In 1986, Ronnie Bray started her company in the dining room of her Colorado home, where she wrote her first proposal for the Greenway Ramada Renaissance in Dallas. Two years later, Elisa Whaler joined the procurement company, leaving behind a job in the food industry.
At the time, the company was growing rapidly, and the duo describe those early days as organized chaos. Bray was bringing in business and building relationships, while Whaler kept all the systems organized and in place. In 1999, Whaler became partner.
It was a young, female-founded company—both women were single moms—in a male-dominated industry. They used that to their advantage. Family comes first, leading to flexible work schedules, remote work, and bringing children to the office as the norm for the Denver-based firm. That kind of care and commitment has helped Bray Whaler become one of the most sought-after procurement companies in the industry, evident in projects like the Royal Nikko Hotel in Japan, where Whaler took a class on Japanese language and culture to secure the deal.
After three decades and more than 3,500 projects, Bray and Whaler are the embodiment of their firm tagline: Beyond Expectations. It’s an ethos that starts with the nearly 60-person team, which is committed to excellence; it trickles down to the trust and loyalty they engender in their clients; and extends to ushering in the next generation with their work at the University of Denver’s Fritz Knoebel School of Hospitality Management.
Bray is known as kind and generous with staff accolades, yet tenacious about optimizing every aspect of the procurement process. Whaler has legendary gusto—whether immersing herself in the daily workings of the firm or mountain biking over the Kenosha Pass (starting at 10,000 feet above sea level). “What I love about hospitality and what keeps me passionate,” says Whaler, “is no two days are the same.” Adds Bray: “The two of us developed our company in such a way that we could take care of our families at the same time that we took care of our clients.”
Ronnie Bray and Elisa Whaler were inducted into HD’s Platinum Circle hall of fame in November 2022.
