Choice Hotels International, Inc. announced two new franchise development directors have joined the company's emerging markets team: Jacquelyn Peterson and Marcus Thomas. Together, Peterson and Thomas bring more than three decades of hospitality expertise to Choice, where they will help further the company's longstanding efforts to extend hotel ownership opportunities to underrepresented populations. Jacquelyn Peterson joins Choice Hotels as an Emerging Markets Director.

In this role, she will build on her successful tenure of empowering small business ownership by focusing specifically on bridging the gaps between veteran and female entrepreneurs and hotel ownership. Marcus Thomasalso joins Choice as an Emerging Markets Director, where he will be responsible for driving new development and expansion opportunities for the company's African American, Latin American and Native American emerging market segments.