John Oppenheimer is Founder and Chairman of Columbia Hospitality. Columbia Hospitality operates over 100 properties in 12 states including hotels and resorts, residential, golf, distinctive venues, and restaurants and bars. Under John’s leadership, Columbia Hospitality has received countless awards in 2024 including: Fastest Growing Companies and Washington Best Workplaces (Puget Sound Business Journal), Family Business Award Honoree (Puget Sound Business Journal), as well as Best Company Work-Life Balance and Best Company Happiness (Comparably). In addition to launching Columbia Hospitality in 1995 (to manage Bell Harbor International Conference Center for the Port of Seattle), John has also founded five successful, private hospitality-related businesses.

John was a founding general partner of Seattle Hotel Group, the investment group that developed the Four Seasons Hotel and Residences Seattle.

John currently sits on the following boards: Virginia Mason Franciscan Health Board, Smoke Tree Corporation, Four Seasons Seattle Homeowners Association, UW Center for Leadership Studies Advisory Board, Anthony’s Restaurants, Northland Properties, and Chelan Valley Farms. Examples of John’s past non-profit boards included Chair of the Woodland Park Zoo, Chair of YPO Gold, board member of 5th Ave Theater, among others. He served as a past member of the advisory board of Northern Trust. John was also recognized as a 2024 Director of the Year honoree and selected as a Power 100 honoree every year since 2019 by Puget Sound Business Journal.

John and his wife, Deanna, are the 2024-2025 co-chairs of the Auction of Washington Wines, past Fritzky co-chairs in Leadership at the University of Washington and are honorees of the Seattle Hotel Association’s “Evening of Hope.” They have served as co-chairs of many civic events including: the Woodland Park Zoo Jungle Party, Virginia Mason Dreambuilder’s Ball, and the Puget Sound Business Hall of Fame.

John is the author of the book, Keys to the Room: Unlocking the Doors to Opportunities and Possibilities.

John is a University of Puget Sound graduate where he earned his bachelor’s degrees in Urban Affairs and Political Science. He and Deanna were honored for their continued service and philanthropy with the dedication of Oppenheimer Hall at their alma mater.

He is a husband and proud father of two adult children. An interesting fact is that John first learned about great customer service as a young skycap at the Boise, Idaho airport, carrying luggage. The word that best describes John is grateful.