Hersha and hasu shah biography
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Neil Hasu Shah: Grows the 50-hotel empire of Hersha Hospitality Trust
Written by Jesse Scheckner on September 18, 2018
As president and COO of Hersha Hospitality Trust, Neil Shah manages a portfolio of 50 hotels totaling 7,666 rooms in South Florida, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, select West Coast markets and Washington, DC.
Mr. Shah, who in 2006 took over his family’s business with his brother, CEO Jay Shah, has since 2000 led the acquisitions, development and asset management for the company, founded in 1984 by his parents, Hasu and Hersha Shah.
The company’s total assets now stand at $2.6 billion – far beyond where it started with his parents’ purchase of the 24-room Red Rose Motel in the Pennsylvania countryside.
“We learned hospitality together, [how] to clean, tend the front desk [and] saw our parents learn the business by working,” he said. “Slowly, from one property to a second and third, they grew the business into the mid-to-l
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Beyond the Bio: Hasu Shah
Beyond the Bio
Photo by Hersha Group
Hersha Shah (L) and Hasu Shah (R)
(Harrisburg) — Hasu Shah worked in a college cafeteria, a police crime lab, and in the environmental field. He wanted to own a pharmaceutical company in his native India, but he ended up in the hotel business in the midstate.
As the founder of Hersha Group, his company now has several divisons and operates more than 100 hotels nationwide, including many in Pennsylvania.
As part of our Beyond the Bio series, witf‘s Craig Layne speaks with Shah in his Harrisburg office.
His story starts in the 1960s, when Shah set out to be a chemical engineer.
Unable to get accepted to a university in India, he turned his eyes to America…
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Hasu Shah talks with Craig Layne about opportunity in America…
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In the video be
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Global Alumni Spotlight: Hasu Shah
MIDDLETOWN, Pa. — Penn State has alumni living all around the world. With the largest dues-paying alumni association in the world — over 177,000 people — you’re likely to find a Penn Stater wherever you go. Many of these Penn Staters are international alumni who come to Penn State, get their education, then return to their home countries.
Others, like Hasu Shah, stick around.
Shah, the owner and proprietor of the Hersha Hospitality Trust — named for his wife and business partner — left India when he was 19 years old. He got his undergraduate degree from the University of Tennessee before moving to Pennsylvania.
“It felt very natural to me to have global experiences and study in America,” Shah recalled.
He began working for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg, in the Department of Health and Environmental Resources. While there, he decided he wanted to pursue his master's degree.
“It’s something that I always wanted to do, but I cou