4th Annual Los Angeles Hospitality Development Boom!

Rob shares overall leadership for the firm with his brother and Co-CEO, Mike Lowe. Rob focuses on operations both at the corporate level and across its real estate activities. Additionally, Rob and Mike co-chair the firm’s wholly owned hospitality affiliate, CoralTree Hospitality Group. He is a past Trustee and President of the Palisades Presbyterian Church, is currently on the Board of Managers at the Palisades-Malibu YMCA, and is an active member of Urban Land Institute. Rob is an avid surfer and enjoys travel with his family. Education: Stanford University, AB; University of California, Los Angeles, MBA

Jay Newman joined The Athens Group in 2000 as Chief Operating Officer where he focuses on the company’s financial affairs and development opportunities. He has more than 32 years of experience in commercial real estate including development along with entitlements and design, acquisitions, joint ventures, finance and dispositions. Jay is primarily responsible for managing the acquisition and financing of many of The Athens Group's projects including the raising of equity capital. In addition, Jay was primarily responsible for the development and financing of the mixed-use Montage Beverly Hills in California and the acquisition, re-entitlement and redesign of the West Hollywood mixed-use Edition project and is currently engaged in the planning and entitlement for the re-development of the Miramar Hotel in Santa Monica. In 1993, Jay was one of the founding members of the national real estate law firm of Pircher, Nichols & Meeks based in Los Angeles where he was a managing partner and a real estate transactional attorney. In 1995, he joined Highridge Partners in Los Angeles as Senior Vice President of the Summit Commercial Properties Division, where he focused on the purchasing, repositioning, leasing, management and sale of shopping centers and office buildings on both a one-off and portfolio basis. Jay was one of the founders of Lend Lease Development (US) in 1996, where he focused on the development of resorts (including The Ritz-Carlton in Half Moon Bay, California), shopping centers and office buildings. As Senior Vice President of Lend Lease Real Estate Investments, Inc., and a member of the Lend Lease Lodging Group, he focused on the development of new hotels and resorts throughout the United States and was primarily responsible for the creation of the Resort Development Program. Jay received his undergraduate degree in applied economics (summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa) from the University of California at Berkeley in 1978, and his MBA and Juris Doctorate degree from Stanford University in 1982. He is a guest lecturer at the UCLA School of Public Policy and Planning and a frequent speaker at ULI, Meet the Money, Bisnow, the Southern California Development Forum and CLE International. Jay sits on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee for the Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce, the Board of Directors of the Beverly Hills Conference and Visitors Bureau, and the Board of Directors of Beverly Hills Rotary. Jay is also actively involved in Imagine LA. Jay and his family reside in Los Angeles, California.

“Bud” Ovrom is the Executive Director of Mayor Eric Garcetti’s new Los Angeles Department of Convention & Tourism Development. Mr. Ovrom has been tasked with turning the Convention Center into an economic engine for the City, with initiatives such as the proposed NFL stadium, privatizing the day-to-day management of the Convention Center, expanding the Center and promoting the construction of more hotels. This is Mr. Ovrom’s fourth executive position since coming to the City of Los Angeles 11 years ago. Mr. Ovrom was the Chief Executive Officer of the Redevelopment Agency (CRA/LA) in the Hahn Administration from 2003 to 2005. When Antonio Villaraigosa was elected Mayor in 2005, he asked Mr. Ovrom to join his Administration as Deputy Mayor of Economic Development. At the end of his first term, Mayor Villaraigosa asked him to stay on as General Manager of the Building and Safety Department. Prior to coming to Los Angeles, Ovrom was the City Manager of the City of Burbank for 18 years. Ovrom also held City Manager positions in Downey and Monrovia, and started his career as Assistant to the City Manager of Simi Valley in 1970.

David Hart is the President and CEO of Steinberg Hart, an international Architecture, Interiors, and Planning firm headquartered in Los Angeles. Founded in 1953, the firm’s seven offices focus on higher education, urban mixed-use residential, performing and visual arts, hospitality, government, civic and commercial projects. David developed Steinberg Hart’s reputation as a leader in Higher Education through the design of inspirational, sustainable projects that shape the way students learn and socialize for institutions such as Stanford, UCLA, and USC. He now leads the firm’s large-scale mixed-use practice in urban cores, with projects such as Los Angeles’ Vision on Wilshire and San Jose’s Miro Towers. Leveraging his experience working with public agencies, institutions, builders, and developers, he works to advance complex public-private-partnership projects with an emphasis on responsible density, affordability, community impact and value creation for clients. As a thought leader, David speaks regularly at conferences both nationally and locally, including Greenbuild, P3C, SCUP, Educause, and NACUBO, and he has been tapped by publications such as GlobeSt, Monocle, the Silicon Valley Business Journal, and Bloomberg CityLab for his insights on design and urban issues of our time. David serves on the ULI Urban Revitalization Council, the Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics Policy Advisory Board at the University of California at Berkeley, the Los Angeles Business Council Board of Directors, and the Silicon Valley Leadership Group.

As Vice President of the California Buildings District, Jack oversees all of PCL Construction’s building operations in Los Angeles, Orange County, and San Diego. He began with PCL as an intern on the UCLA Anderson Graduate School of Management in 1993. Upon graduating with a degree in Civil Engineering from UCLA, he transitioned to working full-time in the field on such notable projects as STAPLES Center. He served many roles for the company over the years including Project Manager, Manager of Special Projects, and Director of Business Development, until assuming PCL’s leadership role in Los Angeles in 2013 and overseeing such high profile projects as Universal Studios Wizarding World of Harry Potter. PCL’s current projects include the Banc of California Stadium for LAFC, UCLA Anderson School of Management Addition, LAX Midfield Satellite Concourse, and Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine.

Alan X. Reay is the president and founder of Atlas Hospitality Group (Atlas). Atlas has closed over $4.5 billion in California hotel sales and is considered the “expert” on the California hotel market. Reay has an extensive hotel industry background, including serving as the director of sales with London-based ABC International Hotel Guide. In that position, Reay established contacts from all over the world. Reay has tracked the hotel market for decades and is quoted extensively within the hotel trade and general press. He publishes biannual reports covering California hotel sales and development, along with two monthly newsletters, one geared toward hotel owners and the other for lenders. Atlas has received coverage from numerous publications, including the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Businessweek, Forbes, Los Angeles Times, The Orange County Register, The San Francisco Chronicle and The San Diego Union-Tribune. Reay has also appeared on KCBS Radio, KTLA Channel 5 News and National Public Radio. A regular guest speaker at numerous trade events as well as the Southern California Appraisal Institute, Reay is often retained as an expert witness for important hotel-related legal cases. Reay has represented major clients such as Wells Fargo Bank, Pacific Western Bank, Corporex, Sunstone Hotels and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). He has also closed transactions with some of the largest special servicers in the country, including LNR, CWCapital and Helios AMC.

Ellen joined Ollie in July 2016 to lead the expansion strategy for the co-living platform on the West Coast. Ellen’s experience in urban development, specifically on key projects in the Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) renaissance, confirmed her belief in the future for micro-unit development and coliving in the residential sector. Before joining Ollie, Ellen served as associate development manager for Mack Urban’s DTLA multifamily high-rise development. Prior to her work in project management, Ellen played a key role on the JLL Development Asset Strategy team, a national land and development brokerage group. As a senior analyst, Ellen focused on complex multi-phase redevelopment feasibility, including the $6 billion, 8,000-unit master plan for Treasure and Yerba Buena Islands in San Francisco, California. In 2014, Ellen received a Community Impact Award from the Los Angeles Business Council for her work supporting revitalization of the Los Angeles River and river adjacent neighborhoods. Ellen began her career as a sustainability associate with Krout & Associates, a Southern California strategic planning group, advising on climate adaptation and mitigation strategies for West Coast cities. Her core value system remains rooted in sustainable development, informing her support for the future of coliving. Ellen Parry holds a Master’s of Planning with Deans Merit Scholar distinction from the University of Southern California (USC) and a USC Bachelor’s degree in International Relations.