Eric is an independent thinker and entrepreneur at heart. He has spent most of his career starting new enterprises, first for ten years in the music business and then, until his retirement last year, in hotel development and management. Over the past fifty years, he has initiated and successfully operated ten multi-million-dollar ventures.
Eric received an honors degree in music and English from Yale in 1971 and an MBA from Harvard in 1976. His first two jobs in the music business were as Executive Assistant to Walter Yetnikoff, the President of CBS Records, and in a similar position with the renowned music executive Clive Davis at Arista Records. He formed his own music production, management, and publishing companies and independently produced albums for release under the Columbia and Alfa record labels.
In 1984, he and his brother formed Holtze Hotels and developed and operated four successful properties in the Denver market. After dividing the company, Eric successfully converted two of his properties into condos and developed a 300-unit hotel in Newport Beach, CA, and a 208-unit hotel in Kansas City. He also led all aspects of design, development, and municipal approvals to finance and renovate a 125-room, 4-star historic hotel and a 4-star restaurant downtown in the heart of Kansas City. He was a partner with 21c Museum Hotels in that venture. His most recent project was the 5-star 120-room Bravo Hotel in Kansas City under a joint venture with the Kauffman Foundation and J.E. Dunn Construction Company. Unfortunately, this project was abandoned during the COVID pandemic.
Eric and his wife moved to Westchester County, New York, in 2022 to be near family. Since then, he has become very concerned about the status of New York politics and elections. His recent experience with a voter integrity group led to his involvement with Project Civica. His fervent hope is to make a positive difference before the 2024 general election.
