{"id":299,"date":"2018-06-05T15:24:55","date_gmt":"2018-06-05T19:24:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/hospitality\/?post_type=profile&p=299"},"modified":"2026-08-20T12:21:56","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T16:21:56","slug":"punit-shah-board-member","status":"publish","type":"profile","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/hospitality\/profile\/punit-shah-board-member\/","title":{"rendered":"Punit Shah, Board Member"},"content":{"rendered":"

2015 YOUNG ALUMNI OF THE YEAR RECIPIENT<\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n

Punit Shah serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Liberty Group, a company founded by his Father more than three decades ago. In this role, he has overall executive control of the investment and management divisions of the company and serves as General Partner of Liberty Hospitality Funds I and II.<\/p>\n

Liberty Group has owned and managed over $525 million in commercial real estate, including multi-family developments, senior living facilities, Starbucks Coffee stores, and 57 hotels representing more than 5,125 rooms affiliated primarily with Intercontinental, Starwood, Marriott, and Hilton Hotels throughout the United States. Under Mr. Shah’s leadership, Liberty Group has raised two private equity real estate funds since 2014, Liberty Hospitality Fund I & II, with over $250 million in combined debt and equity capital.<\/p>\n

In 2017, Mr. Shah, as part of an investment group led by Derek Jeter, became an Owner of the Miami Marlins Major League Baseball team, and is the first Indian American Owner of a MLB team.<\/p>\n

A second-generation hotelier, Mr. Shah is an alumnus of the Boston University School of Hospitality where he now serves on the Board of Directors and established the Punit & Carla Shah Family scholarship. Mr. Shah was honored as the commencement speaker for the Boston University School of Hospitality class of 2017.<\/p>\n

Mr. Shah attended the Harvard University Economics Honors program, and Political Science and Executive Real Estate Development & Leadership programs at Cornell University and Emory University, and is a member of the Young President’s Organization (YPO).<\/p>\n

Mr. Shah’s professional honors include receiving the Florida\u2019s Governor\u2019s Enterprise award, Tampa Business Journal \u201cUnder 30\u201d award, Florida Business Review \u201cUnder 40\u201d and Entrepreneur of the Year awards, having been named as 25 People to Watch in Florida, Boston University Alumni of the Year, and serving on the Global Board of Directors of the Intercontinental Hotels Group Owner\u2019s Association. Additionally, Mr. Shah serves on the Executive Board of NFL Tampa Buccaneer\u2019s Quarterback Jameis Winston\u2019s Dream Forever Foundation.<\/p>\n

Awards and Accolades<\/h3>\n

\u2022 Florida Governor\u2019s Business Diversification Award 2010
\n\u2022 Tampa Business Journal \u201cUnder 30\u201d Award 2010
\n\u2022 Florida Gulf Coast Business Review \u201cUnder 40\u201d Award 2011
\n\u2022 Named as \u201cFlorida\u2019s 25 People to Watch\u201d in 2014
\n\u2022 Named as \u201cEntrepreneur of the Year\u201d in 2015
\n\u2022 Global Board of Directors member for Intercontinental Hotels Group Owners Association
\n\u2022 Named as \u201cYoung Alumni of the Year\u201d at Boston University 2015
\n\u2022 Board of Directors member & Distinguished Guest Lecturer at Boston University School of Hospitality
\n\u2022 Endowed Punit & Carla Shah Family Scholarship at Boston University
\n\u2022 Board of Directors member of Commercial Construction Magazine
\n\u2022 Featured Speaker at Crittenden Real Estate Finance Conferences (Miami & Atlanta), and Massey Knakel Real Estate Investment Conference (NYC)
\n\u2022 Leadership Tampa & Leadership Florida Alumni
\n\u2022 Board of Directors member of Real Estate Investment Council of Tampa<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"template":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/hospitality\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile\/299"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/hospitality\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/hospitality\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/profile"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/hospitality\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/hospitality\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile\/299\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29642,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/hospitality\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile\/299\/revisions\/29642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/hospitality\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}