committee chair, Chambers Street Properties
Selected track record
How we work
Mark does the work you engage us for, with no handoff to junior staff.
No more than four retained mandates at once, so every client gets senior time.
No management contracts, brokerage commissions or leasing fees.
No hourly billing, so you never have to ration access to advice.
Senior advisors in brands, construction, capital markets and clinical operations, as needed.
Clear rules on board seats and our affiliate, Elmsworth Partners, in every engagement letter.
Contact
A first conversation is confidential and carries no obligation.