About Us

Ms. Cynthia Cox Olcott co-founded the company in 1976.  Ms. Olcott is one of the few women in the industry who runs an independently owned management company certified by the “Women’s Business Enterprise National Council” as an official “Women’s Business Enterprise”.  In 1992, Ms. Olcott was appointed Vice President and Director of Operations & Development-West Coast, and in 1995 she was appointed President, directing property operations system-wide.  Under her leadership, Horizon was named Business Partner of the Year by the U.S. Department of The Treasury.  Ms. Olcott works closely with property owners and asset managers to determine and direct priorities for each property, adopting an ownership mentality in all her analysis and decision making.  She is also the primary liaison and contact for all hotel franchises.   Ms. Olcott is often invited to participate as a speaker for numerous industry conferences.

Mr. Robert Sacco is a certified public accountant who worked in Public Accounting prior to joining Horizon. Mr. Sacco received his MBA from New York University, and is a member of both the New Jersey State Society and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Mr. Sacco also served as a member of the Doral Arrowwood Management Oversight Committee. As CFO for Horizon Hotels, he oversees the accounting at all properties, reviewing monthly statements and budgets, and has ultimate responsibility for the property controllers and corporate staff who monitor the accounting activities of the properties. Mr. Sacco oversees all asset management and receivership appointments, coordinating the activities and reporting between the lender, owner and the courts. Mr. Sacco is eligible to receive appointments, pursuant to Part 36 of the Rules of the Chief Judge-New York State, as Receiver and Property Manager.

Ms. Donna Post has worked in the field of research and evaluation for universities, non-profit and for-profit organizations.  Her experience includes survey development, data analytics and reporting.  She conducts research in hospitality and travel trends for Horizon, and her analysis is utilized by the company to target industry trends and to provide direction and focus for corporate resources.  Ms. Post oversees sales and revenue management, conducting statistical analysis to track each property’s rates against the competition, and to monitor daily revenue and occupancy rates for all properties.  She also is responsible for the corporate reporting system to evaluate property performance and guest satisfaction across all social media outlets. 

Mr. Mabus is a seasoned hospitality executive with experience in hotels, conference centers and independent restaurants. His expertise in strong financial management, strategic planning, sales and marketing, operational efficiencies, client relations, employee engagement, capital project management and contract negotiations contributes to the success of Horizon.  Mr. Mabus excels at identifying and developing short and long-term strategies to achieve organizational objectives. He thrives at creating new innovative concepts and products that serve as competitive differentiators. Prior to joining our corporate office, Mr. Mabus served as Managing Director of Doral Arrowwood Hotel & Conference Center, overseeing the resort comprised of 114 acres, 372 guest rooms, 60,000 square feet of conference space, golf course, multiple restaurants and the Pfizer Global Learning Center.

Mr. Jafri has extensive experience working in Fortune 500 companies, successfully managing numerous clients and projects. He defined, designed and implemented business solutions from conception to strategy to delivered finished products for GE Capital, Perrier Group of America and Xerox Inc. where he served as Senior Manager in the Credit Division.  Transitioning to the hospitality industry, Mr. Jafri is dynamic, results-oriented and profit driven in his investment criteria and decisions. He applies a passionate and tireless work ethic in leading hotel development projects with national hotel brands and independent properties. As an AAHOA Northeast Ambassador, Mr. Jafri works with existing AAHOA members to assist in growing their business. He also plans and facilitates meetings, conferences and special events. 

Ms. Diane Sacco oversees human resources services at the corporate and property level.  Her responsibilities include recruitment, employee benefits, employee performance and management, staff development training, compliance with government regulations and equal opportunity development.  She routinely visits each property to conduct audits of policies and procedures.  These audits focus on “why” we institute our policies and procedures, along with insuring property compliance.  Ms. Sacco also oversees Quality Assurance policies.  She has served as a reviewer for the Cornell Quarterly, published by The Center for Hospitality Research at Cornell University.

Mr. Michael Olcott has over 20 years of experience in the hospitality industry. He served as Director of Purchasing at the Brazilian Court Hotel in Palm Beach, and as Director of Purchasing and Maintenance for the Hotel Indian Wells, Indian Wells and Royal Kenfield Country Clubs. As Vice President of Purchasing and Project Management, he ensures all properties comply with Horizon’s purchasing policies and procedures. Mr. Olcott negotiates national contracts with vendors and suppliers, which provide direct cost savings to all Horizon properties, and allows small properties to benefit from a national purchasing program. He also reviews the feasibility of all property capital improvement projects and installations, and recommends the most cost efficient ways to proceed, and supervises all projects. 

Mr. Bill Margelis has hotel management experience both at the property level and as a regional manager. He has worked in the operations and food & beverage end of the business with conference centers, full service and limited service properties. Mr. Margelis is responsible for property revenue management, identifying areas of revenue growth to improve each property’s market share penetration. He also transitions the accounting systems for newly acquired hotel portfolios, implementing the accounting procedures, software, and on-line reporting systems. 

Mr. Fares Andrawes has over 20 years of comprehensive experience in 4- and 5-star full service hotels and resort operations with extensive experience in restaurant and banquet services. Prior to his corporate position, he was General Manager of the Four Points Sheraton Milwaukee Airport Hotel & Convention Center, a 508 room full service hotel with 55,000 square-feet of meeting space, 2 restaurants and 2 bars. Mr. Andrawes began his career with Omni as Controller, which provided him with a very bottom line orientation as he worked his way up to General Manager. He is a results-driven manager with exceptional leadership skills, and demonstrated experience in budgeting and forecasting, and sales and marketing. Mr. Andrawes builds a staff and organization that functions cooperatively at the highest levels of productivity and consistently achieves the highest customer satisfaction levels.