Alisa Kraemer, RID/ASID – President/CEO
Alisa Kraemer, Principal of AKA Design, is a Registered Interior Designer in Texas and has over 35 years experience in the interior design industry; 20 of those exclusively in the hospitality industry. She is an accomplished professional with extensive design, business development and project management experience for hospitality and commercial/luxury real estate. She provides leadership and direction for daily operations and project deliverables.
As Senior VP Design & Branding for ClubCorp, Inc., Alisa O’Banion was responsible for developing key ROI capital investments for KSl Capital Partners/ClubCorp, a 170 property private club company. She worked with cross-functional teams of architects, designers and contractors for many projects in the hospitality and restaurant design field. Alisa administered financial and budgeting reports, job costs, construction progress and forecast for project closeout. Instrumental in the design and execution of environments from casual grille/bar dining, luxury sports, fitness, and spa facilities, clubhouse meeting space and luxury golf resort guestrooms such as Pinehurst Country Club and the Homestead Club, West Virginia.
With Bristol Hotel & Resorts as VP Design & Construction, she led the multi-million dollar re-flagging and re-positioning of over 100 hotels for Felcor Lodging and Trust. Alisa has been recognized with awards including The Year’s Best Design by Lodging Hospitality Magazine, Winner – Gold Award by Institute of Business Design, Winner – American Society of Interior Designers Design Ovation Award, Winner – Avid Golf Magazine & “Best Of” Country Club Design.
Her work has been published in Private Clubs Magazine & Dallas Modern Luxury Magazine on numerous occasions.
Amy Schimmel, RID/NEWH – Director of Interior Design
Amy Schimmel, Director of Interior Design, is a Registered Interior Designer in Texas with over 24 years of experience in the interior design industry; 21 of those exclusively in the hospitality industry.
Amy has insightful expertise from working for the ownership, design firms, & purchasing agencies. She started her hospitality career at Bristol Hotels & Resorts where she was Senior Interior Designer and Project Manager for the Western & Central part of the United States. This led to an opportunity at AKA Design, Inc., where she was responsible for a two year, 1800 guestroom renovation for the Anatole Hotel in Dallas. She then became Director of Interior Design at ClubCorp, USA. It was there where she was responsible for the design direction and capital expenditure of over 180 properties worldwide with a yearly capital budget of $60 million. Amy then came aboard with Benjamin West in Colorado, where she was Senior Project Manager for a portfolio of over 20 Host Hotel properties, focusing on the Ritz Carlton brand. She saved the Sheraton Hotel in San Diego, over $130,000 dollars by simply making common sense and strategic decisions. She is now very happy and proud to be back at AKA Design, Inc., in collaboration with Ms. Kraemer.
Amy graduated from Oklahoma State University with a Bachelor of Science in Interior Design, and performs regular speaking engagements at her alma mater and various universities across the country; educating students about hospitality, design & project management techniques.