Our Team

Meet the Experts

Each member of the development and acquisition team of Pacific West Hotels & Resorts offers a strong background in a variety of fields.

Executive Team

Kevin A. Bierl

President, CEO, Chairman of the Board

Kevin Bierl is President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chairman of the Board of Pacific West Hotels & Resorts, Inc. As the founder of the company in 1993, he has led the company's overall development, investment, and strategic initiatives, in the development and acquisition of multiple hotels of various national brands of which are still owned today under subsidiary companies that include investor relationships. The hotel franchises currently associated with are: Hampton Inn & Suites by Hilton, Country Inn & Suites by Carlson, Super 8 Hotel by Wyndham,  AmericInn Hotel Suites by AmericInn International, Ramada Hotels by Wyndham, Holiday Inn by IHG, TownePlace Suites by Marriott, and La Bellasera & Estes Park Resort, by Pacific West and are located in regions of Iowa, California, Colorado, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, and Arizona. His association in the real estate development and construction business continues as a family tradition which began in 1973 as a sales associate and franchisee of Iowa Realty Co. based in Des Moines, Iowa. While continuing to operate and manage the residential and commercial real estate business, he became involved in the development of real estate and developed and constructed many premium and quality projects throughout the Midwest and Southwest regions of the U.S. from residential single-family homes, condominiums, apartments, condominium and conversions, mini-storage facilities, office buildings, retail shopping centers, and the development of raw land.  He has been involved in many charitable fundraising campaigns, served on many advisory boards, and assisted several cities planning departments with the design and development of new master-planned communities.  Through his passion for the hotel industry earned many national franchise awards for outstanding developments and exceptional guest satisfaction. Today he continues to leverage his strong reputation as a leader in the hotel and investment and development community.

Austen A. Bierl

Chief Operating Officer

Austen A. Bierl,  serves as Chief Operating Officer and Director of Development Services for Pacific West Hotels and Resorts, Inc.  Austen joined the company in 2003 to assist with development services, and since 2010 has led a team that manages new development, renovation of existing properties, and acquisition of new properties.  He has played a major role in developing sound fundamental operating efficiencies and operational procedures of hotel management and marketing to optimize investment goals.  Austen and his team have been successfully developing alternate and innovative financing strategies for the continued sound growth of the company with the primary focus on continued, consistent risk-adjusted investment returns on each hotel investment.  He has successfully harvested and continued long term relationships with current lenders and investment partners and has created a web reporting system that communicates operating results to them on a weekly basis.  Through his high level of integrity, dedication, and motivation, he has utilized his talents and abilities to further expand on the vast knowledge and capabilities for the growth of the company and investments.  Austen attended Paradise Valley Community College, University of Phoenix, and Arizona State University and obtained a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Management and holds an active Real Estate License in the State of Arizona. In October 2013 Austen was acknowledged by Hotel Management Magazine for the top Thirty under 30 for the Hotel Industries top rising talent.  He currently resides in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Patrick A. Sullivan

Director of Development, Pacific West Hospitality

Patrick is a principal in the company and leads the construction and development of all new and existing projects and is corporate support of new business units, growth initiatives, and customer engagement. He is also involved in company-wide strategic planning, analysis of markets, trends, and emerging opportunities. Since joining the Pacific West organization in 2012, he has directed the lead in many construction projects that include new hotels from the ground up, hotel and restaurant renovations, and land development projects.

Patrick approaches each task and project individually ensuring that any detail or challenge ismet with a fresh perspective. He assembles teams for each project with highly skilled individuals, with passion and aspiration to attain the highest performance levels of his team, and to achieve the highest product quality to exceed objectives for our customer. He also believes that in order to succeed in anything that integrity is a fundamental quality in all work he performs when people are depending on him. The foundation of these relationships is confidence as we build our relationships, we build confidence in our customers, clients, and the team members we work with; all becoming a true extension of our team and customers forever.

Patrick joined the Pacific West operation team eight years ago, as an investor and principal, with more twelve years of design and construction experience in the hospitality industry and has worked with various hotel brands such as Marriott, Hilton, Wyndham, Choice, Best Western, and InterContinental Hotels & Resorts. He served his previous company for nine years offering design, consulting, and procurement for many hotels and clients throughout the country from coast to coast.

Patrick earned his bachelor's degree in Business Management and Fine Arts at the University of Colorado Boulder. He is an avid outdoorsman and enjoys coaching his two son's athletic teams. He currently resides in Longmont, Colorado with his two sons, Jack and Hayden, and his wife Karyn.

Margie Mayr-Bierl

Secretary & Treasurer,
Director of Administration & Investor Relations

Margie Mayr-Bierl has served since 1993 as Secretary & Treasurer, Director of Investor Relations, and Director of Administration for Pacific West Hotels & Resorts, Inc. She is involved on a day to day basis with general office administration and coordinates the various hotel interior design projects and responsible for the selection of furnishings of all new hotels as well as coordination & renovation of existing hotels. Prior to her involvement in the hotel development business, and in addition to simultaneously raising three children successfully she managed to pursue the retail clothing business and achieved much success as owner and operator of two women’s boutique clothing stores. Prior to getting married and successfully raising a family she pursued a modeling career in New York City. At age 17, after winning the Iowa Cover Girl Competition she was offered a contract with Wilhelmina Modeling Agency, an internationally renowned modeling agency in New York City. She enjoyed her career successes, having given the opportunity to work with many National magazines such as Seventeen, Glamour, Vogue and many others. She was also a principle in many national and international commercials including Avon, Flicker, and Clairol. Her modeling career also progressed to movies where she had the opportunity to work with Peter Sellers and Woody Allen. In addition to achieving great success as a model in New York City until the age of 28, during that time she was also invited and pursued many modeling opportunities throughout Europe. She then pursued the retail clothing business as she achieved much success as owner and operator of two women’s boutique clothing stores.

Ariel Bierl

Creative Services Director

Ariel, a native of Iowa, acquired her first taste in the hospitality industry at age 16 as a front desk receptionist for an AmericInn brand hotel during the summers in-between attending Kuemper Catholic High School in Carroll, Iowa. During her senior year she moved with her family to Arizona where she became and alumni in 1999 of Cactus Shadows High School. After High School, she obtained a job in the restaurant service industry as a server at an Italian Restaurant in Scottsdale while attending Paradise Community College and in 2001 obtained her degree in Liberal Arts.

She then enrolled at Arizona State University in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications and then in 2002 moved to San Luis Obispo, California to obtain her internship at KSBY-NBC. After completing her internship she obtained her certificate in Fosse, Opera, OnQ, Micros, and Aloha, all Hotel Property Management Systems, and became a front receptionist at the Hampton Inn & Suites by Hilton in Paso Robles, California.

In 2004 Ariel returned to Scottsdale to pursue an interest she always had in Cosmetology and received her Esthetician License in Cosmetology from National Aesthetics Institute of Scottsdale where she then became a technician and consultant for Lancome for several years.

In 2007, Ariel relocated to Long Beach, CA where she continued in the service industry and was a server at a Sushi and Mexican Restaurant. In 2009 Ariel moved back to Scottsdale, Arizona, and attended Real Estate School and from there obtained her Real Estate license. Ariel joined Keller Williams Realty Nationwide and was influential in growing an extremely successful real estate team in Scottsdale and earned the top 10% production with her team. From there, her team opened a boutique brokerage where they continue to be the top 1% in the state of Arizona.

Ariel comes from a family of real estate hotel development and operations, and as a result of her enthusiasm, diverse understanding of the industry, and previous knowledge of the hotel business she was asked to become involved with the family business. In early 2015, Ariel joined the Pacific West group and is currently involved in many aspects of the business, however with a focus and passion in marketing and implementation of creative projects to assist in growing revenue, profitability, and success of the company. She enjoys her new position and being part of the Pacific West family and that no two days are ever the same in the hotel business.

When Ariel is not at the office taking care of business, she could be many places. Her special interests are spending time with friends and family, traveling, exploring new restaurants to dine, concerts, movies, and shopping.

Alexa Bierl

Director of Business Development

Alexa, an Arizona native, developed an interest in Real Estate by a young age. Thereafter, she pursued her passion in Colorado while attending the University of Colorado at Boulder, earning her Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Finance and Real Estate, graduating in 2016. While attending CU Boulder, Alexa was a member of the national Society of Collegiate Honors and completed several internships. Following graduation, she worked for Omninet Capital, a Los Angeles-based Venture Capital and Private Equity corporation specializing in growth equity financing and investments. Here she aided the submission of annual budgets, analysis of monthly spending, and fostered relationships with brokers and tenants.

Alexa serves as Director of Business Development for Pacific West Hotels & Resorts in managing and developing the pipeline for the future growth of the company through new ground up development projects and acquisitions. Her role includes working with her team, various national hotel brands, and outside brokerage firms to identify new markets and opportunities within the hospitality industry.

Dawn Caston

Finance Manager

Dawn Caston serves as Finance Manager for Pacific West Hotels & Resorts. Dawn joined the team in 2017 and oversees all areas of finance and finance administration including accounts payable and receivable, job costing, budgets, cash management, banking and all reconciliations for the various companies. Dawn recently relocated from Southern California to Arizona where she brings 9 years of hotel property management experience working as a cash manager for Rim Hospitality. Her role at Rim included helping to transition new hotels into their portfolio, cash management, banking liaison, and merchant account evaluation and consulting. Dawn successfully developed and implemented a PCI Compliance program for over 90 managed hotels. After she departed Rim, who sold to Interstate hotels she secured a job working for Castle and Cooke (the Real Estate division of Dole Food Company) as their Treasury Manager. Dawn also brings 12 years of banking experience in roles such as an Assistant Branch Manager for a community bank and as a Fraud Investigator for Washington Mutual Bank. Dawn attended the University of Phoenix and graduated with a Bachelors of Science degree in Business Management with an emphasis in Finance. Dawn currently resides in Mesa, AZ with her husband and two daughters. She loves animals and has trained horses and dogs. During the holiday season, Dawn and her family like to bake desserts for their friends, neighbors, and local first responders. Christmas is Dawn’s favorite holiday. Her nickname is “Ms. Christmas”.

Hotel Management Team

Michael Harris

Senior Vice President of Hotel Operations

A thirty-year veteran of the hospitality industry, Mike offers extensive operational experience with a strong specialization in hospitality sales and marketing.  Mike “grew up” in the hotel industry working every position in the field, collecting invaluable hands-on expertise.  By the time he was 23 he owned and operated four hotels in three states.  Mike went on to form LCI, a hospitality consulting firm that culminated in the representation of hundreds of hotels including four of the top ten hotel management companies in the U.S.  

Mike’s past property experience includes Hilton, Sheraton, Red Lion, the Aggieland Hotel, Lexington, Holiday Inn, Best Western, Ramada, AmericInn, and other luxury boutique ventures. While at AmericInn he developed and chaired a new eCRM and hospitality internet marketing strategy for a national hotel brand. 

A few of Mike’s career highlights include implementing one of the first computerized hotel property management systems (for pc’s), developing the identity and entire branding initiative for one of the country’s finest luxury boutique hotels, La Bellasera Hotel & Suites; opening the AmericInn Hotel & Dole Specter Conference Center, and chairing several major initiatives for national hotel brands.  His properties have also won numerous national awards for hospitality websites, service rankings, and marketing initiatives. 

Richard Adams

Certified Public Accountant

He has provided multi-faceted functions as accounting, tax, and hotel control systems consulting and advisory services to Pacific West Hotels & Resorts, Inc. since 1997.  His focus is providing his expertise in accounting services and proper planning to create a positive, long term financial impact to each individual hotel project.  The standard of accounting used are per (GAAP) Generally Accepted Accounting Principles of which are contained in the Uniform System of Accounts for the Lodging Industry (USALI), which is published by the American Hotel and Motel Association.  He believes sound accounting and proper planning serves significantly to the financial outcome and a blueprint to improve future performance and goals of the hotel. 

Richard, received his B.S. degree from Arizona State University in 1985.  He has been in public accounting for more than 25 years, with the accounting firm of Mulkey and Company, PC.  Richard is a member of Arizona Society of Certified Public Accountants (ASCPA), American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), and AICPA Personal Financial Planning Section (PFP)

Richard enjoys his free time working extensively with many volunteer organizations and donates a great amount of time helping others in his community. He is a Scout Master and Varsity Coach for Boy Scouts of America, a volunteer referee and coach for American Youth Soccer Organization, and a coach for multiple sports with Gilbert Parks and Recreation.

Kenneth Garvin

Director of Hotel Operations

Ken along with his two partners formed Ledgestone in 2009.  This new management company quickly gained a reputation for consistently producing operational and marketing turnarounds.  As president he oversees the strategic direction and growth of the company.
Ken’s formula of comprehensive reviews, attention to the basics, innovative marketing and insistence upon the highest quality has produced superior returns to Ledgestone’s clients along with numerous awards from the franchisors.  He is actively engaged with every property owner to ensure that performance goals are met or exceeded.

Ledgestone Hospitality, LLC is a culmination of Ken’s 27 years of hospitality experience in all phases of hotel management.  Ken has managed every stage of hotel management from opening new hotel properties through renovation and sale.

Ken’s background includes thirteen years as Vice President of Three Rivers Hospitality.  While at Three Rivers he was responsible for all phases of hotel management for a portfolio of 50 hotel properties from coast to coast.  These properties represented seven different hotel flags and an independent full service boutique property.  While at Three Rivers he was part of a national hotel brand and was a member of their senior executive team.  He played a major role on numerous committees that included:  technology, internet marketing, contract negotiations and franchise advisory council.  Prior to Three Rivers Hospitality he was the Director of Operations for the Summit Group, Inc. an independent hotel developer based in South Dakota.  Other experience includes four years as Regional Manager for the Marcus Corporation, and four years at Super 8 Motels where he held the titles of Regional Manager, District Manager and General Manager.