About Us

Our History

Beechwood Hotel Group, LLC has a deep history with our hotel portfolio. Our hotel portfolio features Hilton branded and InterContinental Hotel Group branded hotels located in Wisconsin, Florida, and North Dakota.

Our Team

Tom Arnot

Owner

For twenty years, Mr. Arnot was in the food, beverage and entertainment business and produced concerts in the Madison, Wisconsin area for major recording artists at Headliners. He returned to college to pursue a law degree and graduated in 1993 from the University of Wisconsin School of Law. He is a sole practitioner in Arnot Law Offices and maintains a select group of business clients that he personally represents and for whom he does real estate development and transactional legal work. He is an expert in hotel development, recognized as one of the best Hilton franchise developers and was a franchisee advisor and guest expert panel member for at Hilton Garden Inn owners' orientations for 12 years. Mr. Arnot has helped teach hundreds of owners and developers how to build a hotel on time and under budget.

Tom was appointed in 2001 to the Hilton Garden Inn Owners' Advisory Council, and appointed to the executive board of HILMAC, Hilton Managers Assurance Corporation, a hotel investment fund. In addition, Mr. Arnot was involved in a number of companies related to real estate development, which developed Hilton Garden Inns in Green Bay, Appleton, and Oshkosh, WI; Grand Forks / UND, ND; North Seattle/Everett, WA; Lakeland, FL; and Deer Valley, AZ. He developed a Staybridge Suites in Lakeland, FL; a Home2 Suites by Hilton in Green Bay, WI; and a Hampton Inn by Hilton in Bartow, FL. Mr. Arnot is the managing member of Beechwood Development, LLC, which developed and invested in all of the hotels and is the managing member and CEO of Beechwood Hotel Group, LLC which manages all of the remaining Beechwood portfolio of hotels. Beechwood is currently developing another Hampton Inn by Hilton adjacent to Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Mr. Arnot was a locally recognized civil rights advocate and discrimination lawyer and has represented clients opposite notable corporations which include: TransAmerica; Sun America; Boston Capital; Related Capital; Boston Financial; Anheuser Busch; Hilton Inns, Inc., and the Royal Bank of Scotland. As an attorney he was recognized for his work out deals and distressed assets work outs for clients.

Tom's cherished achievement is his work with Mr. James Ray, in developing and creating the Central Florida Aerospace Academy on the grounds of Sun ‘n Fun in Lakeland, Florida. Mr. Ray believed in young people, and believed if you gave them the experience of working towards and achieving solo flight – you could forever transform those young minds into free thinking independent members of society. Barron Hilton was equally an avid aviation enthusiast and philanthropist, and described Tom as, "one of the great hoteliers of our time."

Mr. Arnot recently developed Argyle Farms on the Eastern Shore of Maryland near Ocean City. He created a tree nursery which, once operational, will help fund his efforts to give back to disabled veterans by taking them on guided hunts for turkey, deer and ducks.

Darrell Hanson

Owner

Shortly after graduating from Western Michigan University, Darrell Hanson began his entrepreneurial career in his hometown of Madison, Wisconsin, by opening a bar and grill near the University of Wisconsin campus. Over the course of the next ten years, Hanson expanded his ownership to six bars and restaurants. In 1983, Hanson crossed over from retailer to wholesaler, purchasing the local Anheiser Busch distributorship. During the next seventeen years Hanson expanded the beer distributorship territory to encompass the greater south-central part of Wisconsin including three separate locations.

Over the years Hanson found other investment opportunities including property, a wireless cable business (1989), Capital Ice Arena in Middleton, Wisconsin (1998), Beechwood Investments – a Hilton Gardens Hotels group (1998), and as a founding member of Oak Bank in Madison, Wisconsin (1999).

In 1999 Hanson and his son started Salty Sam's Marina in Fort Myers Beach, Florida. The Marina was awarded Small Business of the Year in its first year, has since been named Southwest Florida’s best marina, and is a top dealer worldwide for several brands of motorboats sold at the marina. In 2002 Hanson and partners opened Parrot Key Caribbean Grill at the Marina and he also became an owner in Key West Express, a passenger ferry service provider between Ft. Myers Beach and Key West. Hanson and his wife Bobbi live on Sanibel Island, Florida, and enjoy boating and other outdoor activities.

Andrea Schulz

Vice President of Finance

Andrea has over 25 years of experience in both public and private industry in a variety of accounting, finance and tax roles. Before joining BHG in 2019, she served as the outside tax accountant for the company for over 20 years. As Vice President of Finance, Andrea is responsible for providing support related to on-property accounting functions as well as corporate accounting and tax functions.

Andrea earned her B.S. in Accounting from University of Wisconsin–LaCrosse and is a Certified Public Accountant. Andrea and her husband, John, have two kids. She enjoys spending time outdoors and watching sporting events.

Ciara Mills

Vice President of Revenue Management

Ciara began her love of hospitality when she began cooking as a child with her father, a Culinary Institute of America graduate and professor in Hospitality Management. Ciara has her bachelor's degree from the University of Minnesota with an emphasis in Hotel & Restaurant Management, Minor in Music and an Associate degree in Communication.

Her first hotel sales position was with the Marriott in Park City Utah, the headquarters for the Sundance Film Festival. She had the opportunity to work with large celebrity events that would give her invaluable experience that would impact her career. This included working with Warner Bros. on the movie filmed at the full-service Holiday Inn where she was a Sales Manager as well as many music celebrities, and events like NASCAR, EAA, SNF, and the NFL as she expanded her career across the US. She helped to open new hotels and her high success in sales escalated her career. Eventually she had a desire to come back to the Midwest to manage a hotel in North Dakota, a hotel owned by Tom Arnot and Darrell Hanson. She took that hotel to #1 in the company in a very short time.

Later, in Dallas, as a General Manager of a Hilton Garden Inn, she was nominated for National Hilton Garden Inn GM of the year award. BHG has provided her a multitude of growth opportunity within the company. Her progression with Beechwood Hotel Group has led her from Director of Sales to General Manager of individual hotels to Corporate Director of Operations to her current role of Vice President of Revenue Management.

Ciara, her husband Brandon, and their three children now live in the mountains where they love to explore the outdoors including skiing, hiking, and rafting. She continues her love of the culinary arts at home where she enjoys cooking for and with her family, developing recipes, and gardening.