George Hansen
President and Chief Executive Officer
George E. Hansen III has had a successful 30-year career managing corporations of significant sizes in a variety of industries including retail, rental, hospitality, automotive and financial. He has served American and British companies in both the public and private equity sectors.
Hansen was named president and CEO of Corporate Lodging Consultants in 2004 to lead the effort of building on the company's established leadership position. CLC is a rules-based payment processing corporation serving Fortune 500 companies, large non-profit organizations and the federal government. The company's genesis - customizing outsourced lodging programs - has migrated into other product offerings including payment-processing services for the transportation industry, rapid response and other first-responders markets, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other federal government agencies.
Prior to joining CLC, Hansen was CEO of Kansas City-based CARSTAR, the largest collision repair company in North America with more than 350 operating locations and $400 million in revenue. During Hansen's five-year tenure as CEO, CARSTAR, a combination of franchised and corporate-owned locations, flourished to become the nation's leader in collision repair.
Hansen also served as executive vice president of Thorn Americas Inc., a $1 billion retail and rental business operating more than 1,500 stores in North America and a division of Thorn PLC. While at Thorn, Hansen also lived in the United Kingdom serving as chief executive officer for development for Thorn Europe, operating a business unit with more than $500 million in revenues.
Hansen began his career in the food service industry serving as senior vice president for Denny's in California, and as regional vice president for Wendy's International Inc., where he supervised 750 stores in the Southeastern United States. In his earliest years, Hansen directed operations for a 20-store Bonanza Steakhouse franchise in New England.
Hansen received his Bachelor's Degree in Journalism from the University of Maine. He also completed the advanced management program at Columbia University.