Chicago Hospitality Summit

Mr. Michael W. Reschke founded The Prime Group, Inc. in 1982 and since inception, has directed and managed the development and acquisition of over $11.0 billion of institutional-quality real estate projects across the United States. Mr. Reschke continues to manage and direct the private real estate development and investment activities of Prime. During the 1990’s, Prime achieved the unique distinction of being the founding shareholder of four publicly-traded real estate companies, each one being the successor-in-interest to various operating divisions of Prime. In 1994, Prime organized two publicly-traded real estate companies – Prime Retail, Inc. and Ambassador Apartment, Inc. – which became successors-in-interest to Prime’s retail and multi-family divisions. In 1997, Prime again organized two publicly-traded real estate companies – Brookdale Living Communities, Inc. and Prime Group Realty Trust – which became successors-in-interest to Prime’s senior housing and office/industrial divisions. In 1997, Ambassador Apartments, Inc. was acquired by Apartment Investment and Management Company, Inc. (“AIMCO”) in a stock-for-stock merger. In 2000, Brookdale Living Communities, Inc. was acquired by Fortress Real Estate Investments following a friendly cash tender offer. Recently, Prime Retail, Inc. and Prime Group Realty Trust were separately sold in cash-for-stock merger transactions. From 2000 until 2003, Mr. Reschke served on the board of World Business Chicago – a public-private non-profit organization founded in 2000 to promote and market the City of Chicago on a national basis to business leaders looking for a place to start, expand or relocate their businesses. Currently, Mr. Reschke is a member of the Real Estate Roundtable in Washington, D.C., the Urban Land Institute, the Economic Club of Chicago, and the Chicago Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Reschke is a summa cum laude graduate from Northern Illinois University, receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting with Honors in 1977. Mr. Reschke also is a summa cum laude graduate from the University of Illinois College of Law, receiving a Juris Doctorate degree in 1980. Mr. Reschke is licensed to practice law in the State

Gene Kornota co-founded Chicago-based Rebel Hospitality (formerly Neighborhood Development Corporation) in 1988 and has been leveraging his vision and development expertise ever since. Gene has overseen the design of over 16 independent boutique and brand hotels, restaurants, and entertainment venues in Chicago, Memphis and Phoenix. As a Principal of Rebel Hospitality, Gene focuses much of his attention on the design, planning, engineering, creative, and branding portions of the business. He is integrally involved in each and every facet from conception, vision and branding. Gene has an ear to the ground and an astute understanding of what consumers are looking for – combined with his knowledge of current trends, Gene creates hotels full of imagination. Gene speaks on many industry panels and at trade shows on the topic of boutique hotel development, investment and design. Under Gene’s leadership, virtually every property and outlet has received multiple industry, press and consumer awards and accolades for spectacular design as well as innovative extra’s. Gene’s philosophy is all about surprising and delighting guests.

Kate Ivanova is the Vice President of Hospitality and Special Projects for James McHugh Construction Co., the Chicago-based general contractor responsible for some of the city’s most iconic structures. For the last 10+ years her focus has been the hospitality market both locally and nationally. She oversees all aspects of construction and renovation for McHugh’s hospitality portfolio, which includes work with virtually every major hotel brand. Kate has led large-scale renovations at several of Chicago’s five-star properties including the Four Seasons, Peninsula, the Waldorf-Astoria, and the Ritz-Carlton where she guided a two-year, multi-phased transformation of the hotel. Ivanova’s career with McHugh spans two continents and more than 20 years. Her work is informed by hands-on experience in a variety of key field positions, including project engineer, project manager, senior project manager, director, and project executive. Ivanova holds a bachelor’s degree from Moscow State Linguistic University. She is a member of the Association of Subcontractors & Affiliates of Chicago and sits on the board of ReVive Center for Housing and Healing, an organization that works to end homelessness in Chicago.

Leah is currently an Executive Director and National Practice Leader with Cushman & Wakefield's Valuation & Advisory (V&A) Hospitality & Gaming practice group. In this role, she oversees the operations of the Hospitality & Gaming group within the United States. Through a team of senior appraisers, the group provides valuation and advisory services to a variety of clients, including commercial/investment banks, pension funds, life insurance companies, private investors/developers, and law firms. Leah joined the Chicago office of Cushman & Wakefield in 2016. Prior to that, she was a Senior Vice President with HVS Consulting and Valuation, where she led the day-to-date operations of the Los Angeles office. Leah began her career in the appraisal and consulting business in 2007 with HVS San Francisco and has personally valued various hospitality assets and land in excess of $11 billion over the last 12 years. In addition to her valuation and advisory experience, she has nearly ten years of hospitality operational experience, including hotels, restaurants, bars, and theme parks. Leah is an adamant supporter of hospitality education through her involvement with the Washington State Alumni Association, the Castell Project, and as a guest lecturer at the Collins College of Hospitality Management at Cal Poly Pomona. She also serves on the Board of Directors for the Wisconsin Chapter of the Appraisal Institute; is a Designated Member of the Appraisal Institute (MAI); and was recently admitted as an Emerging Women Leader to TEMPO Milwaukee. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Hospitality Business Management and a Master’s in Business Administration from Washington State University. She also studied at Cesar Ritz College in Brig, Switzerland.

Mitch Lund joined Fulcrum with a decade of experience in the commercial modular building industry where he was actively involved in leading teams through the entire lifecycle of custom modular construction projects across the US, including design/engineering, estimating, procurement, project management, manufacturing, and site supervision. With modular and offsite construction riding a tidal wave of success and media attention, involvement in $1B of modular projects, a nation-wide team of construction professionals from across all segments of the construction industry, and a decades-long track record of success managing construction risk on behalf of lenders, investors, and developers, Fulcrum is perfectly and powerfully positioned to help the real estate industry make informed decisions with its full range of Modular Risk Management services.

Wesley Prato, CPA, is an audit partner in the Firm’s Commercial Real Estate Industry Practice and leads the Southwest Region in this area. Based in CohnReznick’s Chicago office, he has 16 years of experience in public accounting, providing client services in the areas of audit, review, and other financial reporting needs. This experience includes working with developers, hospitality owners and private equity investors of companies in the commercial real estate industry. Wes specializes in the commercial real estate and hospitality industries serving both real estate operators and real estate investment funds. He is responsible for planning the engagements, supervising staff, and coordinating all fieldwork. Other responsibilities on these engagements include determining audit scope, selecting procedures to be applied, establishing budgets, reviewing work papers, identifying audit issues, communicating with clients, and preparing financial statements or reports. In addition, Wes takes an active role in working with his clients to plan and brainstorm on ways to get the next project from concept to development. Wes has participated nationally within the Firm in developing audit programs and techniques specifically tailored to auditing commercial real estate and hospitality entities. He has also leads internal training classes on commercial real estate and often speaks on panels focused in the industry.

John is the Founder, President and CEO of Oxford Capital Group, LLC, a national real estate investment and development firm focusing on large scale hospitality, mixed-use, senior housing, multifamily, urban retail, parking, and other operationally intensive forms of real estate. Oxford Hotels & Resorts, LLC, its wholly owned management affiliate, specializes in developing, operating and branding distinctive, high design lifestyle hotels, rooftops and other food & beverage venues around the country. Oxford, its affiliates and principals have been involved in approximately $3 billion of transactions, including approximately 13,000 hotel rooms. Noted national projects include Godfrey Hotel-Hollywood, Godfrey Hotel-Boston, Metropolitan Hotel and Lexington Hotel – New York City, National Conference Center-Lansdowne, VA, Residence Inn and Spring Hill Suites in Charleston, SC, and Godfrey Hotel & Cabanas-Tampa Bay. Included in his 17 Chicago area projects (13 of which are hotels) are the recently topped off 56 story Essex on the Park luxury apartment building, and his soon to open Hotel Julian-Millennium Park. Other Chicago projects include Langham Chicago, LondonHouse Chicago, Godfrey Chicago, Hotel Essex, Hotel Felix, Hotel Cass, Hotel Versey, Claridge House, Hyatt Magnificent Mile, Renaissance North Shore, Doubletree North Shore, and Hyatt House Northwest. Additional rooftop and food and beverage venues include IO, LH, SX-Sky Bar, ALK, WTR and Spa Boutique. John and/or Oxford have been nominated for and/or won numerous awards including: Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Arthur Rubloff Humanitarian Award, Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year, Crain’s “40 under 40” and Who’s Who, Developer of the Year, Development of the Year, Redevelopment of the Year, National Hotel Transaction of the Year, Historic Redevelopment of the Year and the Top Hotel in the Continental US. He earned a BA from The University of Michigan and an MBA from University of Chicago. He also studied at Northwestern University, Harvard Business School (YPO’s Presidents’ Program) and Oxford University (Christ Church).

Ms. Meghie brings over twenty years of business experience including real estate, hotel development, lodging operations and management, website development, ecommerce technology, and marketing. Ms. Meghie has been with Becker Ventures for over eighteen years and has played an integral role in its real estate and hospitality divisions. She is currently responsible for BV’s real estate and hospitality portfolio. Ms. Meghie is leading the repositioning of the Carbide & Carbon building located at 230 N Michigan Ave now as the St. Jane Chicago, that opened in 2018. The hotel’s name was masterfully selected in honor of prominent Chicagoan and the first American women to win the Nobel Peace Prize Jane Addams and will not only be a gathering space for all but play an active philanthropic role in the community. Meghie was a key member on the Hard Rock Hotel Chicago redevelopment project which opened in 2004 and has held key positions at the hotel including General Manager and Asset Manager. Under Ms. Meghie’s leadership in 2013, a JV was created between Becker Ventures, Partners Group, and The John Buck Company to develop North Michigan Avenue’s first skyscraper in over five years to be called MILA. Named for its premier location on the corner of Michigan Avenue and Lake Street, the 41-story luxury residential development was completed in spring 2016, bridging Chicago’s legendary Magnificent Mile with Millennium Park. In addition, Ms. Meghie and her husband founded the Jackson Chance Foundation in 2013, a nonprofit that supports critically ill babies by removing the financial burden of parking fees, giving every family the opportunity to be with their child in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). In 2016 she was honored for her philanthropic work and was named a CNN Hero and chosen as one of Chicago Magazine’s Chicagoan’s of the Year. In 2019, the foundation will provide over 60,000 days of parking to families at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and Northwestern Medicine Prentice Women’s Hospital. The nonprofit is hoping to break an aggressive fundraising record of $5M raised in 2019.. Continuing her passion to educate the public of the necessity of NICU support, Ms. Meghie will become an author and contributor for Bill and Giuliana Rancic’s new parenting app called Pear. She will write pieces of life in the NICU. Prior to joining Becker Ventures, Ms. Meghie was an entrepreneur in the dot.com world. She has a Bachelor of Science from DePaul University College of Commerce and is based in Chicago. Ms. Meghie is a member of DePaul University’s Hospitality Leadership Advisory Council and previously was a board member of the Chicago Loop Alliance (CLA) and an SSA Commissioner for the West Town Chamber of Commerce (WTTC).

Daniel Marre's practice focuses on real estate transactions and development, with an emphasis on the hotel industry. He has significant experience with transactions affecting commercial property, including acquisitions, dispositions, construction, development, financing and leasing. Within the hotel industry, Daniel has been involved in a number of high-profile hotel transactions, including the acquisition and financing of the Essex House Hotel on Central Park South in New York City, the acquisition of a joint-venture interest in The Hotel del Coronado and refinancing of the hotel, and the acquisition and financing of The Raleigh Hotel in Miami Beach, an art deco icon. His hotel clients range from small boutiques to some of the world’s largest hotels and management companies. Daniel guides them through the complexities of hotel projects and the distinct legal challenges of owning and operating a hotel. Known for his representation of clients in complex development projects and high-value real estate transactions, Daniel recently represented DRW Holdings Group in the development of a mixed-use residential and hotel complex, as well as the sale of the hotel to an affiliate of Loews Hotels & Resorts. His recent work on the 42-story Optima Chicago Center contributed to establishing a new standard of residential leasing in the heart of downtown Chicago.

Lawrence Eppley is a partner in the Corporate Practice Group and Office Managing Partner of the firm's Chicago office. He is also Team Leader of the firm's Hospitality team. Areas of Practice Mr. Eppley concentrates his practice in acquisition, real estate finance, development, public and private finance, joint ventures and raising equity particularly in the hospitality sector. He was general counsel to Potbelly Sandwich Works, one of Chicago's fastest growing companies, and his clients rely on him as their principal outside legal counsel. He has considerable experience with middle market and emerging growth companies, including those in the hospitality and restaurant sectors, and with structured and institutional finance. Mr. Eppley was named as one of Law360's Hospitality MVPs in both 2013 and 2016 for his extensive work in major transactions geared towards hotel development.