executive team
Rob Palleschi
CEO
Johnson & Wales University | Honorary Doctorate, Business Administration in International Hotel & Tourism Management Bachelor’s in Hospitality Administration & Management
First student housing experience: My first dorm was a former hotel converted to student housing on Narragansett Bay outside of Providence Rhode Island.
Favorite thing about college: Living outside my parents’ home, making my own decisions (occasionally good ones, too!), making new friends, and exploring new adventures.
Rob works with American Campus Communities’ leadership team to drive the company’s strategic vision and lead the execution of its business plan, which is focused on creating environments to facilitate student success. He also oversees operations for the entire company. Rob has a proven track record of successfully developing and executing global strategies for the hospitality and food and beverage industries that focus on revenue growth, product quality and guest experience.
Prior to joining ACC, Rob was the President and CEO of G6 Hospitality, the owner and operator of Motel 6 and Studio 6-branded lodging locations. He led G6’s transition to a full franchise model and the sale of its remaining owned real estate portfolio. He previously served as the CEO of TGI Fridays, where he reinvigorated the chain’s values-driven culture, and as the global head of full-service brands at Hilton Worldwide, where he oversaw operations, enhanced guest experience and developed growth strategies.
Rob is actively involved in key industry organizations, including Asian American Hotel Owners Association and American Hotel and Lodging Association.
James E. Wilhelm, III
Chief Development Officer
Miami University (Ohio) | Bachelor’s in Finance
First student housing experience: Traditional 1960s-style dormitory and dining hall, all four years
Most people don’t know: I went from a walk-on to starting defensive back for the Miami of Ohio football team. In my senior year, our little ragtag bunch beat the LSU Tigers 21-12 at Baton Rouge, in the pouring rain. I’ll never forget the euphoria of counting down those final seconds and realizing we were actually going to win.
Jamie oversees American Campus Communities’ external development growth strategy, which encompasses all aspects of development including our public-private partnership business, construction management, development and strategic acquisitions. Jamie ensures we are building relationships and delivering communities to our university partners and our off-campus portfolio that reflect our exceptional development standards. Under Jamie’s leadership, his team has developed a multibillion-dollar portfolio of on-campus projects using a variety of transaction structures: third party, tax-exempt bond finance projects, conventional leasehold mortgages, university general obligation bonds and direct investments under the ACE program.
With more than 25 years of leadership in higher education finance, working closely with higher-ed presidents, CFOs, and finance committees, Jamie has an unmatched understanding of the complex issues these leaders face. He is able to guide them in choosing a development approach that achieves their mission and vision while managing their balance sheets, debt capacity and credit ratings.
Jamie joined ACC from RBC Bank’s public finance department, where he served as the managing director of the higher education sector. Prior to RBC, he was a managing director with Banc One Capital Markets (currently JPMorgan Capital Markets) and held positions at McDonald & Company Securities (currently KeyBanc Capital Markets) and The Ohio Company (currently Fifth Third Markets).
Dan Crownover
Chief Financial Officer
Texas A&M University | Bachelor’s in Finance; Master’s in Land Economics and Real Estate
Something most people don't know: Cooking is my favorite hobby. While I was in school, I constantly watched the Food Network while living in the ΣΑΕ house.
Dan oversees financial management, strategic planning and investment returns that drive the company’s business strategy and sustainable growth.
Dan previously served as Executive Vice President of Asset Management and, before that, he led our asset and portfolio management functions. He has been involved in key transactional areas of company growth and capital recycling including portfolio acquisitions and dozens of asset dispositions. Throughout Dan’s career at ACC, he has overseen the formation of three institutional joint venture partnerships totaling $3 billion.
He joined ACC in 2012 as a director in the investments department, where he assisted in underwriting and closing the company’s portfolio acquisitions. Before joining ACC, he worked in private equity at Austin-based Hawkeye Partners, and started his career in New York, working for Citigroup’s Real Estate Investment Banking divisionHe started his real estate career by interning with ACC while in grad school.
Jessie Burgess
Chief Information Officer
Grambling State University & The University of Texas at Dallas | Bachelor’s in Computer Science, MBA
Favorite thing about college: You meet some of the funniest people you'll ever meet in life, you learn to live on very little, and you surprise yourself with what you can accomplish.
Best college-themed movie/TV Show: A Different World. Was there any college-themed TV show better at the time?
Jessie oversees American Campus Communities’ business process transformation, technology strategy and innovation, partnering with the leadership team to drive and enable the company’s strategic vision and support the execution of the company’s business plan.Jessie brings over 20 years of professional experience in the hospitality and commercial real estate industry, with proven results of enabling efficient operations, modernizing IT systems, and managing digital transformations in complex environments. Prior to joining ACC, Jessie was the chief information officer of Revantage, where he led global technology efforts and delivered technology services to private equity portfolio companies representing over $22 billion in revenue–all while building a winning culture and extending the organization’s vision. He previously served as chief information officer and head of digital commerce for G6 Hospitality, where he placed the brand’s technological abilities at the forefront of the hospitality industry through initiatives such as re-architecting and transitioning critical enterprise workloads to the cloud. Jessie came to G6 after serving in the U.S. Air Force as a communications and computer systems officer, supporting operations in the U.S. and overseas.
Jessie serves on technology advisory boards for the Jindal School of Management at The University of Texas at Dallas and the Neely School of Business at Texas Christian University. He also sits on the Management Committee of the KII Telecommunications consortium. Jessie is an active executive mentor, nonprofit board alumnus, and former committee member on multiple veteran hiring organizations.
Alison Ando
Chief Legal Officer
University of Pennsylvania, Temple University | Bachelor’s in History, JD
Alison brings extensive real estate leadership and legal experience to ACC. She most recently served as CEO at Lexington National Land Services, a commercial title insurance agency. Prior to joining Lexington, she was a managing director at Carlyle Real Estate, after having spent the majority of her career as an attorney at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett.
Brian Mayer
Chief Operating Officer
Cornell University | Bachelor of Science; Columbia Business School | Master of Business Administration
What most people don’t know: I've seen Bruce Springsteen in concert over 80 times in four different countries.
Brian Mayer is the new Chief Operating Officer at American Campus Communities. With nearly 30 years of operational experience in hospitality and multi-family, Brian will work alongside the ACC executive team to evolve our world-class operating platform, introduce solutions to improve property performance, and enhance our resident experience. His exceptional track record of being a people-first leader who amplifies culture and talent underscores our commitment to our team members. This relevant experience will be valuable to ACC as he works with our best-in-class operations team to prepare and build for the future.
Most recently, Brian was the President of Related Management where he was responsible for the operating performance of the company’s residential asset classes, including luxury rentals, condominiums, and affordable housing properties. Before that, he was the Executive Vice President of operations for HEI Hotels & Resorts, where he bolstered his expertise in the real estate industry by overseeing a portfolio of 70 multi-brand hotels throughout the United States. He also served as Vice President of Operation Innovation & Support for Starwood Hotels and Resorts. Brian holds a Bachelor of Science from Cornell University and a Master of Business Administration from Columbia Business School.
Lonnie Ledbetter
Chief Purpose & Inclusion Officer
The University of Texas at Austin | Bachelor’s in Economics
Most people don't know: I am obsessed with Sudoku puzzles. They are a great stress reliever.
Lonnie spearheads American Campus Communities’ commitment to being a great place to work, where all team members can grow and thrive. She leads the company’s human resources, organizational structure, culture and training initiatives. And she also guides ACC’s strategies for environmental, social and governance and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). She leads the DEI taskforce in creating an inclusive culture where all know their unique voices will be valued.
Additionally, Lonnie is responsible for ACC’s residence life program, which fosters the academic success and well-being of our student residents. She has played a critical role in the company’s growth and its promotion of both student and team member success. She designed and implemented our InsideTrack conference, a six-month career development and mentoring program for community-level team members interested in becoming general managers. And she has served ACC as a leasing consultant, director of marketing and leasing, vice president of business development, vice president organizational development and senior vice president of human resources, organizational development and culture.
Prior to joining ACC, Lonnie worked for private real estate developer JPI and was a resident assistant. She is a SHRM Senior Certified Professional.
Larry Greenberg
EVP, Business Operations
University of Central Florida | Bachelor’s in Management
Best college-themed movie/TV show: Old School
Larry leads ACC’s business operations leadership team, including procurement, renovations, capex implementation, customer service, quality control and residential management systems. Using his commitment to innovation and driving entrepreneurial transformation, Larry is ensuring our business operation systems are optimized for the best possible team member and customer experience.
Larry brings 24 years of operational excellence, an unwavering commitment to ACC’s strategic vision and a proven track record of success to his role as a change champion. He began his ACC career as a community assistant while attending the University of Central Florida and then went on to rise through every operations role at the property, area, regional and corporate level.
Kimmy Kelley
EVP, Chief Marketing Officer
Texas A&M University | Bachelor’s in Marketing
Most people don't know: I performed live in Carnegie Hall with my high school choir.
Favorite thing about college: Realizing that I was 100% in control of my success or failure in everything. After a tough first semester, I started actually going to class and studying. I ultimately graduated early with honors while working full-time in my future career.
Kimmy oversees all aspects of American Campus Communities’ marketing, brand and leasing strategies including the planning, budgeting and execution of internal and external marketing communication campaigns. She leads the team in leveraging leading data science, analysis and marketing technologies to develop innovative campaigns that meet our occupancy and revenue goals.
Kimmy has been a key contributor to ACC’s industry-leading occupancy and revenue growth, leveraging her 23 years of student housing experience to put our students first and meet our marketing and leasing objectives on time, on budget and on brand. She joined ACC in 2001 as a community assistant while attending Texas A&M University. She came on board full-time after graduation and has served in increasing capacities in leasing administration and, ultimately, community marketing.
Angela Testa
EVP, Property Operations
University of Central Florida | Bachelor’s in Advertising-Public Relations
Something most people don't know: In high school, I traveled across the country competing in dance competitions with my dance team. We were even once recognized and featured in Dance Spirit Magazine.
Angela leads operations across American Campus Communities’ entire portfolio, including facilities and retail. She has used her operational leadership and expertise at building culture to optimize processes, facilitate interdepartmental collaboration and create the industry’s best operations teams, which deliver top-tier customer service to our residents and parents.
Angela began her career with ACC as a community assistant while attending the University of Central Florida. After graduation, she joined the company full-time and has learned every aspect of the company’s operations through ACC’s Inside Track program as well as property and corporate positions including leasing manager, assistant general manager, general manager, area manager over Newark and Philadelphia, regional manager and regional vice president.