About Us

Jose Gallego

History: Jose joined the company in 2015 as Managing Director and was promoted to CEO in 2017. He oversees all facets of the company, including the company-wide portfolio, real estate acquisitions and dispositions, investor relations, capital and strategic planning and business development. Before joining BTSR in 2015, he worked with numerous hotel franchises such as Hilton Hotels & Resorts, IHG, Marriott Hotels & Resorts, Sheraton Hotels & Resorts and Hyatt Hotels & Resorts in various management positions. He holds a MBA in Business Administration from the Universidad Del Valle. He is a Certified Hotel Administrator (CHA) from the Educational Institute of the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA). Jose enjoys visiting our properties and making connections with team members, guests and partners.
What He’s Passionate About: Jose enjoys spending time with his family: his wife Gabriela, of 20 plus years, and one daughter, Gabriela Andrea. He also enjoys sports such as golf and basketball, and loves to walk and run on the beach.

Robyn Evans

Contact: Robyn@bythesearesorts.com
Robyn has over 30 years in the hospitality industry. She joined By The Sea Resorts in May 2018. Robyn oversees all hotel and restaurant operations. Her passion is people... staff and guests. Making the experience great for everyone. Joining with her top notch teams to give legendary service is her ultimate goal.

What shes passionate about:
Her faith in Christ, her husband, children and grandchildren, travel, gardening and promoting positivity.

Gene Harry

Contact: Gene@bythesearesorts.com
History: Gene holds a Ph.D. in Finance from North Central University, an MBA from Davenport University, and a BBA-Accounting from Grand Valley State University. In addition, Gene has previously served as an adjunct or associate Professor of Finance and Accounting at DU, JWMI, FSU, and UM, with eight years of teaching experience at the MBA level. Gene’s background includes extensive senior level financial executive experience, primarily as CFO with corporations in the manufacturing, distribution, and hospitality sectors. In addition, he held the position of managing partner in a successful consulting firm for several years, and VP of M&A for a $4B publicly held corporation. His past experience includes positions with Toyota, Wilson Sporting Goods, and Jack Welch Management Institute. Presently, he is pleased to serve the By The Sea Resorts organization as its Chief Financial Officer.
What He’s Passionate About: Gene and his wife relocated from Grand Rapids, MI to Santa Rosa Beach, FL two years ago, and transitioned to the Gulf Coast beach life with their two dogs, Pumpkin and Petey. They have two sons John and James, still enduring the cold winters in Michigan, but visit us often.

Elisabeth Hughes

Contact: ehughes@bythesearesorts.com
History: Elisabeth was raised in upstate South Carolina before moving to Oklahoma in 2006. Elisabeth moved to Panama City Beach earlier this year. Elisabeth worked in multiple industries, most recently running a small weekly newspaper for several years before becoming the Director of Human Resources and Community Relations for a critical access hospital in NW Oklahoma. Elisabeth loves mentoring supervisors and encouraging the best out of our employees.

What she's passionate about: Elisabeth loves fitness, yoga and spending time outdoors with her husband Jeremy and son Jackson, especially at the beach. Animals are her heart and her family has adopted dogs Bear and Stormy and cats Onyx and Willow. When not chasing their animals or spending time outdoors, you can find Elisabeth watching college football or traveling.

Kim Kaszar

Contact: Kim@bythesearesorts.com
History: Kim joined the company in 2018 as Director of Revenue Management. She oversees all facets of room revenue for all hotels in the portfolio, including implementation of effective revenue strategies, revenue forecasting, channel distribution and inventory controls. Before joining BTSR in 2018, she worked with numerous hotel franchises such as Hilton Hotels & Resorts, Marriott Hotels & Resorts, Sheraton Hotels & Resorts in various management positions. She holds a degree in Business Administration from The University of Akron.
What She’s Passionate About: Kim enjoys spending her free time helping with several animal rescues. She also enjoys riding dirt bikes and golfing. She is a passionate Florida Gators fan.

Missy Sparks

Contact: msparks@bythesearesorts.com
History: As Corporate Director of Sales and Marketing, Missy prides herself on the level of experience, guidance, and love of the industry she provides her team. Reflecting on her over 25 years in hospitality, she credits much of her success to outstanding mentors who challenged her and positively impacted her life and career; she starts every day excited to do the same for her team at By The Sea Resorts.
Missy fell in love with the hospitality industry as a college student at the University of Arkansas, while working as Director of Sales and Marketing at the 5-star Cassinelli 1700. She took her first hotel job at DoubleTree Little Rock, first as Catering Manager, then as Sales Manager. Looking for opportunities to grow, she joined Prime Hospitality as Director of Sales before moving on to become a General Manager. Approached by Peabody Hotel Group, Missy happily returned to sales as Corporate Sales Manager for the new Peabody in Little Rock, a full-service hotel with 500 rooms and 250,000 sf of meeting space. She spent the next several years in various sales director positions with LaQuinta Corporate, Peabody, Sunburst Hospitality and moving into regional positions with Schulte Hospitality and LBA Hospitality.
In 2020, Missy joined By The Sea Resorts, immediately drawn to the company’s culture and commitment to team support and their diverse portfolio. In her current role, she provides leadership, sales training, and strategic direction to the sales team, training and mentoring the team to increase hotel performance and guest satisfaction.
A fitness buff, Missy enjoys scuba diving and any other water sport. She loves relaxing at the beach with her dog Nikki, watching Razorback football, and sharing her passion for food by cooking for friends.

Rafael Wanderbrock

Contact: rwanderbrock@bythesearesorts.com
History: Originally from Brazil, Rafael has 20 years international experience working in South America, Europe and Middle East where he spent 10 years in Dubai working in some of the most luxurious Hotels in the world. He also managed the Emirates Airline airport First and Business class lounges, awarded several times as the best First Class lounge in the world

He is passionate about the food & beverage industry and enjoys discovering new flavors from local communities

Rafael likes outdoor activities which includes jogging, cycling and swimming, on his free time he likes spending the day on the beach with his family.

Other passions are travelling, BBQing and watching his favorite soccer team

Peter Snyder

Contact: Pete@bythesearesorts.com
History: Peter Snyder has an MSW from Florida State University and is a qualified teacher of MBSR from the university of Massachusetts medical school in 2014 and holds two separate Yoga teacher certifications. Peter started as the general manager of Surfside laundry in 2013. During that time, Peter grew the company from a 1000 sq. ft. building processing 500k lbs per year to expanding into a 5000 sq. ft. building that processed over a million lbs per year. At the start of 2019, Surfside opened a second commercial laundry location in Robertsdale Alabama.

What He’s Passionate About: Peter is passionate about service to the community and regularly volunteers with prison inmates and individuals that have suffered from traumatic brain injuries. Peter also has a passion for cultivating emotional intelligence and self-actualization in his personal and professional life and utilizes different insight practices to achieve this. When Peter has free time you can find him exploring different hobbies to include movement practices, martial arts, music and/or exploring nature.

Doug Jenkins

Contact: Doug@bythesearesorts.com
History: Doug has been with By The Sea Resorts for 11 years, he served 9 years as Director of Facilities & Maintenance, 1 year as Director of Operations, and for the last year he has acted as Director of New Construction/Project Manager. He is currently serving the BTSR properties as the Construction and Special Projects. Some of his responsibilities included overseeing facilities budgets, maintenance teams, managing capital projects, coordinating the bidding process, and ensuring adherence to OSHA regulations.

What He’s Passionate About: Doug is currently retired from the US Air Force, and has received an Honorary Discharge, after serving over 23 years in various capacities around the world. He has been married 6 years and has two boys, Seth and Parker. In his spare time, Doug enjoys boating, fishing, hunting, auto racing, and golf.

Kruize Tice

Contact: Kruize@bythesearesorts.com
History: Kruize has been with By The Sea Resorts since 2003, he served 1 year in Maintenance, 10 years as Maintenance supervisor, and 2 years as Preventative Maintenance Manager. He is currently serving the BTSR properties as the Corporate Director of Maintenance Facilities. Some of his responsibilities included overseeing facilities budgets, maintenance teams, managing capital projects, coordinating the bidding process, and ensuring adherence to OSHA regulations.

What He’s Passionate About: Kruize is an avid woodsman that loves bush-craft, hunting and fresh water fishing.

Mark Haines

Contact: mhaines@bythesearesorts.com
History: Mark grew up and attended college in Northwest Oklahoma and moved to Panama City Beach in 2010, after a short stay in Ft. Smith, AR. He joined the By the Sea Resorts team in July 2019, bringing over 18 years of corporate IT experience with him.

What he’s passionate about: Mark enjoys swimming and hanging out at the beach. He has been married to his wife, Christy, for 25 years. They have one adult son, Nick and two dogs.