Colin V. Reed became president and chief executive officer of Gaylord Entertainment Company in May 2001. Reed was named in August 2004 by the company's board of directors as chairman and added those responsibilities in May 2005.
Since joining Gaylord Entertainment, Reed has successfully led the company's strategic reorganization as a hospitality and entertainment corporation through its Gaylord Hotels and Grand Ole Opry brands. In that time, he has led the company's efforts to divest more than $300 million in non-core assets, strengthened its balance sheet and repositioned Gaylord Entertainment for future growth.
Prior to Gaylord Entertainment, Reed was chief financial officer and a member of the three-executive Office of the President for Harrah's Entertainment Inc. He joined that company in 1977 as a financial controller for its former Holiday Inn International Division, with accounting responsibility for operations in the United Kingdom.
Reed was named head of finance and administration for Holiday Inn International European Division in 1981 and was appointed chief financial officer for Holiday Inn for the Europe, Middle East and Africa Division in 1985. He moved to the company's corporate headquarters in 1987 as executive assistant to the chairman.
Between 1987-92, Holiday Corporation executed a very successful recapitalization, sold Holiday Inns, launched new industry-leading hospitality brands and achieved the distinction of being one of the Top 10 companies in terms of returns to shareholders listed on the New York Stock Exchange. During this period, Reed worked with the chairman and chief executive officer on these endeavors.
In 1992, Reed was promoted to senior vice president of development for the company. From 1993-95, he was responsible for building and executing the growth strategy of Harrah's Casinos, a company subsidiary, which resulted in Harrah's becoming one of the nation's largest, most distributed and most profitable casino companies in the nation. In June 1995, Harrah's and its parent, Promus Companies, split into two separate public companies and in 1997 Reed was named executive vice president and chief financial officer. From 1999-2001 he served on the board of directors of Harrah's Entertainment. Reed previously served on the Bass Pro Shops and Rite Aid board of directors and currently serves on the board of directors for First Horizon National Corporation. He also serves as the chair of the Tennessee Tourism Committee.
