Thayer Investment Partners (TIP) is a strategic investment platform driving the future of innovation across the travel, real estate and hospitality sectors.

After graduating from Cornell’s School of Hotel Administration, Lee spent 19 years at Marriott, rising to become an Executive Vice President and head of Lodging Strategy and Corporate Officer. During his six years as EVP, Marriott achieved a five fold increase in revenues and an eight fold increase in EBITA as the company rapidly embraced a multi-brand strategy and moved into time sharing.

Lee left Marriott in 1988 to launch Thayer Lodging Group, a hotel real estate private equity fund for institutional investors. During its 25+ years, Thayer Lodging’s funds achieved a 26.2% IRR, ranking it one of the most successful real estate funds. Thayer Lodging Group launched several companies, including TIG Global Internet Marketing, Thayer Insurance Group, EMC Venues, and PURE Rooms.  The company was sold to Brookfield Asset Management in 2015.

In 2004, Lee and Mary, with Teddy Zhang MMH ’97 formed Thayer China. They toured 18 of China’s provinces at the request of the Beijing Government to meet with local officials to promote the development of travel and tourism within China as a major employer and engine of economic growth.  Thayer China formed a joint venture with China’s Jin Jiang Group to build the first central reservations/global distribution system running in Mandarin.  Thayer China also formed joint ventures with other Chinese firms during this time.  In 2010, Thayer Lodging Group partnered with  Jin Jiang to take Interstate Hotels and Resorts (NYSE) private, tripling the company's size to manage over 500 hotels worldwide before its sale in 2015.

Today Lee serves as Chair of TLG Investment Partners.  TLG IP is a national real estate investment and development firm.  The company has developed over 3,000 single family and multifamily residential units in 5 communities in Florida and Arizona and is actively investing in other real estate sectors including hotels. He has served on many company boards, both public and private.

Lee has been an active supporter of higher education.  He served for 2 years as the Rhodes Visiting Professor at Cornell University and has lectured in colleges and universities across the US and throughout Asia. A Presidential Counselor and Trustee Emeritus of Cornell University, Lee served on the Board of Trustees and was a member of the Executive Committee for 12 years.  He also served on the Dean's Advisory Board of the Nolan School of Hotel Administration and currently serves on the Leadership Council of the S.C Johnson College of Business. He was named Entrepreneur of the Year by Cornell in 2016.  He has received awards from Penn State, the J.L.Kellogg Graduate School Northwestern University, and the University of Denver as well as numerous industry awards. Lee and Mary endowed the Pillsbury Institute for Hospitality Entrepreneurship at Cornell's Nolan School of Hotel Management and have established scholarships at Cornell and Penn State.  Cornell named them Foremost Benefactors in 2006 in recognition of their philanthropy.

Lee and Mary have been married for over 50 years and reside in Fort Lauderdale Florida. They are avid boaters and pilots, and together are the first husband and wife pilot team to fly a single engine airplane across the North Atlantic. Lee is also an avid golfer. They have seven nieces and nephews who are graduates of Cornell.

Mark co-founded Thayer Ventures in 2009 and was involved in all aspects of the firm’s growth as a Managing Director, until stepping down earlier this year to announce his candidacy in the 2024 San Francisco Mayoral race. Mark has sat on multiple private company Boards and served as Co-CEO and Chief Financial Officer of Thayer Ventures Acquisition Corporation (NASDAQ: TVAC), a $176 million special purpose acquisition corporation (SPAC) that merged with Inspirato (NASDAQ: ISPO) in early 2022. Mark’s background includes professional experience as an attorney at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, investment banker at Thomas Weisel Partners, and as an elected official for eight years in the City and County of San Francisco. Mark was twice elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, and in 2018 was elected as Mayor of the City and County of San Francisco.

Mark received his B.A. from Loyola Marymount University, cum laude, M.A. from University College Dublin (Ireland), with honors, and J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, cum laude. Mark currently serves on the Board of the Olympic Club Foundation in San Francisco, where he resides with his wife and three growing children.

Jeff has spent the bulk of his career in executive roles within the transportation and distribution space. Based in Dallas, Jeff spent 14 years with American Airlines, managed the legal separation of Sabre, Inc. from AA and left to become EVP and Chief Financial Officer of the stand-alone company in 2000. Over his 11 years at Sabre, both as Chief Financial Officer and as EVP Corporate Development, Jeff managed the Sabre initial public offering, completed over 25 acquisitions and divestitures of over $8 billion in value, served on the Board of Travelocity, managed the globalization of the Sabre organization, and completed sale of the company to a group of private equity firms, thereby taking Sabre, Inc. private. Jeff serveds on the Boards of Rent-A-Center, a $2.8 billion public rent-to-own retail space company and of Getty Images.

Prior to becoming the Managing Director of Thayer Investment Partners, Jeff was a General Partner at Thayer Ventures since 2012. Thayer Ventures invests in travel and hospitality focused start-up tech companies, including hotels, restaurants, travel, cruise and gaming.

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Jeff is a graduate of Dartmouth College and has an MBA from the Northwestern’s Kellogg Business School. He serveds as Chair of Parents Advisory Committee of Carleton College and as an ex-officio member of the Board of Trustees. He is Treasurer and Board member of Fort Worden Hospitality, a conference and events center for music, arts, nature, community, weddings, food and drink in Port Townsend, Washington.

As a long-time operating exec, startup advisor, investor and road warrior, Cara is actively involved in numerous corners of the travel tech industry. She recently joined the team at Thayer Ventures to expand the firm’s partnership and business development initiatives with its strategic investors, portfolio companies and emerging startups across the travel and hospitality ecosystem. She is also an active angel investor backing early- and growth-stage B2B startups across the travel tech, enterprise software and healthcare sectors.

As a former leader at Expedia, Travelocity, Deem and venture-backed startup Traxo, Cara is a frequent speaker, panelist and startup pitch judge for PhocusWright and other industry events, guest lectures for NYU’s Hospitality Innovation program, and co-host of Travel Tech Insider podcast.

Based in Cincinnati, Ohio, she and her husband are avid golfers aiming to hit the links in all 50 states.

Chelsea brings over a decade of expertise in the hospitality industry. Before joining TIP, she spent over 5 years at Standard International, aiding in the global expansion of the Standard and Bunkhouse hotels, and contributing to the development of new brands and brand elements. Prior to her tenure at Standard International, Chelsea held business development positions at Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants and Pyramid Hotel Group, and gained operational experience with Hilton through Hilton Worldwide's Management Training Program. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Hospitality Management from Boston University.

Noah Fosse joined Derive Ventures in 2022. Prior to joining Derive, Noah worked at Eastdil Secured as an investment banker on the M&A/Corporate Advisory group. At Eastdil Secured, he worked on various transactions including the $3.6B sale of BlueRock Residential to Blackstone. Prior to Eastdil Secured, Noah earned his masters in real estate finance and sustainable development from the University of Michigan. Noah also earned his bachelors degree from the University of Michigan and was a member of the Stephen M. Ross Real Estate fund and the men’s varsity lacrosse team.