Michael Cahill, CRE, MAI, FRICS, CHA is CEO and founder of HREC – Hospitality Real Estate Counselors, a leading North American real estate investment banking and advisory firm specializing exclusively in the lodging and gaming industries. Mike has counseled on over 5,000 lodging and gaming properties in the U.S. and multiple foreign countries. He has authored and published over 85 industry articles, lectured to more than 55 of the nation’s premier industry organizations and has been quoted as an industry expert in over 70 different publications. Mike is co-chairman of the Lodging Industry Investment Council (“LIIC”), a hospitality industry think tank and has appeared on The History Channel as a casino expert. Mr. Cahill was an original co-founder of the Microtel lodging concept and hotel chain. Mike maintains the following designations: CRE (Counselors of Real Estate); MAI (Appraisal Institute); FRICS (Fellow Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors) and CHA (Certified Hotel Administrator). He is a graduate of the Cornell University Hotel School where he was an Academic All-America football player.