Executive Spotlight: Stewart Bainum Jr., Chairman of Choice Hotels International (2027)

Current role and company

Choice Hotels' 2026 proxy statement describes him as Chairman of the Board, with no committee memberships, and the same filing says he has chaired the board for more than 35 years. Choice is a hotel franchisor: its FY2025 annual report counts 7,575 hotels and 656,825 rooms open and operating at December 31, 2025, under a family of 22 brands and brand extensions. The company says its hotels are independently owned and operated.

• CompanyChoice Hotels International, Inc., North Bethesda, MD.
• TitleChairman of the Board, per Choice's 2026 proxy statement.
• ChairmanSince October 1997, and from March 1987 to November 1996.
• CEO of ChoicePatrick Pacious, since September 2017.

Career path

• Early years with the company's predecessors. The proxy says he began working for the company's predecessor businesses in 1958 and joined its leadership team in 1976.
• Manor Care. He was Chairman and CEO of Manor Care, Inc. from March 1987 to September 1998, according to the proxy. His UCLA Anderson profile says its market value grew from $12 million to more than $3.5 billion during that time.
• Choice Hotels chairman. Choice's 2019 press release says he has chaired the company since 1987 and has led four current or former publicly listed companies: Choice Hotels, HCR Manor Care, Vitalink Pharmacy Services and Sunburst Hospitality.
• Senior living. UCLA Anderson says he founded Somerford Place Corporation in 1998 and Artis Senior Living in 2012. The proxy lists him as a member of Artis Senior Living, LLC since 2012.
• Other boards. The proxy lists past directorships including Sunburst Hospitality Corporation (November 1996 to December 2016) and White Oak Legacy, Inc., formerly Realty Investment Company (December 2005 to December 2016).

What he is known for

• Long tenure at Choice. In 2019 Choice said its market value was under $6 million when he joined the leadership team in 1976, and that it had grown from a franchisor of 290 hotels under one U.S. brand to more than 6,900 hotels in over 40 countries and territories.
• ALIS Lifetime Achievement Award. The Americas Lodging Investment Summit gave him its 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award on January 28, 2019. Patrick Pacious said at the time that Bainum's leadership over four decades had helped Choice become one of the largest hotel companies in the world.
• CEO succession. In 2017 Choice announced, in a release headlined with his name as Chairman, that Patrick Pacious would become President and CEO effective September 12, 2017, describing the plan as maintaining leadership continuity.
• A broad brand portfolio. Choice's annual report lists brands including Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, Quality, Sleep Inn, Clarion, Econo Lodge, Rodeway Inn, MainStay Suites, WoodSpring Suites, Cambria Hotels, Ascend Collection and several Radisson brands.

Leadership style and philosophy

This page found no long interviews or talks of his own to draw on. The one statement from him in the sources it read is from the 2019 ALIS announcement, where he said he was "deeply proud of our company's past and present contributions to the hotel industry." The 2017 succession release attributes its statements to the board collectively, and Choice's own pages show a board chairmanship held across several decades alongside a separate CEO.

Key numbers

Company-reported figures for Choice Hotels, with the period shown. They describe the company, not Stewart Bainum Jr. personally.

• System size, December 31, 20257,575 hotels and 656,825 rooms, per Choice's FY2025 annual report.
• Net income, full year 2025$369.9 million, per Choice's February 19, 2026 results release.
• Adjusted EBITDA, full year 2025$625.6 million, which Choice called a company record.
• Brands22 brands and brand extensions, per the FY2025 annual report.
• Size in 2018 (company-reported)More than 6,900 hotels and over 560,000 rooms as of September 30, 2018, per the January 2019 release.

What to watch next

Worth tracking: how CEO Patrick Pacious and the board manage U.S. room trends and international expansion. Choice ended 2025 with 7,575 hotels worldwide, and its 2026 proxy asked shareholders to elect eleven director nominees, including Bainum.

Questions people ask

Sources

• Choice Hotels: 2026 proxy statement (DEF 14A, SEC) · Chairman role and tenure, earlier roles, Artis, nominee status
• Choice Hotels: FY2025 annual report (10-K, SEC) · Hotels, rooms, brands at December 31, 2025
• Choice Hotels: Q4 and full-year 2025 results (Feb 19, 2026) · Net income, adjusted EBITDA, system size
• Choice Hotels: Chairman receives 2019 ALIS Lifetime Achievement Award (Jan 29, 2019) · Award, tenure, four public companies, company growth, quote
• Choice Hotels: Pacious to become CEO (Aug 10, 2017) · 2017 CEO succession
• UCLA Anderson: Stewart W. Bainum Jr. '70 · Manor Care growth, Somerford Place, Artis, headshot

Facts were read from the linked pages on November 1, 2026, partly through a fetch tool that returns summaries, so confirm details on the original pages. The hero photo comes from the UCLA Anderson School of Management alumni awards page for Stewart W. Bainum Jr.; its original copyright holder is not stated there. This page covers public professional information only.

Top photo: UCLA Anderson School of Management alumni awards page (anderson.ucla.edu)