San Francisco's Hospitality Boom

Since becoming President and CEO, Joe D’Alessandro has driven San Francisco Travel to adopt the city’s ethos of community, innovation, and openness. Joe led the creation of San Francisco’s Tourism Improvement District, grew visitation to San Francisco by nearly 30%, completed a massive expansion of its convention center, and rebranded the association, charting an ambitious course for its next 100 years. Joe also serves on the executive committees for U.S. Travel and Visit California. He was inducted into US Travel’s Hall of Leaders in 2020 and awarded the 2020 Destination Organization Leadership Award by Destinations International. He was also named 2014’s Most Admired CEO by The San Francisco Business Times.

A highly energetic, highly spirited, innovative professional with 25 years of executive management experience who enjoys the challenge of working in an exciting, entrepreneurial-focused organization with a team environment. Excellent leadership, marketing, organization and communication skills. Perceptive problem-solver able to evaluate trends quickly and respond promptly. Able to provide the strategic vision and tactical ability to maximize shareholder value, enhance P&L scenario, build dedicated teams, and penetrate competitive markets. Through experience and educational pursuits, recognized as a leader in sales, marketing, general management as well as resort and hotel development.

MARRIOTT INTERNATIONAL, INC. (2006-Present) Area Vice President, Lodging Development Director, Development Planning & Feasibility INTERCONTINENTAL HOTELS GROUP, Atlanta, GA Associate Director, Asset Management Director, Staybridge Suites Brand Development & Analysis Director, Market Planning Analyst, Market Planning ARTHUR ANDERSEN, Los Angeles, CA Hospitality Consultant WESTIN HOTELS & RESORTS, San Francisco, CA Systems Specialist, Westin San Francisco Airport Hotel Night Manager, Westin St. Francis Hotel Management Trainee, Westin St. Francis Hotel EDUCATION- Bachelor of Arts, University of California, Berkeley

As Principal, Alex Samek is responsible for creating and executing Kor’s strategy for commercial investment, acquisition and development. This includes optimizing the value of Kor’s current property portfolio, and identifying and securing future acquisitions and business development opportunities. Since joining Kor in 2004, Alex has overseen more than $600 million in acquisitions and development for the company, including hospitality, multifamily and residential projects in the US and the Caribbean. Prior to joining Kor, Alex invested more than $100 million in equity to acquire and integrate six companies while at North Castle Partners, a private equity firm with more than $500 million under management. While in the Technology Corporate Finance Group at NationsBank/Bank of America, Alex raised more than $600 million of capital to finance highly leveraged transactions for financial sponsors and provided more than $1 billion of debt financing for technology companies. Alex earned a BSBA from Washington University and an MBA from Columbia Business School. Alex is based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Bringing a wealth of experience in real estate acquisition, development, leasing and financing, Todd has overseen over $1 billion in real estate throughout his career. With a degree from Santa Clara as a Juris Doctorate, Todd is a passionate deal maker at heart and is inspired by structuring joint ventures and complex business deals that take him to the places he loves. Prior to joining the JMA team, Todd practiced law at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe along with Allen Matkins Leck Gamble & Mallory. He also served as JMA’s primary outside counsel for over six years in addition to representing other large institutional and development clients throughout the United States. Todd sits on the Advisory Board of Squaw Valley Holding Company, the board of a private educational institution in San Francisco and is a member of and contributing author to the California State Bar Real Property Section and various other real estate and investment trade groups. Todd is also passionate about sports and athletics having captained the rugby team during his time at Boston College. Education: B.S. from Boston College; Juris Doctorate from Santa Clara University

Robert D. Kline '84 is the CEO and Co-Founder of the Chartres Lodging Group, LLC, a private equity investment firm he formed in 2002; and is Co-Founder/Chairman of Sightline Hospitality, LLC, formed in 2005 as a property manager. Kline is recognized as a proactive investor and a pioneering asset manager in the lodging sector. He has been an early cyclical investor in turnaround hotels and resorts. Kline was among the first investors to evolve an institutionally recognized program of asset management systems and procedures and is a Founding Director of the Hospitality Asset Managers Association. Kline began his career in 1984 upon graduating from Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration (SHA) and has since led over $12 billion in transactional activity. He founded the preeminent lodging investment practice under The Yarmouth Group/Lend Lease, and conducted extensive business throughout the U.S., Asia, Mexico, and Europe. Kline previously served as the initial head of acquisitions for Strategic Hotel Capital, where he oversaw the purchase of $2 billion of luxury hotels. In 1998 he began investing directly as a principal and has successfully invested over $6 billion of capital. Mr. Kline sits on the boards of the American Hotel & Lodging Association, and WildCare of the Bay Area. He’s an Advisory Board Member of Cornell’s Center for Real Estate Finance and the Dean’s Advisory Board. He established No Reservations Giving Foundation and sits on the Hotel Investment Roundtable where he developed the Lodging Confidence Meter in 2010. Mr. Kline is a frequent lecturer and contributing author to Hotel Asset Management, and spearheaded HAMA’s first international expansion into Japan and the creation of the Certified Hotel Asset Manager program.

Mr. Grenfell has over 17 years of experience in the environmental and transactional due diligence consulting industry and has worked in various disciplines, including regulatory compliance, EH&S, asbestos abatement and air monitoring, Tier II reporting, in addition to his core competency in environmental and physical due diligence practices, including Phase I ESAs, Phase II ESAs, Property Condition Assessments (PCAs), and Seismic Risk Assessments (SRAs). Mr. Grenfell’s primary area of expertise is in the environmental due diligence field, where he has performed and/or managed thousands of Phase I ESAs and physical diligence projects, including multiple large multi-site due diligence portfolios. Mr. Grenfell currently works as a relationship manager providing consulting services and transactional due diligence solutions to a variety of client types, including banks, insurance lenders, brokers, developers, individual investors, and equity/institutional investors. Mr. Grenfell’s experience allows him to provide risk-based solutions with a keen understanding of environmental and physical due diligence risk as it relates to specific stakeholders within a particular transaction. Mr. Grenfell enjoys assisting his clients in meeting their goals by providing well documented reports and risk-based solutions that allow his clients to make sound risk management decisions and close deals.

As Founder and CEO of Synapse Development Group, Justin directs the continued growth and vision of the company, while overseeing all aspects of Synapse’s real estate investments. Prior to co-founding Synapse, Justin served as Assistant Vice President at Lehman Brothers, where he oversaw the work-out and repositioning of a 1,300-unit multi-family portfolio in New York City, as well as the foreclosure and restructuring of a large mixed-use development portfolio totaling 1.4 million square feet of development rights located in New York and Washington, D.C. At Lehman, Justin completed more than $75 million in construction projects, primarily in New York City. Justin began his career in real estate at Clarion Partners (formally ING Clarion), a global real estate investment management firm with $36 billion in assets under management. While at Clarion, Justin served as a Portfolio Analyst and was a member of the Lion Value Fund portfolio management team. Justin earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and macroeconomics with honors from the Weissman School of Arts and Sciences at Bernard Baruch College (CUNY).

Bill Strang serves as President of the Americas’ Operations for TOTO USA and Chairman of TOTO Mexico. In these capacities, he is responsible for all of TOTO’s North American operations, including supply chain, design and development engineering, quality, ISO, environmental resource management, and management of TOTO’s five North American plants with 1.8 million sf under roof. Under Bill’s leadership, TOTO has received numerous awards and recognitions for its leadership in environmental resource conservation, including the U.S. EPA’s Water Efficiency Leadership award (TOTO is the only plumbing manufacturer so honored); former Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue’s Water Conservation Leadership award; the South face Sustainable Homebuilders’ Argon* award; the City of Atlanta’s Phoenix Award, and the Chattahoochee Riverkeeper’s River Sustainability award. Recently, the Brookings Institution distinguished TOTO for its leadership in Clean Economy jobs creation.

Tom has more than 25 years of professional experience as an architect, serving as the design and entitlements lead on a variety of building scales and project types, predominantly focused on urban markets. Tom has deep experience in several market sectors, including large-scale mixed use; multi-family residential; pre-development services; and branded resort, residential and hospitality projects. Evident throughout his portfolio is his focused effort in coordinating a variety of domestic and international sustainability standards, introducing clients to innovative green technologies and incorporating local cultures and lifestyles to fully realize unique, relevant and responsible design. What excites Tom about design is the process itself. “The dynamics of the team approach to design, being around creative people and leading the effort to blend diverse viewpoints and backgrounds into unique and cohesive ideas, is my focus,” says Tom.