Monty Bennett
Monty J. Bennett is an American businessman who founded and is the chairman and CEO of Ashford Inc., a hospitality real estate company. He is also the publisher of the Dallas Express, a news website launched in 2021 in Dallas, Texas. He is a Republican donor and is known for various political causes in Texas.
Early life and education
Bennett grew up in Houston, Texas, as one of seven children. His father, Archie Bennett Jr., was also a hospitality executive. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration in 1988, and a Master of Business Administration from Cornell University's Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management in 1989.Career
Real estate career
In 1989, Bennett co-founded and joined Remington Hotels, a hotel company co-owned by his father. He grew the business from six hotels to over 130 by 2020, including Braemar real estate investment trust which operates 13 resort properties. He was CEO of Braemar Hotels & Resorts until 2016 and since 2013 has remained its chairman. He is also the founder of Ashford, a company that advises both Braemar Hotels & Resorts and Ashford Hospitality Trust, two publicly traded real estate investment trusts. Bennett was the CEO of Ashford Hospitality Trust from its founding until 2017, and he remains the firm's chairman.In 2020, a number of large companies were criticized for receiving funds distributed through the Paycheck Protection Program. Bennett's Ashford company received $56 million, the largest such distribution. Ashford announced in May 2020 that it would return the money after the company received backlash. Ashford had laid off or furloughed 95% of its 7,000 workers by late March 2020. Bennett forfeited 25% of his 2019 earned bonus, took a 20% cut in salary which he later took in stock only.
Bennett remained chairman of the board of Ashford Hospitality Trust after an attempt to replace him in 2024 by activist investor Blackwells Capital. He did not receive enough votes to be re-elected to the board at the company's annual shareholder meeting. The remaining board members followed the recommendation of the board's nominating and corporate governance committed and declined to accept Bennett's resignation.
Publishing career
In 2021, Bennett became the publisher of the Dallas Express, a conservative news website launched by him in Dallas, Texas. It is unrelated to the African-American Dallas newspaper of the same name that published from 1892 to 1970. In October 2020, The New York Times reported that Bennett had pitched a media network called Metric Media run by Brian Timpone to publish articles about topics ranging from COVID-19 stimulus legislation to U.S.–China policy. Bennett announced his acquisition of the Dallas Express in February 2021. That year, Bennett sued The Dallas Weekly, alleging libel over its unfavorable descriptions of the new Dallas Express, and prevailed at trial, although the case was dismissed on appeal in 2022 in Monacelli v. Bennett.In 2024, the Texas Observer reported that Bennett had retained the services of Crowds on Demand, a group known for offering protesters-for-hire, to create a number of advocacy groups that were routinely quoted in articles in Bennett's Dallas Express without their disclosing behind-the-scenes connections. Bennett admitted that his company Ashford had hired Crowds on Demand but otherwise denied the findings of the Texas Observer report, which quoted Emily Bell, the founding director of the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia Journalism School, who said that the Dallas Express has violated basic journalistic ethics and is deceptive: “Effectively, the business model here is deception. It’s not just about them being partisan. It’s about them being dishonest and crossing basic lines of journalism. They’re not even doing journalism. They’re doing P.R., political advertising, or persuasion campaigns.”