Bio

Mark Harms is the Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Global Leisure Partners. Mark has been involved in all aspects of GLP since inception in 2004 and has pioneered its strategic direction. This has led to GLP advising on c $60 billion of transactions to date, deploying significant capital as principal in a number of deals and developing an industry leading Operating Executive Network. Mark divides his time equally between the U.S. and the U.K. Mark has significant experience in the leisure sector having completed advisory and principal transactions in North and South America, Europe and Australia over the last 20 years. With over 100 completed advisory engagements and with more than half of these in the fitness, gaming, hospitality and leisure industries, Mark brings a deep understanding and knowledge regarding the competitive strategies of the major companies in each industry sector. In addition, Mark has extensive experience with regard to leveraged debt, mezzanine and equity financing techniques in Europe and the U.S. with over US$100bn in completed transactions. Mark has a strong knowledge of financing markets worldwide, significant restructuring expertise and is also highly experienced in cross-border transactions. Mark is also a Non-Executive Board Member of 24Hr Fitness in the US. Prior to founding GLP, he previously worked at Oppenheimer as a Managing Director and at CIBC as Global Head of the Gaming, Lodging, and Leisure Group as well as the Head of the Consumer Growth Group. Under his leadership Oppenheimer and CIBC developed a global reputation for financing and advisory excellence and leading market shares in each of the key financing product lines. Mr. Harms has a BA (Honors) from the University of Michigan and an MBA from the University of Chicago. He is fluent in German.