Walter Isenberg

Bio:

Walter Isenberg is an award-winning hotelier, restauranter, and placemaker with a deep understanding of how to create places people go to, not through. As co-founder and CEO of Sage Hospitality Group, Walter directs the efforts of Sage’s four companies – Sage Hotel Management, Sage Restaurant Concepts, Sage Investments, and Sage Studio. Since starting the company in 1984 with Zack Neumeyer, Walter has led Sage with heart and has truly become the embodiment of loving what you do and loving who you do it with. 

Over the last four decades, Walter’s leadership has helped shape and grow Sage into a company known throughout the industry as a leader in hotel and restaurant operations, real estate investment, development, placemaking, strategic design and brand building. Walter’s career in hospitality includes not only a long history of successfully operating hotels across the country but also dozens of major adaptive reuse projects that have transformed neighborhoods, like the complete renovation of Denver’s historic Union Station. Now, he is leading Sage forward into its next chapter with a focus on significant urban mixed-use developments and continuing to build Sage’s brands while furthering the company’s purpose of enriching lives, one experience at a time. 

A graduate of Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration, Walter is a member of the American Hotel Lodging Association (AHLA) Board of Directors Executive Committee and has served on several brand Owner Advisory Boards. Among his many accolades, he was honored with the 2023 ULI Colorado Legacy Award for Lifetime Achievement, 2020 Most Admired CEO Pinnacle Award by the Denver Business Journal, and the 2017 Hospitality Design Platinum Circle Award. He and his wife Christie received the 2019 Community Enrichment Award from Denver’s Mizel Institute, honoring their many outstanding contributions to the local community. Walter was also inducted into Denver & Colorado’s Tourism Hall of Fame, which is the highest award given by Denver’s travel industry. Passionate about giving back to the community and teaching the next generation of great leaders, he currently serves on the boards of Visit Denver, The Downtown Denver Partnership, and Colorado Concern.