As chief financial officer, J. B. Griffin oversees financial operations for all Shaner divisions, including accounting, investor relations, and due diligence analysis for potential hotel acquisitions.  In addition, he is involved with Shaner Growth Fund in acquiring hotel notes and mortgages. 

Griffin was also responsible for the start-up and management of Shaner Solutions, which provides managed services in the areas of accounting, payroll, benefits administration, risk management, telecommunications, and information technology services. .  In addition, he is involved with Shaner Growth Fund in acquiring hotel notes and mortgages. 

Prior to joining Shaner, Griffin ran his own financial consulting firm. For five years, he provided financial operations support for both individual hotel owner/operators and several hotel companies.

Griffin currently sits on Pennsylvania State University's School of Hotel, Restaurant and Recreation Management Technology Advisory Board. He is a 1983 graduate of Niagara University with a degree in hotel administration.

He and his wife, Mary Pat, have five children and live in State College.

Peter Hulburt is responsible for all legal matters pertaining to Shaner's hotel and real estate divisions, and the Shaner Growth Fund. He joined Shaner as vice president and corporate counsel in June 1993.

Prior to joining Shaner, Hulburt practiced law at the Cuba, N.Y., law firm Williams, Hulburt & Brown, where he was a partner since 1976 and a major partner since 1984. While with the law firm, he served as outside legal counsel to Lance and Fred Shaner for 17 years.

He received his Bachelor of Science from the State University of New York at Buffalo and his jurisprudence doctorate from Albany Law School in 1973.

Hulburt resides in State College with his wife, Kathy

Plato Ghinos, senior vice president of development and franchise relations, has been with the Shaner Hotel Group since 1995. Plato has been involved in acquiring and developing multiple hotels and restaurants. He is also responsible for all franchise relationships and negotiations.  In addition, he is involved with Shaner Growth Fund in acquiring hotel notes and mortgages. 

He previously served for 10 years as executive vice president for Federated National, a real estate development group specializing in the management and development of more than 25 hotels, resorts, restaurants and apartment complexes.

He has extensive experience in sales and marketing, as well as in hotel and restaurant operations. A native of Athens, Greece, Ghinos came to the United States to attend college, and worked for an international hotel group during graduate school. He received his BA in business administration from Coe College, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and his master’s degree (M. B. A.) at Thunderbird (American Graduate School of International Management) in Phoenix, Ariz.

Ghinos is also on the faculty staff at Pennsylvania State University School of Hotel, Restaurant and Recreation Management. He also serves as a franchise advisory member of Marriott International’s Fairfield Inn & Suites brand. In addition, he is a member of the University of Delaware’s HRIM advisory board and the Hotel Investment Conference advisory board. He has been a guest lecturer at various Universities and hotel investment conferences.

He and his wife, Cassandra, have two daughters.

Patrick J. Landy rejoined Shaner in July 2005. He currently holds the position of Director of Accounting. Including his former time with Shaner, Patrick has 12 years experience in the areas of accounting and finance. Patrick has a B.S. in Accounting from SUNY Geneseo, and an MBA in Finance from Pace University.

Brian joined Shaner in 2004 and has 25 years of experience in Human Resources including Employee Relations, Recruitment, EEO and Affirmative Action, Benefit programs and Training & Development. Brian gained his experience through assignments at Smith Barney and Citicorp in New York City, NY, and at AquaPenn, Danone and Coca-Cola in Milesburg, PA. He is a graduate of Penn State University.

At Shaner, Brian works with all business operations to address associate relations, ensure employment law and policy compliance in all states, recruitment support, benefit program management and payroll. His focus is to attract and retain the very best associates, develop an environment where associates can reach their full potential and, in doing so, directly impact the long term growth and success of the Shaner businesses. The corporation’s benefits and payroll functions report to Brian.

Brian and his wife Susan live in Warriors Mark, Pennsylvania.

Greg Wisyanski has been with Shaner since 1996. He currently holds the position of Vice President of Taxes. Prior to joining Shaner, Greg had 13 years of tax, accounting, and finance experience. Greg is a CPA licensed in Pennsylvania and has an M.S. in Taxation from the University of New Haven.

Stephen Murgas joined Shaner in 2007 as the Chief Information Officer and serves as a member of the Shaner Executive Committee with full responsibility for managing the information technology for all Shaner business operations.  Stephen brings a solid and diverse background of experience in technology to Shaner from the public and private sectors.

Most recently, Stephen served as Chief Technology Officer at Penn State University with nine years of service to the University.  Prior to that appointment, he served as a security specialist and Systems Administrator for Raytheon Systems, Inc. for nearly ten years.

Stephen currently serves on Marriott International’s Technology advisory board and also serves on the School of Hospitality Management advisory board for the Pennsylvania State University.

Stephen and his family currently reside in Centre County.

James Connelly joined Shaner Hotels as corporate Director of Risk Management in 2008.

Jim has been practicing law for over 24 years, first as a trial lawyer in Philadelphia, then working with a local State College law firm, successfully advising business owners on identifying risk exposures. As an attorney, Jim worked on issues that included insurance defense, workers compensation, employee benefits, liability and compliance with OSHA safety requirements.

Jim received his B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and earned his J.D. from the Temple University School of Law.  He has earned the highest peer review rating, “AV” for ethical standards and legal ability under the Martindale-Hubbell rating system and has been recognized by Law & Politics Magazine as a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer in 2007, 2008 and 2009. Additionally, Jim serves on the Board of Directors for Centre Volunteers in Medicine. 

Jim and his wife, Kay, have two children and reside in the State College area.

William Helms joined Shaner Hotels in 2007 and brings an extensive background in design, construction and facilities management to Shaner.

William has a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Maryland and has managed a wide range of engineering and construction related projects for Law Engineering, KCI Technologies, Mistick Construction and Global Project Services, Inc. His design, construction and facilities management experience spans the commercial, medical, pharmaceutical, government and private sectors.

William serves as a member of the Shaner Executive Committee, and has full responsibility for managing the construction, design and facilities management functions for the company.

William and his family live in the State College area.

Pete Nebroski also joined the Shaner Corporate Construction team in 2007. His education is in electrical technology and business. Pete attended Penn State University and Penn State College of Technology.

He brings over 25 years of experience in engineering and facilities management to Shaner. Pete has worked for Honeywell, Iceland Seafood, Giant supermarkets and the Rite Aid Corporation. Previously, Pete founded and managed Nebroski & Associates, a successful, outsourced maintenance department serving as a 24-hour repair and construction provider.

Pete is actively involved in the long-term maintenance of Shaner facilities, expanding property engineering services, and innovative energy and utility conservation efforts.

Pete and his family live in the State College area.

Bob Spraker has been with Shaner since October 2000. With over 30 years of management experience in the hospitality industry, Bob is responsible for the sales and marketing oversight of Shaner Hotels.

Previously, he had been the Director of Marketing at the Xerox Document University Training and Conference Center, Director of Marketing at the Holiday Inn University, National Director of Sales for Universal Hotels, and has held various sales and operations management positions with Servico, and Hyatt Hotels.

He received his BS in Hotel Administration from the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University, and has been a guest lecturer at the University of Delaware Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management program, and the Hospitality and Tourism Program at North Carolina Central University.

Bob and his wife, Mary Jane, have two children.

Jill is a graduate of Penn State University, where she earned a B.S. in Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management. She joined the Shaner team in 1999 as a Revenue Manager and brings 18+ years of knowledge of the hospitality industry to our operations.

Jill gained her initial hospitality operations experience at Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza properties on the east coast. She moved to Cyntergy as a Project Manager, where she took the lead in converting Holiday Inn properties over to the Encore Property Management system. Jill worked for Embassy Suites as a Front Desk Supervisor and Revenue Manager prior to coming on board with Shaner.

In Jill’s role as Assistant Director of Sales, she provides the benefits of her knowledge of sales and revenue to assist all of the Shaner hospitality operations. Jill’s focus is to support the Shaner general managers in achieving revenue targets and long-term growth in profitability. Jill lives in Boalsburg, Pennsylvania

David Kopac joined Shaner Hotels E-Commerce Manager in 2009.

Dave has over eight years of diverse work experience and earned his B.A. in Communications from Penn State University. Most recently, he served as Marketing Manager for Hersha Hospitality Management where he managed the marketing efforts for 64 hotels in the Northeast U.S. At Hersha, David developed Internet marketing strategies including monthly e-mail blasts, search engine optimization and pay-per-click advertising. 

His initial focus at Shaner will be to develop Internet marketing strategies. 

Dave and his family will be relocating to the State College area shortly.