Richard Hayduk
Richard Hayduk
Greenville, South Carolina
• A husband of 31-years, father of 4, hospitality leader for 40-years.
• An entrepreneur at the age of 58 after acting on the need to employ his two children with Down syndrome and those like them.
Living in the same Westchester County, NY home until the age of 21, Hayduk was raised in a traditional household with two siblings where athletics, leadership and responsibility trumped academics.
Rick’s father was a linen provider to NYC’s hotels with plant operations in the Bronx. Oddly enough, Rick didn’t see the lobby of a serviced hotel until his senior year at Old Dominion University when the NYC hotel workers went on strike. Studying Labor Relations at ODU, Rick’s dad called him to learn hands-on labor relations by crossing picket lines with linens, and through the lobbies the linens were delivered.
Playing three sports through high school (football, swimming, and golf) taught discipline, leadership and how to deal with adversity; all life skills reinforced by Rick’s family. Rick walked-on to Division I Old Dominion University, swam all four years and graduated with a degree in Industrial Labor Relations.
After two years at The Breakers Palm Beach as an operations analyst, Rick was offered an AGM role with Royal Classic Hotels in Copenhagen. Upon expiration of his Danish visa, Rick was moved to Munich for another year. Three years in Europe then saw The Breakers call again, and Rick returned to Palm Beach as the director of club operations where he also met his wife, Carol. Over the next twelve years in Palm Beach, Carol and Rick had two of their four children. Looking for something “different,” the family moved to Mammoth Lakes, CA as part of a new luxury fractional start-up. Despite achieving the “different,” (it snowed 26’ that winter), the start-up then moved the family to the Bahamas for a second project.
The family settled in FL as Rick commuted to the Bahamian island of Exuma. The real story was their third child, Jamison, was born with Down syndrome. Life changing for the whole family, Jamison brought joy and new perspective to the family. Exuma and its commuting lasted about a year and Rick returned to club management with The Cliffs in SC. Overseeing a membership of over 2,400 families, 5 golf courses, a new clubhouse build, the opening of a Jack Nicklaus course and the construction of Tiger Woods and Gary Player courses was a dream role, until the real estate market fell in 2008; it was then Rick was recruited to lead Blackstone owned assets.
Over the next thirteen years Blackstone had Rick on the west coast of FL (Sanibel & Captiva), Boca Raton and most recently, NYC in multi-family. One of the highlights of Rick’s eight years in Florida was increasing EBITDA $30M in 36 months while at The Boca Resort. Both Florida roles were “fix it” positions while New York was as much a reputational risk endeavor for Blackstone as NYC multi-family had provided stable returns over the years, especially in affordable housing. But it was still a $5b acquisition that saw opportunities in resident satisfaction, operational efficiencies, and sustainable energy initiatives.
Hayduk’s approach to the newly acquired asset was one he used in prior roles: build the trust and confidence of the team, guests/residents/members, and the community by being a purpose driven organization. Along these lines, Rick and his second daughter Jordan, founded a Little League division for children with disabilities. Now in its 7th year, the league has over 30 players and over 75 “buddies”. Novel to Manhattan, PSLL Challenger division was covered by the TODAY Show. Stuyvesant Town was also awarded “LEED Platinum Community” by the USGBC for its sustainability efforts (installing over 2,700 solar panels, resident composting, water conservation, and energy conservation, etc.) during his tenure. Hayduk also navigated the 30,000 residents through COVID while leading the 500 “essential” workers during the pandemic.
Hayduk left Blackstone after thirteen years to pursue what he called decades of hospitality / real estate experience and his passion for providing people with disabilities a path to jobs and independent living. Rick and his partner designed, developed, and raised the capital for a $31m unbranded boutique hotel on the campus of Clemson University. Having opened on September 1, 2022, the 67-room Shepherd Hotel presented upscale guest rooms, a three-meal lobby restaurant, an indoor / outdoor bar and rooftop event space to the Clemson market. Hayduk stood up his wholly owned management company without seed capital. This Purpose driven hotel set out to employ neuro diverse students attending Clemson University in the LIFE program where these students learn independent living skills while receiving a college experience. The Shepherd Hotel teaches these students, and the local neuro diverse community hospitality skills. At the start of the hotel’s second year, almost 30% of the staff are neuro diverse.
Rick attributes his path to his faith and his family, especially his daughter Jamison who has changed the way he sees life, professionally and personally. Believers in “those with much, much is expected,” Rick and his wife adopted a 12-year-old boy with Down syndrome in late 2019.
The success of the Shepherd Hotel in Clemson will be leveraged as The Shepherd Hotel in Columbia, SC is projected to open in Fall 2025 using the same employment model. The Columbia hotel will partner with the University of South Carolina’s LIFE program and its nationally recognized hospitality program.
