Cornell Nolan School affiliations:
Center for Real Estate and Finance Advisory Board
Real Estate Professionals in Residence Program
Key areas of expertise:
- Hotel development
- Equity/debt/construction financing
- Asset management
Jacob Wright is the founder and CEO of Guide Hospitality, a development company of hotels and mixed-use projects throughout the US. He is also the founder of Skyward Companies which focuses on short-term rental acquisition and management.
Jacob started his first business at the age of 18 and became a serial entrepreneur who has founded, led, and sold businesses in the action sports, website development, real estate development, restaurant, hotel, and management industries. He has funded, developed, and managed more than 25 companies and led teams as small as five to larger than one thousand team members as a CEO and founder.
Wright focuses a significant amount of time on civic programs and charities and has been a member of several boards including the Metropolitan Development Agency, the Syracuse Chamber of Commerce, March of Dimes, the Crouse Hospital Foundation, the Erie Canal Museum, the Saranac Lake Chamber of Commerce and the Adirondack Experience Museum.
At Cornell University Wright has been an adjunct member of the faculty creating the syllabus for and teaching topics in Hotel Development (HADM 4570) and Conversations with Entrepreneurs (HADM 3135). He was a guest speaker at the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans throughout its programing at Cornell. Wright has been on the advisory boards of the Pillsbury Institute for Hospitality Entrepreneurship, Elab Accelerator, and the Center for Real Estate and Finance while also contributing as an Entrepreneur in Residence for many years. He is a member of the Red Bear Angels and the Cornell Hotel Society.
Wright received his MBA degree from the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business.