About
A firm built by operators, not consultants
Thirty years of relationships and results across tourism, hospitality, and entertainment. Applied to the decisions that matter most.
THE Partners Group is a senior advisory, partnership, and curated experiences firm. THE stands for Tourism, Hospitality, and Entertainment — the industries we serve, and the ones our leaders come from. We bring fractional leadership and growth advisory to organizations that need experienced executives, not more headcount.
Exceptional organizations are built on strong relationships and a real understanding of both people and business.
Lina Farrell, Founder & Principal
01Founder-led
Meet Lina Farrell.
More than thirty years in hospitality, tourism, entertainment, and business development, spent helping organizations grow through partnerships, commercial leadership, and senior client relationships.
Her work has centered on the same three things throughout: strategic partnerships, commercial leadership, and the client relationships that carry an organization through change.
Born and raised in Toronto, she trained in hospitality and tourism there, and later earned a degree in adult education to give back to the industry she came up in. She still teaches at her alma mater and mentors people entering the field.
She has held senior leadership roles with leading North American hospitality and venue organizations, across professional sports, convention centers, cultural institutions, live entertainment, premium food and beverage, tourism, and destination development. There she led complex sales strategies, major client partnerships, high-value RFP pursuits, sponsorship programs, and revenue growth across Canada and the United States.
Her approach is relationship-first: connecting people, building trust, turning an opportunity into business that lasts. That is what an experienced operator brings that a research process cannot.
She founded THE Partners Group to give organizations flexible executive leadership, advisory, and project-based expertise — a procurement process, a bid that has to be won, a new revenue opportunity, a partnership that needs structure, a leadership team that needs mentoring. Around her is a trusted network of accomplished industry leaders, so each engagement is staffed with the people the work actually calls for.
A mother of three, she built her career alongside her family, and credits the same values of hard work, curiosity, and resilience on both sides of that ledger.
02Areas of expertise
Where Lina is brought in.
Twelve areas of practice, built over three decades of senior roles rather than assembled from a framework.
- Fractional Executive Leadership
- Strategic Business Development
- Sales & Commercial Strategy
- Strategic Partnerships
- Client & Stakeholder Relations
- RFP Strategy & Management
- Sponsorship Development
- Tourism & Destination Development
- Venue & Hospitality Consulting
- Revenue Growth & Market Expansion
- Executive Coaching & Mentorship
- Organizational Change
03What we believe
The best outcomes come from bringing the right people together at the right time.
That belief shapes every engagement. We listen first, define the outcome, then bring in the people whose experience fits the work — not the other way around.
04The advisory model
A network of leaders, not a bench of consultants.
Every engagement is staffed with the people best suited to the work.
Understand the decision
Every engagement starts with the outcome you need, not a diagnostic. A completed RFP, a new revenue partnership, a stabilized operation, a board that can vote.
Assemble the right people
We bring together experienced professionals with complementary expertise, matched to your goals: operators, strategists, and relationship builders.
Lead the work
We are accountable for the outcome, not for a document. That means being in the business, in the room, and in the difficult conversations.
Hand it back
We transfer the knowledge and the relationships, and we leave. The measure of the work is what survives our departure.
05How engagements work
Five ways to work with us.
The right structure depends on whether the work needs to be advised, led, or owned.
A standing relationship with a defined scope. We stay close enough to the business to be useful quickly, and far enough outside it to say what an employee cannot. Most retainers settle into a monthly rhythm of working sessions, review of live decisions, and access between them.
- Board and owner decisions
- Growth planning
- Sounding board for the CEO
We take the seat. Commercial, partnership, or venue leadership held by an experienced operator for an agreed number of days each month, with real accountability for the outcome. The role is scoped to end, and we build the internal capability to replace it.
- Between permanent hires
- Function too small for a full-time exec
- Capability you intend to build
Scoped, priced, and delivered against a date. A market entry assessment, a partnership strategy, a guest experience review, a commercial plan for a venue. You get the work, the reasoning behind it, and a practical recommendation you can act on.
- A decision to be made
- A plan the board must approve
- Work with a deadline
We have sat on both sides of the table. On the issuing side we help define what you are actually buying and how to evaluate it. On the responding side we shape the strategy, the story, and the submission. Either way the work runs to the submission date.
- Venue management RFPs
- Destination and event bids
- Operator selection
Senior leadership on site while you run a search, complete a transaction, or stabilize an operation. We hold the role, keep the organization moving, and hand over cleanly with the knowledge transferred.
- Leadership transition
- Operational stabilization
- Post-transaction integration
Let's talk
Ready to move an important initiative forward?
Tell us what is in front of you. If we are the right people, we will say so. If not, we will point you to who is.
Get in touch
Tell us what is in front of you.
Send a note and a senior member of the firm will reply, usually within two business days — or use the Book a Meeting button to pick a time.