The Liberty team is comprised of highly educated and experienced tourism hospitality professionals who are passionate about the hotels they develop and manage.

 

Stefani Choy

Stefani Choy is Director of Finance with Liberty. A chartered accountant, Stefani is also an instructor with the Chartered Account School of Business. All finance related aspects of Liberty, from new build budgeting and forecasting, to specific properties operational budgeting and financing are closely overseen by Stefani.

Stefani brings 20+ years of management and human resources experience, as well as 9 years of property owner experience, to development of new projects. She’s been involved in various new hotel construction and openings including a 150-room hotel in Mississauga, 78-room hotel in Barrie and 75-room hotel in Kingston.

Prior to joining Liberty, Stefani was a Senior Associate with KPMG LLP from 1998 – 2001 in Vancouver, BC.

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Stella Gan

Stella Gan is Director of Sales & Marketing with Liberty.

After graduating from Hosta École Hoteliere in Leysin, Switzerland, Stella completed her Bachelor of Science, Hotel & Restaurant Management in Boston University. Upon graduation, she completed a two year hotel internship at the Four Seasons Hotel, Vancouver, and the Four Seasons Hotel, Boston. Her hotel career started at the Sheraton Boston Hotel as a guest services agent, but was then promoted to Sales Manager within a couple of years. Upon returning to her hometown, which was in Vancouver, BC then, she returned to the Four Seasons Hotel Vancouver and joined the sales department. As sales manager, she focused on the corporate, tour & travel, as well as the entertainment markets. After three years at the Four Seasons, Stella decided to leave the hotel industry to pursue an education in the then booming technology industry. She obtained her MCSC and A+ certifications at BCIT, Vancouver, and pursued a career as an IT professional for a couple of years with Sierra Systems Group, Vancouver, and McCarthy Tétrault, Toronto. With her extensive background in hotel sales, it was a natural transition for Stella to head the sales and marketing of Liberty.

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Lesmana Gani

Lesmana Gani is an engineer and graduate of the Academie Fuer Grafik, Druck Und Werbung, Berlin, Germany.

After operating a successful printing business for many years, Lesmana identified the potential for growth in the hotel industry in the 1990’s. He left the printing business and headed a group of investors to invest in a financially-troubled 500 room property in the Greater Toronto Area as their first investment. Under his guidance, the hotel was reinvented and became profitable in two years.

The group then invested in a second troubled hotel and achieved similar success. From the success of these two hotel turnarounds, the investment group was then able to build and open the first Hilton Garden Hotel in the Greater Toronto Area. Lesmana oversaw all aspects of operations, renovations and construction of all of the properties.

As a principal of Liberty, Lesmana’s main focus is on the procurement of new development sites and projects, as well as overall management of the company.

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Arne Hansen

Arne Hansen brings over 35 years of hospitality industry experience in designing, constructing and operating facilities. 

Arne formed a restaurant company and opened his first property in 1986. In 2009 he divested the company, by which time had 14 properties and $30 million in annual sales.

In 2006, Arne formed a hotel company and by 2009 had built a 75-room hotel located in Kingston, Ontario with his Liberty partners.

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Lorne Hansen

Lorne Hansen has been passionately involved in the guest service industry, providing guests with exceptional experiences for over 26 years. Over these years Lorne has held various positions within the restaurant and hotel sectors which have given him the knowledge of managing multi million dollar operations.

Growing up in the restaurant industry, Lorne had the opportunity to learn from the ground up what it took to run a profitable business. He was involved first hand with a number of restaurant openings and operations. He then managed various locations with fifty plus employees and multi-million dollar revenues. With the experience gained, Lorne was then involved with the management of the construction and opening the Motel 6 in Kingston, and became the acting General Manager of the hotel.

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Byron Martin

Byron Martin is a graduate of Carleton University and the AMPHI program at the University of Guelph, one of the leading hospitality management programs in Canada.

Byron has 50+ years of experience in the hospitality industry, both in food services and accommodation. He offers a strong background in new business development, contract negotiation, real estate procurement, construction, budget preparation, and franchising legislation.

As a principal with Liberty, he developed the 75-room hotel in Kingston, Ontario. Prior to that project, Byron worked with Realstar Hospitality for 14 years as Director of Franchise Development, and remains associated with them today. During his tenure, Byron successfully expanded Realstar brands in Eastern Canada from 18 to 51 properties.

Before joining Realstar, Byron worked with Cara Operations/Beaver Foods for nine years in business development and regional manager positions.

He also has hands-on hotel experience through serving as General Manager of a 288 room Travelodge for 12 years.

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