Edward

Denton

Chief Development Officer

Corporate Responsibility

Ed Denton is responsible for identifying and executing strategic investments and procuring third-party management contracts, with a particular focus on the hospitality sector. He also provides investment sales and consulting services for select clients.

Experience

Ed has over 20 years of experience in hospitality and investment real estate, including management, brokerage, financing, and asset management for over $1 billion worth of investment properties from Maryland to Florida. In 2009, Ed founded a hotel management company that was acquired by Commonwealth in 2012 and continues to operate as Commonwealth Lodging, a wholly owned subsidiary. Following the merger, he served on the firm’s leadership team for several years before taking a hiatus. In the interim, he operated Denton Realty Company, an independent brokerage and consulting firm, for almost six years. In addition to his entrepreneurial endeavors, Ed has held leadership positions at privately held firms with investments in hotels, apartments, retail, self-storage, office, and industrial properties. Ed started his career at Marriott International where he completed its renowned management training program and held various positions in Fairfax, Richmond, and Bethesda.

Education

Ed graduated from Virginia Tech with a bachelor’s degree in Hospitality and Tourism Management and earned a certificate in Business Law from Cornell University Law School. Additionally, he is a licensed real estate broker in Virginia and North Carolina.

Accomplishments

Throughout his career, Ed has served on multiple professional and civic boards and as an adjunct faculty member at Tidewater Community College. He is currently on the advisory board for Virginia Tech’s department of Hospitality & Tourism Management and is a board member for Virginia Beach Vision.

What Matters

What does being a true partner to your clients mean to you?

Our role as a service provider must be more advisory than transactional.  If closing day for brokers or month-end reports for property managers are higher priority than making sure we're communicating effectively and honestly, then we're failing our clients.  Task management is a means to end; the real work is building a trusting relationship with our clients.

What do clients value most after working with you?

Candor.  I tend to tell clients what they need to hear versus what they want to hear - sometimes those things align, but not always.  Often times they come to appreciate the candor after the fact.

What’s something people might not expect about you?

I'd rather be on a ranch vs. at the beach, in a small town vs. a big city, or in the local diner vs. the 5-star restaurant.

What are you doing on a perfect day off?

That's a great question, I hope to find the answer one day.  For now, the nature of my work and my always-on mentality don't allow for a real day off.

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