Bisnow's Big Hotel Reception

Sharan oversees the various components that make up Ennismore and is responsible for the overall strategy of The Hoxton and Gleneagles. Without the benefit of knowing 'how it should be done' across Hospitality, Sharan relishes throwing the daily 'curveball' or two at his team. He has been a jack of all but master of none in a career that spans private equity, a turnaround CEO and media entrepreneur. Sharan was educated at the Doon School in India, holds an Accounting & Finance degree from Regents College where he was a Deans List Scholar and an MBA from London Business School.

Sarah Lim is an industry manager with the hospitality team at Google UK. She is currently working with UK based hotels, accommodations, and tourist boards, where she helps them navigate the digital landscape, growing their online presence to ensure digital advertising is a key revenue driver for their business. Prior to Google, Sarah worked in the travel industry for companies such as Expedia, Hotels.com and TripAdvisor, holding a variety of roles in online marketing, traffic acquisition and product management.

Josh Littman is the EMEA Vice President of Development for Hotels at Hard Rock International, based in London, having joined the company in April 2012. At Hard Rock, he is responsible for expanding the firm’s portfolio of hotels in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, which involves the sourcing of opportunities, negotiation of transaction details and participation during the planning stage for any new projects through to pre-opening. With extensive experience in hotel and mixed-use real estate developments, Mr. Littman brings strong hotel operations, financial analysis, economic modelling and development planning skills to the firm, built up over his 16-year career. Examples of these include feasibility analyses, project investment returns, P&L analyses, real estate strategies, cash flow assessments and hotel/real estate valuations. His in-depth knowledge of both large-scale mixed-use developments and small boutique hotel operations allows him to assess both the micro and macro components of any size project. Prior to Hard Rock, Mr. Littman moved to London to work as a consultant for Economics Research Associates (ERA) in 2006, which was subsequently acquired by AECOM, a Fortune- 500 technical services firm headquartered in the US. During his tenure, he consulted on a wide variety of hospitality, mixed-use and urban planning projects across 30+ countries throughout the Middle East, Africa, Western/Eastern Europe and Central Asia, with a particular focus on hotel real estate.

A well-known and venerated industry veteran, Richard Millard was at the helm of Trust Hospitality for over three decades before joining Highgate to lead business development and owner relations efforts in the region. Prior to joining Trust, the UK-born hotelier served in management positions with some of the world’s most recognized hotel companies, including Hyatt, Sheraton and Hilton. A self-described “lifetime hotelier,” Richard continues to guide Trust’s development and growth.

Prior to forming Crosstree, Sean was with Starwood Capital Group Global, L.P., most recently as Head of European Acquisitions based in London. Sean's transaction experience includes corporate investments, asset and portfolio acquisitions, distressed and performing debt and joint ventures. Prior to joining Starwood in 2003, Sean worked in mortgage and asset backed finance, first for Prudential Securities Incorporated and then for Fairbanks Capital. Sean received an AB in Economics from Dartmouth College and an MBA from Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

Henri Wilmes is Vice President - Hotel Acquisitions for London and Regional Properties (L+R) and in charge of hotel acquisitions for the group at worldwide level and involved in strategic asset management for the entire hotel portfolio. L+R is one of the largest private real estate funds in Europe with a clear focus on hotel investment. Its hotel portfolio currently consists of 70 hotels located mainly in Europe and in the Caribbean with a combined investment value in excess of GBP 3.0 billion. The aim of L+R is to continue increasing its exposure to the hotel sector during the coming years and is clearly positioned as a "value-added" investor. Since joining L+R in 2011, Henri has been involved in transactions, debt financing and restructurings for a combined value of ca GBP 1.7bn. Henri’s involvement in the execution of asset management strategies led to L+R receiving the HAMA Europe Asset Management Achievement Award 2016 in recognition of its extraordinary achievements and value creation at the Intercontinental Dublin. Previous to joining L+R, Henri worked before for five years in financial and strategic advisory to the real estate and hospitality sectors in Spain with a focus on M&A and debt restructuring. Henri is a MSc in Finance graduate from London Business School and holds a BSc in Hospitality Management from Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne.

Mr. Greenway is an Associate Director in the London office of HFF specializing in institutional-grade assets and developments across Europe and North America, with a particular focus on structured finance. He joined the firm’s Dallas office in 2013, moved to the Los Angeles office in 2014, and subsequently moved to HFF’s newly opened London office in 2017 to help establish the office’s debt and equity placement platform. During his tenure with HFF, Mr. Greenway has contributed to the permanent, bridge, construction, mezzanine and joint venture equity placement of mixed-use, retail, office, multi-housing, industrial, hospitality, single tenant, land and data center assets totaling in excess of $5.75 billion.

Melanie is a Partner and head of DWF's Global Real Estate Sector. She has over ten years' experience of working on the investment and funding of real estate development projects and property tax driven transactions, particularly within the real estate, hospitality and public sectors. She sits on the Board of Directors of the Colmore Business District 'BID', which is a Business Improvement District within Birmingham City Centre, comprising key members of the business community working collectively to invest in projects and services to improve the business environment.

Ben is an Associate Director in the EMEA Hotel Investment Advisory team. Ben’s experience includes feasibility and advisory studies, commercial due diligence exercises and strategic business reviews for a wide array of hotel projects across the EMEA region with specific specialisation in the Luxury segment. He joined CBRE Hotels in 2013 after holding a number of management positions with Fairmont Hotels and Resorts at hotels such as The Savoy London, The Plaza New York and Fairmont Singapore. Ben has a BSc Hospitality and Business Management from Hotelschool The Hague, The Netherlands, has a CSSGB in Quality Management from the American Society for Quality and has completed Cornell’s Certificate Program in Hotel Real Estate Investments and Asset Management.