Company Overview

John Murphy (Murph)

John Murphy is Chief Executive Officer at Great Wolf Resorts Inc., an affiliate of Centerbridge Partners LP and The Blackstone Group. Murph and our management team are focused on accelerating the growth of the Great Wolf Lodge brand and expanding into new markets throughout the United States and the world.

Prior to joining Great Wolf Lodge as CEO in 2022, John Murphy co-founded and served as principal for Triton Hospitality, a hotel sponsorship group created to acquire and asset manage hospitality assets. Before Triton Hospitality, Murphy founded and served as president and CEO for Evolution Hospitality. Launched in January of 2011, Evolution grew rapidly from nine hotels under management to over 100 hotels (75 under management and 25+ under development) and more than $1 billion in managed revenue under Murphy’s leadership. Evolution was acquired as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Aimbridge Hospitality in 2015, and Murphy stayed on as its president/CEO through 2019.

Brad O’Bryan

Brad O’Bryan holds the position of Chief Financial Officer at Great Wolf Resorts, Inc. where he oversees the financial operations of the company.

Brad possesses extensive hospitality experience having spent over 12 years with Hyatt Hotels Corporation prior to joining Great Wolf. At Hyatt Brad held positions including Treasurer and Senior Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Finance, Corporate Controller and Chief Accounting Officer and Vice President, SEC and Financial Reporting. Prior to Hyatt, Brad held a number of key financial management positions with Whirlpool Corporation and, before that, with Donnelly Corporation, a Tier 1 automotive supplier. Brad began his career with Ernst and Young in the Audit practice. Brad is a CPA and has a bachelor of science in accountancy from Calvin University.

Bryan Robinson

As head of HR for Great Wolf, Bryan has been instrumental in designing and implementing key initiatives to grow the business, including Great Wolf’s purpose, service values, and the “Pack Member Promise”, which focuses on creating a more meaningful and people-centered employment brand. 

Bryan joined Great Wolf with a strong background in human resources, organizational design and talent development, having served as Vice President of Human Resources for the Chicago Cubs. He played a key role in the revitalization of the broader Cubs organization and the team’s performance as not only a sports brand but also a leisure experience at Wrigley Field for its guests and employees. 

Before joining the Cubs, Bryan held senior human resources roles with General Electric, across multiple business units and geographies. He holds bachelor’s and graduate degrees in Human Resources and Labor Relations from Michigan State University. 

Tim Brown

As Chief Development Officer, Tim’s role is to direct and lead the development of all new Great Wolf Resorts as well as the major renovation and expansion projects.

Prior to joining Great Wolf, Tim was the Global Head of Construction for Hyatt where he oversaw all projects in which Hyatt had money at risk, opening 17 hotels during his three-year tenure. Prior to Hyatt, Tim was the Executive Vice President of Development for a Florida-based, family-owned Developer, Owner and Operator of various real estate asset classes including hotels, retail, and multi-family housing. During his 16-year tenure at Kerzner International, he was involved in hospitality projects across the globe, including the Atlantis properties in both the Bahamas and Dubai and several One & Only resorts.

He earned his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Tufts University and his Master of Science in Real Estate Development from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Craig Johnson

Craig Johnson serves as the company’s in-house legal counsel and is actively involved in the company’s goal of developing new Great Wolf Lodge properties in the U.S. and abroad, as well as serving a role in corporate governance, contracting and general compliance.

Craig’s responsibilities also include overseeing the company’s risk and safety functions. For several years prior to joining Great Wolf Resorts in 2013, Craig assisted the company in his capacity as outside counsel while working as a corporate attorney in the Madison, Wisconsin, office of Michael Best & Friedrich LLP. In that role, he focused on general corporate law and mergers and acquisitions. He earned his Bachelor of Arts at the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point and his Juris Doctor from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

Al Genin

As Chief Commercial Officer, Alan leads and directs all revenue management, analytics, marketing and technology efforts at Great Wolf Resorts. During more than 21 years of service to the company, Alan has held senior leadership positions in revenue management, analytics, marketing, guest services, customer contact center and digital / e-commerce.

Alan earned his Bachelor of Science in hospitality and tourism from the University of Wisconsin, Stout.  He also holds a MBA in corporate finance from Upper Iowa University and a MS in Business Analytics from Villanova University. 

Jay Markham

Jay Markham oversees financial performance and analysis as well as the treasury function for the company. In his previous roles for the company, he served as interim chief financial officer and vice president of finance.

Prior to coming to Great Wolf Resorts, Jay worked for Golub Capital LLC starting in 2010, primarily serving Golub Capital BDC Inc., a publicly traded business development company, where he was the corporate controller primarily responsible for accounting and financial reporting. Beginning in 2006, he worked for Ernst & Young LLP, most recently as a senior auditor, primarily responsible for planning and performing International Financial Reporting Standards and U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles public and private company audits in the banking, broker-dealer and hedge fund industries. Jay is a certified public accountant and earned his Bachelor of Science in analytical finance and his Master of Science in accountancy at Wake Forest University.

Brooke Patterson

Brooke is an experienced hospitality executive with a broad range of experience from her time at both Starwood and at Celebrity Cruises. She leads Great Wolf’s marketing organization, overseeing and evolving the experiences provided to guests along their journey – both for lodges and our characters.

Over her 15+ years in the industry, Brooke has developed a very diverse set of skills through a broad range of roles ranging from product development, marketing, revenue management, and operations.  She possesses a well-rounded thought process and approach that is based on both data and creative new ideas to drive improvements in customer experience, revenue, and the employee experience.  Her passion lies in generating new ways to give the customer what they want in a way that is feasible, sustainable and scalable. She received her BA in hospitality management from Cornell.

Ramki Srinivasan

Ramki Srinivasan leads for Technology, Digital and Contact Centers teams at Great Wolf. The teams are responsible for leveraging technology to drive fantastic Guest and Pack Member experiences through all parts of the customer journey. Ramki brings close to  20 years of leadership experience in digital platforms, technology, e-commerce and personalized marketing. Most recently, Ramki led revenue management at Groupon for North America for a $2B portfolio. Prior to that, Ramki ran e-commerce for brands like Motorola Mobility, Kmart and Sears Auto. 

Ramki graduated from University of Madras in India with a Bachelor Degree in Computer Science. He also holds a Master Degree in Computer Science from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a MBA from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Mark Lewis (Lew)

Mark Lewis (Lew) has operational oversight of the three region vice presidents and all lodges, as well as the housekeeping and engineering lines of business. He and his team will drive lode financial performance, guest and Pack experience, and safety. Lew joined the company with both broad and deep experience working across hospitality.

Prior to joining Great Wolf, Lew was the Senior Vice President at Evolution Hospitality after holding various roles with progressive operational responsibility. Prior to his time at Evolution, Lew led hotel operations at Tarsadia Hotels following 20+ years as a leader across various functions within Marriott International.

Brian Siep

Prior to joining Great Wolf Lodge, Brian worked in hotels, theme parks, entertainment and live music. Brian started his career with Marriott hotels and Marriott Facilities Management after which he moved to Paris, France to be part of the Euro Disney opening team and moving on from there to run the Planet Hollywood chain of restaurants.  After this, Brian moved to Live Nation and oversaw F&B for live music venues around the U.S . Brian grew up in Holland before deciding to go to University in California and has been between continents since.  Brian is an avid runner and paddle boarder and can’t wait to get a run in around all the Great Wolf Lodges!

Rachel O’Connell

Rachel leads talent management, organizational development and Corporate Human Resources for Great Wolf Resorts including talent strategy, engagement, talent acquisition, recruitment marketing, engagement, performance management, succession, learning, leadership development programs, DEI and staffing/training for new resort openings. Prior to joining Great Wolf Resorts, Rachel most recently served as Asst. Director of Human Resources for the Chicago Cubs where she was responsible for building and leading talent management for four entities in the sports and leisure space, including Wrigley Field, an entertainment venue, F&B and retail outlets and a hotel. Before joining the Cubs, Rachel served as HR Leader for Angie’s List focusing on talent management through their IPO, mergers & acquisitions, and through a period of rapid growth. This followed her experience as HR Director for KPaul Corp., a government reseller of technology equipment and software, which was recognized as #10 on the INC 500 list. Rachel holds a Bachelor’s degree in Communication and a Master’s degree in HR Management, both from Purdue University and is an Executive Scholar in Leadership through Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.