September 2, 2014, Tysons Corner, Virginia – Cordia Partners, a leading accounting and financial consulting services firm in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area announced that Donald D. Olinger (Don) recently joined the firm as one of its Partners. One of Mr. Olinger’s primary roles will be to expand and lead its Maryland operations, including opening a Maryland office. Mr. Olinger will work with the Cordia Recruiting and Staffing (CRS) team to grow that practice in addition to providing CFO consulting and advisory services to Cordia clients. His background includes extensive experience in hospitality and real estate, having served as CFO and Controller, respectively, of two of the nation’s largest hotel REITs, in addition to having substantial experience working with government contracting, telecommunications and technology companies. In addition to his public company experience, Mr. Olinger has worked extensively with a number of prominent private equity firms.
Prior to joining Cordia Partners, Mr. Olinger was a leading hotel/real estate industry financial executive. He was part of the leadership team that executed the 1993 separation of Marriott Corporation into Marriott International (NYSE: MAR) and Host Hotels and Resorts (NYSE: HST) and established and developed the accounting operations of Host over the next nine years. Along the way, Mr. Olinger had leadership roles in numerous capital market transactions as well as several major corporate restructurings, including the conversion of Host to a REIT in 1998. In 2002, Mr. Olinger joined MeriStar Hospitality (NYSE: MHX) as its CFO. Mr. Olinger built the finance function and led the company’s financial restructuring efforts. These efforts included several equity and convertible debt issuances, debt refinancings and CMBS and other mortgage placements prior to the company’s ultimate sale to a fund of The Blackstone Group for $2.6 billion. Subsequent to the MeriStar sale, Mr. Olinger operated his own consulting business focused on the hotel and real estate sectors. His consulting activities included serving as CFO of Power Loft, LLP, an innovative developer of high-end data centers, advising on hotel and real estate ownership strategies and reviewing accounting and finance staffing structures. Most recently, Mr. Olinger was CFO of Apex Companies, LLC, a national, private equity backed provider of environmental consulting and engineering services.
Mr. Olinger began his career at Touche Ross & Co. (now Deloitte) as an audit senior manager, focused heavily on the aerospace and defense and telecommunications industries. He earned his bachelors degree in accounting from the University of Virginia. Mr. Olinger currently serves as a board member and President of the National Association of Real Estate Companies and as Vice Chairman (formerly Chairman) of the Advisory Board of the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia.