January 28, 2022
Diversification of our leadership is a mission of Vtrips. It is with great pride and excitement that we announce the addition of two outstanding leaders to the VTrips Executive Team, Mr. Paul Smith-Marquez, Chief Financial Officer (CFO), and Ms. Sandra Brahn, Chief Growth Officer (CGO).
VTrips is growing, and together Paul Smith-Marquez and Sandra Brahn will bring an ideal combination of skills, from leading the financial systems that empower us and help us analyze, strategize, and grow our financial position, to developing and executing our merger and acquisition growth strategy development through due diligence and post-closing integration management.
Paul Smith-Marquez’s Background
Relocating with his wife and children from Mexico City where he was CFO of the publicly traded company Hoteles City Express for 4 years and 8 months, Paul Smith-Marquez brings over 15 years of experience in the C-Suite leading multi-disciplinary functions, including Business Development, General Management, Mergers and Acquisitions, Business Strategy, and Financial Planning Analysis.
While CFO of Hoteles City Express, Paul Smith-Marquez led one of the most innovative and fastest growing hotel chain in Central America and South America by spearheading debt and equity processes and negotiating over $350 million dollars in credit lines from global banks. Paul Smith-Marquez recruited and led the team that was responsible for the finance, strategy, investor relations, asset growth and performance assurance functions of Hoteles City Express.
With more than ten years as a Board member and CFO of both private and public companies, Paul Smith-Marquez currently serves on the Boards of Christel House de Mexico (a non-profit in the education sector) and Haber Holding, a family-owned conglomerate of retail and real estate investments.
Paul holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from Harvard Business School, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting and Finance, from Universidad Panamericana and worked earlier in his career at Arthur Anderson, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Mckinsey & Company.
Paul Smith-Marquez is a team player who will be laser-focused on VTrips’ most significant opportunities with a data-driven mindset.
Sandra Brahn’s Background
Sandra Brahn is a highly accomplished executive specializing in Corporate Strategy, Mergers and Acquisitions, Strategic Partnerships, and International Business Development with over 20 years of experience building departments, identifying, and delivering profitable growth opportunities, and closing complex deals across industries and geographies.
Sandra Brahn spent almost 6 years at Vacasa as Senior Director of Corporate Development as the company expanded rapidly through an emphasis on organic homeowner acquisition and portfolio acquisitions. Sandra was initially hired to lead new market growth, including Vacasa’s entry into Florida and Georgia. While it was no easy task convincing skeptical homeowners to believe in a company from Oregon they had never heard of, Sandra built a strategy and team and successfully established strong foundational home volumes in some of the south’s most competitive markets. Seeing a faster growth opportunity for the company, Sandra shifted to building and leading the corporate development function, and over the next five years, she led the team to close over 150 portfolio acquisitions and partnerships.
While primarily focused on strategic growth at Vacasa, Sandra’s depth of understanding of the vacation rental management business stems from her outlook on management and business relationships and from having built and managed aspects of a wide range of teams at Vacasa– M&A, business development, multi-family management, Canada and Baja Mexico expansion and operations, marketing, financial analysis, sales operations, and lead generation. Sandra’s foundational philosophy is that to manage a team or a deal well, one must walk in the other’s shoes. For her that means listening as well as working side by side with people to understand their day to day—that could be cleaning houses today, responding to an angry guest call tomorrow, or spending the weekend building spreadsheets with a colleague.
Adept at quickly understanding new businesses and industries, Sandra Brahn has also served as Vice President of Product Strategy at Fleetcor, Senior Director of Marketing, Sales Operations and Communications at Erickson, Managing Vice President of Sales and Acquisitions at NCO Group, and Senior Business Manager at Capital One.
Sandra holds a Master’s of Science in Engineering–Economic Systems and Operations Research from Stanford University and a B.A in German Language and Literature from the University of Virginia. She also studied at Berkeley Law School and Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design.
According to Vtrips CEO and founder, Steve Milo, “We are confident that Paul Smith-Marquz and Sandra Brahn will be excellent additions to the VTrips family and strong assets to the Executive Team. Both Paul and Sandra are committed to continuing to build a diverse work force at Vtrips. Please join me in welcoming Paul Smith-Marquez and Sandra Brahn to VTrips.”
Located in Ponte Vedra, Florida, VTrips manages 4,000 exclusive vacation rental properties in traditional resort destinations ranging from Florida to Hawaii.