Conner White, vice chairman and chief investment officer of White Lodging, came of age in the hospitality industry. As the son of the company’s founder, Bruce White, Conner was “immersed” in the business. “From a young age, I was always walking the back of house with my dad, [talking] with the banquet cooks and dishwashers,” he recalled. On family vacations, rather than visit popular tourist attractions, the Whites would tour the best hotels in the city so Bruce could take notes on what he could apply to the next White Lodging property.
At 12 years old, Conner White got his first hospitality job when he went to work at a neighbor’s newly franchised Subway sandwich shop in Edwards, Colo., for the summer. He has worked in hospitality “in some form or fashion” ever since. “I never really considered any career that wasn’t at least adjacent to hospitality,” he said. “Everything that makes me feel alive can be felt in a well-run hospitality operation.”
After graduating from Indiana University with a BA in economics, Conner worked for a company that was bringing the Dunkin’ Donuts brand to China. About a year into his time overseas, Bruce White met Rich Melman, founder of Lettuce Entertain You, and suggested his son return to the U.S. to go through Melman management-training program. “He likened the opportunity to going to Purdue for Engineering or Harvard for Liberal Arts,” Conner said.
At that time, White Lodging’s restaurants were struggling. “My mandate was to learn as much as I could from Lettuce that we could then apply to our own restaurants in pursuit of a complete transformation of our food and beverage capabilities.” With Melman’s lessons in place, the White team made strategic changes and improved the restaurants’ performance. Today, he said, the company’s food-and-beverage program is a “major differentiator from an experience and profitability perspective.”
At the same time, the company transitioned from suburban, select-service hotels to urban, experiential hotels. “Joining the business at this inflection point felt natural and gave me the same excitement I felt for the restaurant industry.”
Generations
Bruce White did not intend to pass his company on to his children. “In fact, my parents told us throughout our entire childhood that it would be sold when we got older and that there were no long-term roles for any of us.” But over the years, Bruce and his wife Beth offered to make White Lodging a multigenerational family enterprise, bringing Corinne White Troise, Otis White and Conner into the business one by one.
The three White siblings had developed an “extreme appreciation for the industry” through their work in housekeeping and F&B at a young age. “We all envisioned pursuing some sort of hospitality career outside of White Lodging, so we were all supportive.”
When Bruce White was diagnosed with cancer in 2022, Conner decided to join the family business in a “full-on leadership capacity.” His father, he said, had “built something that does so much for so many people, and I was incredibly motivated to continue his vision rather than sell it for parts.” Conner joined as director of investments & development that year and took on his current role in early 2025.
Next Steps
Going forward, the White Lodging team plans to “very selectively” open the door for third-party management opportunities—an option they have not previously pursued due to the “strong pace” of ground-up development over the past 15 years. But the macro development environment has caused the pace of the company’s growth to slow, Conner said, “so our bench of talent has outgrown our current owned pipeline of planned openings.” Following a “deep dive” into how the company’s platform could deliver value for owners, the team decided to selectively take on third-party management.
“Overall, I want White Lodging to be the best owner, operator and developer in the country,” Conner said. “To do this, we must ensure every decision we make delivers value to … our guests, associates and owners.”
White Lodging
Headquarters: Merrillville, Ind.
Structure: Developer, owner, management
Portfolio: 60 hotels
Website: www.whitelodging.com
This article was originally published in the January edition of Hotel Management magazine. Subscribe here.