Meet the Team

Robert A Rauch, CHA

President, R.A. Rauch & Associates, Inc.
11025 Vista Sorrento Parkway, San Diego, CA 92130
Phone: (858) 523-0590
Email: rauch@hotelguru.comMr. Rauch serves as President of R. A. Rauch & Associates, Inc. He is a nationally recognized hotelier serving clients in all facets of the industry. Rauch has over 35 years of hospitality-related management
experience.

Mr. Rauch also served as General Manager of full-service four Diamond hotels for Hilton and Embassy Suites. His education qualifications include a bachelor’s degree in Hotel Administration from Western International University and a master’s degree in Tourism Administration from Arizona State University. He is a Certified Hotel Administrator and has served as chairman of numerous tourism organizations nationally and in the western U.S.

Mr. Rauch currently serves on numerous Boards of Directors. He has been directly involved in developing several hotels including the Del Mar Marriott, Hilton Hotel Gaslamp Plaza, Hilton Garden Inn Carlsbad, Hilton Hotel Santa Clara and several Marriott resort hotels.

R. A. Rauch & Associates, Inc. is currently operating the Homewood Suites by Hilton and Hilton Garden Inn San Diego/Del Mar as well as the Quality Inn & Suites Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, El Cordova Hotel in Coronado and Pantai Inn La Jolla. Rauch is also assisting with the development, marketing and management of numerous hotels in the United States at the present time. His firm developed the web site www.hotelguru.com and publishes Hospitality Innsights, an electronic newsletter. Rauch is a Faculty Associate at Arizona State University where he teaches Entrepreneurship.

Jerry W. Brooks
Director of Operations
Currently Mr. Brooks is serving as an operations executive for all R. A. Rauch & Associates, Inc. managed properties. He was instrumental in the development and construction phases for the Homewood Suites and Hilton Garden Inn San Diego/ Del Mar camus. Having moved to San Diego in 1998 for involvement with ownership changes at the Grande Colonial in La Jolla, he has continued to take on projects that require mature, conscientious management skills. He has the experience to lead, having served in executive positions in the tourism industry for over twenty-five years. These positions include General Manager with Hilton Inns, Inc. and Food and Beverage management and director positions with Hyatt, Radisson and Hilton. Mr. Brooks has owned his own restaurant and bar and has served as Director and active member of numerous industry associates. His recent San Diego clients have included the Hotel Parisi, La Jolla and the Lake San Marcos Resort as well as numerous mid-market hotels.

Robert Moore

Mr. Moore is a 30-year veteran of Hilton Hotels and came to San Diego from the Valley Forge (PA) Hilton in 1999 as General Manager to open the first oceanfront Hilton Garden Inn (HGI) located at Carlsbad Beach. He was instrumental in securing political, environmental, community and financial support for a second Hilton property, the Hilton Carlsbad Oceanfront Resort & Spa, which opened ahead of schedule and under budget. This hotel has contributed 250 new jobs in North County San Diego and is the “only major hotel built west of the Mississippi in the past year”. Mr. Moore was Vice President and General Manager with responsibility for both properties.

Mr. Moore’s commitment to excellence is exemplified by the numerous awards bestowed upon him and the properties under his management. These include General Manager of the Year, Hilton Hotel of the Year, a seat on the prestigious 6-member General Manager Operations Panel, the highest Revenue Per Available Room (revpar) in the HGI brand, twenty-three consecutive Outstanding Quality Assurance Reviews and six consecutive years of Highest Team Member Satisfaction.

His experience with CEOs and corporate clients extends to San Diego’s leading worldwide corporations and includes Callaway Golf, Life Technology, Accenture, Tyco, Jenny Craig, the U.S. Department of Defense and Homeland Security, respectively. He served as Vice Chairman of San Diego North Convention and Visitors Bureau and Chairman of the Board of the City of Carlsbad Convention and Visitors Bureau. Mr. Moore attended Point Park University in Pittsburgh, Pa.

Linda Rauch
Mrs. Rauch has been developing the new real estate division of R. A. Rauch & Associates, Inc. and is a licensed agent in the State of California. Her most recent experience was Director of Reservations and Revenue Manager at the award-winning Ocean Inn Encinitas. She is Director of Marketing of the Homewood Suites by Hilton Del Mar.With a Bachelor’s Degree in education and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from the University of Connecticut, Mrs. Rauch serves a dual role with R. A. Rauch & Associates, Inc. She has extensive experience with financial planning, marketing and sales.In addition to this experience, she brings a wealth of training and development knowledge to the company and has specific expertise in the area of employee benefits and finance.

Steve Rauch

Director of Operations, Colorado
Mr. Steve Rauch serves as our director of all Colorado operations.  Rauch holds both his Bachelor’s degree and Master’s Degree from Indiana University.  He is responsible for hotel acquisitions and development as well as all asset management services. Mr. Rauch has been involved as a lead investor in all company owned hotels since 1997.

Mica Jackson
General Manager Mr. Jackson leads our boutique hotel revenue management practice and serves as a general manager for our very successful El Cordova Hotel in Coronado. His experience includes leadership roles at Interstate Hotels for multiple San Diego hotels as well as large hotels and theme parks in Orlando, FL. Mr. Jackson has worked in the hospitality industry for over 13 years.  He is a graduate of the University of Illinois.

Paula Ruthenberg
Ms. Ruthenberg was most recently conference manager for Burba Hotel Network. She has years of
experience in hotel sales for Marriott Hotels and is a graduate of San Diego State University’s School of Hospitality & Tourism Management. She serves in the dual capacity of Conference Manager and Sales Manager for our boutique hotels.

Mike Casler
Distribution Channel Management and Reputation Management
Mr. Casler brings more than 20 years experience running successful businesses in VP/GM and VP of Sales and Marketing roles. He has had full P&L responsibilities in excess of $200,000,000 in annual revenue. Mr. Casler has been recognized with multiple awards throughout his career and identified as a strong leader and manager from his supervisors, peers and employees. His last 7 years have been focused within the hospitality industry in creating new revenue streams as well as overall business analysis. He is leading RAR’s distribution channel management and reputation management programs within our boutique hotel portfolio among other facets.

Junvi Ola
Social Media/ Press Guru
Ms. Ola has several years of destination marketing experience, plus a decade of creating content for print, TV, radio and the Web. Her expertise on the San Diego region comes from her years at the San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau, where she wrote about the region as a travel destination during a stint as the public relations representative. She also founded and runs DiegoOnaDIme.com, a blog about free things to do in San Diego. Topics include San Diego history, regions, arts and culture, family-friendly attractions, theatre, museums, hotels, dining, special event venues, outdoor activities, nightlife and affordable luxuries.

Mark Burgess
Web Guru
Mr. Burgess brings 19 years of Internet experience including network and video technology and web development skills to the firm. With an MBA from the University of San Diego, he first developed software for the PC and later founded sandiego.com, launching many of the city’s premier web sites including kpbs.org, sandiego.org, sdfair.com and the award winning first site for Legoland California before focusing solely on developing a self supporting full service portal of information and services for San Diego.

Marc Potash
Director of Corporate Strategy
Mr. Potash has over 10 years of strategy and operations management experience leading cross-functional teams within the entertainment, technology, real estate, and hospitality industries.  He is a creative planner skilled in organizing processes that complement and enhance workflow.  Mr. Potash began his career in the entertainment industry where he worked directly with A-list talent in both personal and professional capacities.  His stellar attention to detail and strict adherence to stringent privacy requirements allowed him to quickly gain the trust of executives and professionals throughout the industry.

Marc François
Regional Director of Sales
Mr. François has most recently worked in Sales & Marketing at various Hilton branded properties throughout California. With a degree in Business Administration from California Lutheran University, Mr. François also spent two years with one of California’s preferred Marriott owners working in purchasing, acquisitions, and entitlement planning. Marc currently works with our management team at the Hilton Garden Inn and Homewood Suites by Hilton properties in Del Mar, to assist in both Operations as well as Sales & Marketing.

Brian Sokol
Mr. Sokol has been involved with our firm for over 10 years. He is a seasoned sales executive, revenue manager and hotel operator. He has always been our key task force sales executive on acquisitions and new management contracts. Mr. Sokol is also well versed in systems and serves as a Manager on Duty for properties of all sizes. His experience is on both coasts of the U.S. Mr. Sokol returns from opening a Fairfield Inn & Suites on the east coast.

Amy Patel, CHO, CHA
Director of Training & Development
Ms. Patel is our most recent team addition. As Director of Training & Development, she analyzes hotel business procedures, suggests, and implements methods to improve existing systems for smooth functions of all activities. She has a solid understanding of the needs of all departments, including Human Resources, Revenue Management, Acquisitions and Administration. She is expert at establishing communication systems both within and outside the corporate organization. Amy has a degree in Psychology from Virginia Commonwealth University and comes from a family background in hospitality of over 30 years.