Team

Get to know our incredible team,
service and reponsability form part of
each one of our team members.

William Harrison Merrill Jr.

Since taking over as CEO of Foxhall Resort and the other Merrill Trust assets in 2011, Harrison’s primary responsibility has been to lead the development and management of one of the nation’s top event venue and sporting club facilities.

In 2016, Harrison turned his attention to laying the groundwork for the development
of the 450 room Westin Hotel and Villas.

Harrison’s experience includes resort development, hospitality and financing. Harrison developed Foxhall Resort, manages the assets of the Trust’ 320 room Daytona Beach Resort and Conference Center in Daytona Beach, Florida and the 300 acre Catatoga Resort in Lake Toxaway, North Carolina. Harrison has directly overseen the structuring, financing, investment, development and operation of over $200,000,000 of resort, hospitality and residential development.

An Atlanta native and graduate of Westminster High School in Atlanta and Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, Harrison and wife Kristen have three children and are active members in the community. Harrison is a board member of Chattahoochee Now, Chairman’s Club Member for the Douglas County Chamber of Commerce and a licensed Georgia Real Estate Agent.

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William Harrison Merrill Sr.

After practicing law for three years, Mr. Merrill began a 50 year real estate development career primarily in Georgia, Arizona, Florida and North Carolina.

Mr. Merrill’s vast experience in real estate includes the development of large, mixed-use developments, master-planned communities, large and small resorts, single family housing, historic urban and downtown redevelopment, land investment, syndication, management, brokerage and other real estate ventures.

Under Mr. Merrill’s leadership, Merrill Trust acquired and zoned a significant amount of property in Metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona and Atlanta, Georgia consisting of over 33,000 acres, which was zoned for over 133,000 lots and 2,200
acres of commercial property. The 133,000 lots made the Trust the largest private owner of entitled lots in the United States.

Mr. Merrill has over 28 years of experience in hotel and resort ownership, development, construction and management. Mr. Merrill asset managed the 400 room Daytona Beach Resort and Conference Center which Mr. Merrill has owned since 1992. During the course of ownership, Mr. Merrill completely renovated the Daytona Beach Resort in a $40 million renovation converting 400 rooms into 320 condominiums.

Mr. Merrill also purchased the Sky Valley Resort and Golf Course in Sky Valley, Georgia and renovated the golf course and clubhouse. In addition, Mr. Merrill also founded the 2000 acre Merill Park and the 1100 acre Foxhall Resort on the Chattahoochee River in Metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia. Mr. Merrill graduated from Westminster High School in Atlanta where he was a 17 time All-American swimmer and the holder of numerous national prep school records. Mr. Merrill then
received a Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he was an All American swimmer each year, NCAA record holder, president of his class and permanent class president, and recipient of the Patterson Award for the outstanding Senior in scholarship, athletics and leadership. Mr. Merrill was recently honored as one of the top 50 Atlanta Coast Conference (ACC) swimmers in the last 50 years.

Mr. Merrill received his L.L.B. and J.D. with honors from the Emory University School of Law where he was executive editor of the law review and the Phi Delta Phi outstanding freshman and outstanding graduate. Mr. Merrill has been a board member of numerous organizations over the years including Georgia Easter Seal Society, Sentry Bank, Southtrust Bank, Westminster Alumni Association, and various historic landmark societies.