Mr. O’Neill is a co-founder of American Hotel Income Properties REIT and served as the Chief Executive Officer of from February 2013 to September 2018, and has been in the industry of hotels and property management for over 40 years.
Mr. O’Neill was the cofounder of Canadian Hotel Income Properties Real Estate Investment Trust (“CHIP REIT”) in 1997 and served as its President and Chief Executive Officer until September 1998. Mr. O’Neill was also a cofounder of the Coast Hotel chain in 1972. In 1988, he was instrumental in managing the sale of the Coast Hotel chain to OKABE Co. of Tokyo and was retained to manage it as the President and Chief Executive Officer until 1991. Mr. O’Neill was President and Chief Operating Officer of National Caterers Ltd. and O’Neill Railway Catering Ltd. from 1977 to 1991. National Caterers Ltd. was Canada’s largest operator and supplier of remote site construction camps providing food, lodging and support services for construction workers. O’Neill Railway Catering Ltd. served both the CP Rail in Western Canada and the BC Railway in British Columbia on and offline.
Mr. O’Neill was nominated for Canada’s Entrepreneur of the Year in 1998. In 2004, he received two awards, the Industry Entrepreneur Award from the Vancouver branch of the Canadian Foodservice Association, and the Distinguished Alumni Award for Entrepreneurial Innovation from the B.C. Institute of Technology. Mr. O’Neill is recognized as a leading authority in the hotel industry and is a regular speaker at industry conferences in Canada and the U.S. Mr. O’Neill is a graduate of the British Columbia Institute of Technology, Hotel and Foodservice Program, and received his diploma in Hotel Management in 1972. He is a former Secretary of the Canadian Council of the Young Presidents’ Organization and a current member of the World Presidents’ Organization.