Founder and Chairman of the Garrett Hotel Group, David Garrett works primarily on the acquisition, development, and financing of small, world-class hotels for the company’s portfolio. 

Mr. Garrett received his degree in Business Administration, with a minor in Economics, at the University of North Carolina in 1966, with further study at the Sorbonne in Paris. Entering the business world, Mr. Garrett began his career in the investment business at Walston & Company, joining Moseley Securities in 1973, an old-line Boston investment-banking firm. In 1975, he was elected Vice-President and appointed Branch Manager, the youngest in the company’s 150-year history to receive such recognition. 

At Moseley, Mr. Garrett founded and directed the National Training Department, serving as New England Regional Sales Manager and National Retail Sales Manager. He was elected to the Board of Directors of Moseley, Hallgarten & Estabrook in 1979, thereafter becoming a member of the firm’s Advisory Board and Investment Policy Committee. In 1983, Mr. Garrett relocated to Vermont to oversee the expansion of Moseley’s Vermont branch system and to work more closely with his private clients. 

In March 1988, Moseley’s Board of Directors elected to sell the firm, and Mr. Garrett negotiated the sale of Moseley’s Vermont branch offices to First Albany Corporation, where he stayed on to oversee the company’s Vermont operations. In June of 1990, Mr. Garrett stepped down from his position at First Albany to develop his hotel interests, retiring from the securities industry in 1994. 

At Moseley, Mr. Garrett founded the Black Willow Investment Company where he later became co-founder of The Vermont Teddy Bear Company, which issued an IPO in 1993. The Garrett Hotel Group, formed in 1985, was born of the Black Willow Company’s desire to develop a holding of small, world-class hotels. 

Mr. Garrett has been a member of the North American Board of Directors of the pre-eminent hotel association Relais & Chateaux since 1987, during which time he has helped build an awareness of the association internationally and promoted North American membership. In 2001, he was named president of Relais & Chateaux and Relais Gourmands of North America, an international association comprising 51 of the finest hotels and 11 of the most prestigious restaurants in the hemisphere, dedicated to providing the highest standards of service, elegance, and charm.