6th Annual Hotel Investment and Development Forum

Steven Witkoff is Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of the firm, which he founded in 1997. With his extensive experience in all aspects of the development process, from financing and acquisitions through construction, he has successfully led the repositioning of over 70 properties comprising some 18 million square feet in major central business districts in the U.S. and abroad. Before founding the firm, Mr. Witkoff co-founded Stellar Management Company, where he acquired and repositioned a portfolio of residential buildings in New York City. Prior to Stellar Management Company, Mr. Witkoff practiced as an attorney in real estate law at Dreyer & Traub and Rosenman & Colin, where he represented a number of large developers and investors. Mr. Witkoff earned a J.D. from Hofstra University. He has served on the Executive Committee for the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) as a trustee for the Intrepid Foundation, and as a board member for the Jeffrey Modell Foundation. Mr. Witkoff currently serves as Chairman of the University of Miami Business School Real Estate Advisory Board and is a member of the Hofstra University Board of Trustees. He is a widely sought-after public speaker on trends in global real estate.

Kimberly Wachen advises major publicly traded corporations, investors and lenders on the structuring, negotiating and closing of complex real estate, finance and corporate transactions. Her approach to practicing law is to partner with her clients and deliver high quality work under tight deadlines while being sensitive to costs. She is recognized as one of the top real estate lawyers in the country by Chambers USA, Legal 500, and leading industry publications. She is a partner in the firm’s business department and real estate group, and chairs the firm’s hospitality industry practice group.

Jay Stein is Chief Executive Officer at Dream Hotel Group, responsible for the successful evolution, growth and expansion efforts of the Company and its portfolio of brands: Dream Hotels, The Chatwal, Unscripted Hotels and new By Dream Hotel Group collection. With over four decades of experience and nearly 30 years with Dream Hotel Group, Stein has worked in a variety of property and corporate roles at some of the world’s leading hospitality groups and boutique lifestyle brands, including Hilton Worldwide, Starwood Hotels & Resorts and Doral Hotels. Jay Stein began his career in 1983 with Hilton Worldwide at the Vista International Hotel in the World Trade Center in New York City. A veteran of food and beverage management, Stein turned his sights to hotel operations in 1987 and quickly rose through the ranks to become Managing Director for three Doral Hotels in New York City. In 1995, after taking two of those properties through the transition to Starwood, Stein stayed on as Area General Manager for almost three years with Starwood. He joined Dream Hotel Group as Executive Vice President of Operations in 1997 and was promoted to Chief Operating Officer soon thereafter overseeing all new and existing hotel operations and playing a vital role in the company’s global expansion efforts. Stein was named Chief Executive Officer in 2015. An engaged professional dedicated to making a difference, Stein is a true ambassador for the industry, having spoken on numerous panels at conferences worldwide and having served as adjunct professor for the Hospitality programs at NYC College of Technology and New York University.

Ashish Lall is Director and Head of Acquisitions and Asset Management. Lall leads and oversees Fortuna’s M&A, Financing and Asset Management efforts. This includes evaluation, due diligence, acquisition and asset management of all real estate opportunities that the firm pursues. Previously, Lall was an investment banker at Cantor Fitzgerald and Credit Suisse, where he was responsible for securing equity and strategic advisory for real estate operators and private equity funds. Lall worked on numerous completed transactions to include M&A assignments, alternative investment funds and structured investment vehicles totaling over $1 billion in transactional volume. Prior to his career in investment banking, Lall was an Officer in the United States Marine Corps and served on active duty for four years. He was deployed to Iraq, Qatar and Kuwait in 2004 as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.Lall graduated with a BA in Economics and Psychology from Johns Hopkins University, earned an MBA from the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business and received a JD from Concord Law School. He is a licensed attorney in the State of California.

Daniel H. Lesser brings more than 30 years of expertise in a wide range of hospitality operational, investment counseling, valuation, advisory, and transactional services. He provides services to corporate, institutional, and individual clients as well as public agencies on all facets of hospitality real estate including: litigation support and expert testimony, site evaluation, highest and best use analysis, appraisals for mortgage, acquisition, and portfolio management, workout strategies, operational analysis, property tax assessment appeal evaluations, economic impact studies, deal structuring, and fairness opinions. Mr. Lesser is a leading authority on hotel feasibility and valuation, and is highly sought after to speak at lodging and real estate events, as well as lectures at prestigious institutions of higher education, including Cornell University, Columbia University and New York University. He is widely published and quoted, and serves as a quarterly columnist for HotelNewsNow.com and GlobeSt.com. Most recently, Mr. Lesser created and served as the Senior Managing Director - Industry Leader of the Hospitality & Gaming Valuation Advisory Services Group at CB Richard Ellis Hotels (CBRE). Prior to joining CBRE, Mr. Lesser founded and led the Hospitality & Gaming Group at Cushman & Wakefield and was a founding member of the team at HVS International. Mr. Lesser has also held operational and administrative positions with Hilton Hotels Corporation and Eurotels - Switzerland. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Hotel Administration from Cornell University, and also attended the Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne, Switzerland and Baruch College - City University of New York. Mr. Lesser holds the following professional designations: MAI (Member of the Appraisal Institute), FRICS (Fellow of The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors), CRE (Counselor of Real Estate), and CHA (Certified Hotel Administrator). Mr. Lesser is a member of and has served on numerous committees for the Counselors of Real Estate, the Appraisal Institute, the American Hotel & Lodging Association, and the Board of Directors of the New York City Chapter of the Cornell Hotel Society. He is a former Advisory Board member and member of the Fundraising Subcommittee for the New York University Preston Robert Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism and Sports Management. Mr. Lesser is a founding member of the Lodging Industry Investment Council (LIIC), the hotel industry “think tank.” Furthermore, Mr. Lesser served as an Honorary Committee Member of the annual UJA - Federation New York Hotel & Hospitality Division Dinner, and is a member of the AIPAC Real Estate Division.

Mark J. Gordon has over 30 years of experience in the hospitality and real estate industry and is widely regarded as an ndustry expert. During his career, he has been actively in development, operations, asset management, acquisitions, renovations, design, construction management, capital raising, financing, sales and advisory. In 2021, Mark co-founded a travel technology platform known as Pinktada. The company has developed game changing technology that uses NFTs and the blockchain to fundamentally enhance the way hotels are marketed and reservations are procured for leisure hotel and resort travel. Mark was most recently Managing Partner of Intrinsic Hotel Capital and Tribeca Associates where he focused on over $1.5 billion of acquisitions and development in Manhattan. Notable projects include the conceptualization, development and ultimate sale of the super luxury Baccarat Hotel & Residences. In addition, he oversaw the adaptive reuse of an office building conversion into the Marriott Residence Inn World Trade Center with destination retail, the development of the 298-key Moxy Hotel Downtown, a mixed-use 30-story hotel and retail tower and the complete renovation and repositioning of two officer towers, 130 West 42 nd Street and 30 Broad Street. Prior to his focus on development and acquisitions, Mark was one of the leading advisors to the hotel industry. He was Managing Partner and Head of the Hospitality Group at Sonnenblick-Goldman, a national real estate investment banking firm. As partner, Mr. Gordon was responsible for overseeing management, sales growth and the ultimate sale of the firm to Cushman & Wakefield. Upon the sale of the company, Mr. Gordon was appointed to head Cushman & Wakefield‘s National Hospitality Practice, a position he held until 2010 when he decided to take his own advice and become a hotel developer and investor. During his advisory career, Mark oversaw many of the hotel industries’ most complex projects including the adaptive reuse and conversion of the Hotel Delmonico to the Trump Park Avenue, creating a joint venture between Loews Hotels and Universal Studios to develop five hotels at Universal Studios Resort in Orlando, recapitalizing Ian Schrager Company, restructuring Denihan Hospitality Group, and the complex sales and financings of hundreds of landmark hotels and resorts located throughout the U.S. Mark has won numerous awards for his accomplishments in the real estate industry including Crain’s “40 under 40”, Americas Lodging Investment Summits “Deal of the Year” and Commercial Property News “Stars to Watch” and is a frequent speaker at hotel and real estate industry events. Mr. Gordon holds a Master’s Degree in Real Estate Finance from New York University and a B.S. in Finance from Ithaca College.

Seth Schumer is the head of U.S. investment at Quadrum Global. He has been with the firm since it spun off from CUBE Capital Limited in 2013. At CUBE, Seth served as director, real assets. Prior to joining CUBE in 2010, Seth worked at Drivers Jonas, where he sourced debt and joint-venture equity for real estate investments. Over the course of his career in commercial and residential real estate, Seth has mastered all facets of the business. While working in London for ABN AMRO, Chase Manhattan Bank and Chemical Bank, he developed expertise in debt financing. During stints at AIG Global Real Estate and Real Estate Capital Partners, he gained management and development insight from the principal equity investor’s perspective. Seth also served as vice president of Blackheath Financial Services LLC, in London, where he oversaw the firm’s real estate underwriting activities. Schumer holds a master’s degree in real estate investment and development from New York University and a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Maryland.

Wayne S. Cook, Jr. represents various institutional lenders in real estate financing transactions, including mortgage loans and mezzanine loans. He also represents clients in connection with construction loans, real estate acquisitions, dispositions, workouts, and restructuring of distressed loans on behalf of borrowers and lenders, and the purchase and sale of various loans. Recently, Mr. Cook's work has included large foreclosure actions and deed in-lieu resolutions in numerous states. Prior to joining Windels Marx, Mr. Cook worked at a boutique general practice firm as an associate where he focused on representing private lenders and developers in real estate matters. He gained valuable finance and capital markets experience at Prudential Securities and Credit Suisse First Boston before attending law school.

Jason joined YOTEL in 2012 to lead the company’s aggressive global growth and development strategy. He heads the acquisitions and development teams responsible for securing new YOTEL projects in key city centres and international airports in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North America. He also manages the design and construction teams responsible for working with YOTEL’s owners and development partners to deliver and evolve the concept as the brand expands. Currently, YOTEL has signed over USD $1.5 billion worth of hotel development projects representing over 3,000 keys set to open by 2018 in markets such as Dubai, Singapore, Paris, London, Geneva, Miami, San Francisco and Boston. Jason joined from Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, where he served in senior roles in acquisitions & development, corporate finance & strategy and real estate investment management. During his tenure at Kimpton, Jason managed acquisitions, dispositions, recapitalizations and financings on behalf of Kimpton’s discretionary private equity real estate funds. Prior to Kimpton, Jason was part of the founding team at the start-up luxury destination club, One Key, and began his professional career as a consultant with Ernst & Young in their Transaction Real Estate & Hospitality group. Over his career, Jason has been involved in over $6 billion of hospitality transactions and is passionate about hospitality entrepreneurship, serving as an advisor to institutionally backed technology start-ups and investors. Jason received his bachelor’s degree in Hotel Administration from Cornell University where he remains involved in the Center for Real Estate and Finance as well as the Pillsbury Institute for Hospitality Entrepreneurship.