Team
Lee Greer
Lee is the President of the Greer Companies, a commercial real estate development company and retail hospitality company operating different restaurant concepts as well as a franchisee of Marriott and Hilton hotels. Over the last 20 years, Lee helped build, operate and sell the company’s Mint Julep Restaurant Division which included 45 Cheddar’s Casual Café full-service restaurants. The division generated over $200 million in annual sales and employed over 6,000 employees at the time of its sale in 2017. Lee served on the Board of Directors of Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen through its sales to Darden Restaurants, Inc. Lee is also an active investor and board member of several growing restaurant brands including Vinaigrette Salad Kitchen, Corto y Lima, Italx, and Taco Tico, active entertainment concepts including Breakout Games and Activate Games, as well as many other companies across several industries.
Previously Lee was a co-founder and the Executive VP of iVisionary, a venture capital fund and strategic services firm specializing in technology and biosciences. Prior to joining iVisionary, he was a senior analyst at Merrill Lynch in New York, a global Investment Banking firm. His work was used to close landmark deals including the $5.3 billion Initial Public Offering of UPS, and the attempted $11.8 billion acquisition of US Airways Group by UAL Corporation.
Lee is a graduate of the HOBY Foundation, Leadership Lexington, Tates Creek High School, and the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia, where he earned a B.S. in Commerce with concentrations in Finance and Management Information Systems. He was the first ever four-year letterman and captain in four sports at Tates Creek High School, and in 1995 he was elected into the Kentucky High School Football Hall of Fame, was Wendy’s National High School Heisman Award finalist, was awarded TCHS’s Faculty Cup, and won Lexington’s Tommy Bell Award for the City’s ‘Most Outstanding Student Athlete’. He was selected as Leadership Lexington’s ‘Distinguished Leader’ in 2005 and was given LYPA’s “Rising Star” award in 2007.
Lee currently serves on the board for the Henry Clay Memorial Foundation for the Ashland-Henry Clay Estate, and Shriner’s Hospital. He has been a member of the Lexington Charity Club, which he co-founded in 2001 and served as its President from 2002 thru 2008. He served as a board member of the Bluegrass Community Foundation from 2005 until 2012. He previously served on the BB&T Advisory Board, Board of Together Lexington, the Downtown Lexington Corporation, Lexington’s Destination 2040 Steering Committee, UK’s College of Education PEP Lab Steering Committee (which promotes health and fights child obesity), as well as the Leadership Lexington Steering Committee. Lee is married to his beautiful wife, Caroline, and they have 2 year old girl. Additionally, Lee has three daughters, Lillie (15), Liza (13), Parks (2), and a son, Noah (5).
Donald Vittitow
Donald is the Chief Financial Officer for Greer Companies, a position he has held since 2009. He has served in executive management positions for both publicly and privately held companies. Prior to joining Greer Companies, from 1998 through 2009, Donald served in various executive positions with Office Suites PLUS lastly being Chief Financial Officer. Office Suites PLUS is an executive office suite provider and commercial office space developer. From 1995 through 1998, Donald served in various executive positions with Studio Plus Hotels, a publicly traded hotel company, lastly as Vice President and Controller. He was employed by Coopers & Lybrand LLP, now PricewaterhouseCoopers, from 1991 until 1995. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the University of Kentucky.
Under Donald’s leadership, Greer Companies successfully completed several large-scale commercial real estate development projects, while simultaneously owning and operating hotel, restaurant, and family entertainment management divisions.
Gordy Hoagland
Gordy helped start White Oak Commercial Real Estate in 2016 with Lee and Phil Greer. He specializes in finding deals not currently on the market, retail and industrial investment sales, site selection, disposition and acquisition, development and leasing.
Gordy has worked with a large variety of clients and has been a part of leases and developments in 12 different states. He has worked with the following tenants: Blaze Pizza, Breakout Games, Vinaigrette Salad Kitchen, Activate Games, Tropical Smoothie, Crumbl Cookies, Popeye’s, Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen, Huey Magoo’s, Crank & Boom Craft Ice Cream, and more.
Gordy graduated from the University of Kentucky in 2012 and received the Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM) designation in 2016. Gordy currently serves as the President of the Commercial Property Association of Lexington (CPAL). He is involved with ICSC, Kentucky CCIM Chapter, and the Downtown Lexington Partnership (DLP).
Gordy has been married to his wife, Lauren, for 10 years. Gordy and Lauren are members of Hope Presbyterian Church and have two boys, Henry (5) and Mills (3), and a daughter, Annie (3 months).
Emily Ratliff
Emily has worked for Greer Companies since 2018. She is the Executive Assistant to Lee Greer, managing both business and personal projects and investments.
Emily graduated with a BA in Political Science from the University of Kentucky in 2011 and earned her Master of Public Administration in 2017 from the University of Louisville. She is also a Private Pilot holding an Instrument rating and is in training for a Commercial Pilot certificate. Emily has been married to her husband, Jordan, for 3 years, and they have one son, Sullivan (1).