Mid-Atlantic Hospitality Summit

David Pepper is chief development officer for worldwide lodging franchisor Choice Hotels International, Inc. A member of the senior executive team, he is responsible for driving unit growth for each of the company’s brands in key markets worldwide. Mr. Pepper has been responsible for leading franchise sales to record levels during his tenure at Choice. Mr. Pepper joined Choice in 2002 as vice president of franchise sales and development for the company’s new construction brands, and became senior vice president of franchise development for North America in 2004. In this role, Mr. Pepper led Choice’s acquisition of Suburban Extended Stay, and served as an integral part of the team that launched the Cambria hotels & suites brand. While adding these brands to the Choice portfolio, Mr. Pepper took on additional roles in brand strategy and operations of the company’s upscale and extended-stay brands, including marketing, design and construction, franchise development, franchise services and quality assurance. Mr. Pepper was named to his current position as chief development officer in November 2015 after serving as senior vice president, global franchise development, since 2009. Prior to Choice, Mr. Pepper spent six years with US Franchise Systems as vice president of franchise sales for Hawthorn Suites and Microtel Inns. He also spent five years with Holiday Inn Worldwide as director of franchise sales. A graduate of Tufts University, Mr. Pepper has over 25 years of experience in the hospitality industry and is actively involved in a number of industry organizations, including the NYU International Hospitality Industry Investment Conference, UJA-Hospitality Division and was past Chairman of the Council of Inn and Suites for the American Hotel and Lodging Association.

James (Jim) Tierney is the Senior Vice President of Development and Owner Relations for Hyatt, responsible for the growth of Hyatt’s top-performing select service brands: Hyatt Place, Hyatt House, Caption by Hyatt and Hyatt Studios in North America. Tierney has been instrumental in helping strategically expand the Hyatt Place and Hyatt House brands into locations where Hyatt’s loyal guests and members are traveling including many new markets for Hyatt such as Montréal, Québec, Panama City Beach, Fla., Sacramento, Calif., Virginia Beach, Va., and more. He also helped launch Hyatt Studios, Hyatt’s first upper midscale extended-stay brand, in April 2023 and just celebrated the inaugural groundbreaking of the first in Mobile AL in November 2023. Tierney joined Hyatt in 2014 and previously served as Hyatt’s Vice President of Development and Owner Relations where he led a team responsible for the development and growth of the Hyatt Place and Hyatt House brands in the Eastern half of the United States. Prior to joining Hyatt, Tierney served as Director of Development for Cambria Suites at Choice Hotels International. Tierney earned a B.A. in history from Tufts University and holds a M.B.A. from Babson College Graduate School of Business. He lives in Potomac, Maryland with his wife, daughter and black Labrador Penny.

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.

As Principal of Lessard Design, Joseph Ahmadi brings his experience with various projects within diverse markets, including but not limited to multifamily, adaptive reuse, student housing, planning and new construction of retail and entertainment-driven mixed-use environments. Joseph is a licensed architect registered in numerous states and has more than 20 years of professional experience in the industry from project conception through completion. He has a unique perspective on design, having studied and lived overseas, in addition to almost ten years of experience with international clients.

As a valued team member of clients in the real estate and hospitality industries, Rori is able to leverage her understanding of their business concerns and objectives with her deep experience and current market knowledge to navigate her clients from term sheet to closing of complex commercial transactions. Recently, Rori has been speaking to clients and the real estate community on the uptick in preferred equity transactions, sharing the depth of her experience with both joint ventures and financings and offering guidance on these transactions. She represents local and national developers, REITs, institutional equity investors, institutional and non-institutional lenders, and hotel owners and operators with their commercial real estate development and finance transactions. These transactions involve a variety of asset types, including mixed-use development, office, retail, hotel, condominium, multifamily and residential and commercial property. Working with clients across the United States, she assists both borrowers and lenders on financings, and hotel owners and operators on the negotiation of managements and license agreements. Additionally, she partners with clients on real estate acquisitions, dispositions, workouts, and equity and debt participations. Rori is a frequent speaker and panelist on the hospitality industry and preferred equity transactions. Relevant Experience Represented Hersha Hospitality Trust on its sale of seven Manhattan limited-service hotels to a joint venture between Hersha and Cindat Capital Management Ltd., in a transaction valued at $571.4 million. The transaction included senior and mezzanine financing in an aggregate amount of $335 million from Natixis Real Estate Capital LLC and Oaktree Capital Management, L.P. Represented leading private equity firm in the acquisition of 38 limited service and extended stay hotels, 4,950 rooms, for $590 million, and negotiation of mortgage and mezzanine financing from two major financial institutions and the securitization of the mortgage and a mezzanine tier. Represented a major insurance company with a preferred equity investment in the construction of a 391-key nationally branded hotel in Chicago, Illinois for total project cost of $113 million. Represented a major insurance company with a $150 million preferred equity investment in the acquisition and renovation of an office building in Chicago, Illinois. Represented a major insurance company with a preferred equity investment in the renovation of two well-known Walt Disney World hotels in Orlando, Florida. Represented a national lending institution with a preferred equity investment in the acquisition and development of a mixed-use property in New York City for a total project cost of $87 million. Represented a joint venture in the acquisition of a 34-story, one million square foot skyscraper in Boston, Massachusetts for $561 million. Represented an institutional lender with the $159.5 million mortgage and mezzanine financing of a historic hotel in Washington, DC. The transaction included the sale of one of the floors as an air space parcel to a vacation club and the negotiation of the documents governing the relationship between the hotel and vacation club. Represented a major insurance company with the upsizing of a $177 million preferred equity interest in a hotel located in the heart of New York City’s Times Square. Advised Israel Discount Bank of New York with a $31.5 million mortgage loan to Berit Realty LLC, owner of SIXTY hotel 6 Columbus, located at 6 Columbus Circle (308 West 58th Street), New York City. Representation of an operator in the negotiation of a joint venture agreement for the acquisition and development of a to-be-constructed 128-room Mondrian hotel in the Old City of Istanbul, Turkey. Representation of an operator in the acquisition, lease and management negotiations with respect to food and beverage operations at Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas, Nevada, and related documentation and negotiation with respect to Delano, Las Vegas, Nevada. Representation of a developer in the negotiation of a purchase and sale agreement for the acquisition of a newly constructed 185-room Hyatt Place in New York City (Midtown). Representation of an owner in the negotiation of management and license agreements for a Crowne Plaza in Charlotte, North Carolina. Representation of a developer in the negotiation of management and license agreements for a Courtyard by Marriott in College Park, Maryland. Representation of a joint venture in the negotiation of a $350 million loan secured by the St. Regis in Laguna Beach, California. Representation of a joint venture in the negotiation of a $201 million loan secured by the Anaheim Hilton in Anaheim, California, and negotiated the joint venture agreement and related documents on behalf of the developer. Representation of equity in the refinance of a $250 million loan secured by the historic and award-winning Washington Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, in Washington, DC. Representation of a joint venture in the acquisition and $130 million financing of a 35-acre mixed-use development project (including hotel and branded residences as well as commercial, retail and residential) in Huntington Beach, California, known as Pacific City, and negotiated the joint venture agreement and related documents on behalf of the developer. Representation of equity in the acquisition of a 20-acre mixed-used development project (including retail, restaurant, hotel, entertainment, commercial, residential, education and civic space) in Miami, Florida, known as Miami Worldcenter, and negotiated the joint venture agreement and related documents on behalf of equity. Representation of a developer in the $46 million refinance of a GSA leased office building in Washington, DC. Representation of a developer in the restructure of a $200 million real estate portfolio of undeveloped land, hotels, mixed-use, office and development holdings in California and Texas. Representation of an equity investor in a $262 million purchase of two office buildings and a development parcel located in Washington, DC.

Dave Pollin is the Co-Founder and President of The Buccini/Pollin Group (“BPG”), co- headquartered in Washington, DC and Wilmington, DE. He also serves as Chairman of PM Hotel Group, the hotel management affiliate of BPG. Mr. Pollin leads the firms’ hotel acquisition, development and capital markets efforts. The Buccini/Pollin Group has acquired and developed over $5 billion of properties in every real estate asset class throughout the United States since its founding in 1993. BPG is the developer, owner and operator of over 50 hotels, seven million square feet of office space, 15 major residential communities, numerous retail properties, and multiple sports/entertainment venues. Among BPG’s affiliates, PM Hotel Group manages 60+ hotels and over $600mm of managed revenue, ranking it as the 15th largest independent hotel management company in the US (pmhotegroup.com). BPGS Construction has 60+ associates focused on general contracting, tenant improvements and owner representation services (bpgsconstruction.com). BPG 360 develops and manages office projects for BPG (bpg360.com), while Reside BPG oversees the company’s multi-family residential efforts (residebpg.com). Corten Real Estate Partners was formed in 2018 to be BPG’s discretionary fund vehicle and has several investments closed or in the pipeline. The principals of BPG are also co-founders and owners of Major League Soccer’s Philadelphia Union, having developed and constructed Talen Energy Stadium, the team’s home field in Chester, Pennsylvania. Mr. Pollin’s current affiliations include: Cornell University School of Hotel Administration’s Dean’s Advisory Board; Cornell University Council; Vice President of the Economic Club of Washington; Trustee of the Federal City Council; Trustee of The Holton Arms School in Bethesda, Maryland; Canopy by Hilton’s Owner Advisory Council; Education Chair of YPO Gold US Capital Chapter; and Founding Board Member of Founders Bank in Washington, DC. In years past, Mr. Pollin served on the Monument Bank (now Revere Bank) Board of Directors; Starwood Hotels & Resorts North American Owner’s Advisory Council; Owner Advisory Council of Hilton’s Embassy Suites brand; Co-Founder and President of the Board of Starlight Children’s Foundation MidAtlantic; and Regional Chair of the Northeast US Region of the Young Presidents Organization. Prior to co- founding The Buccini/Pollin Group and PM Hotel Group, Mr. Pollin was a consultant with Laventhol & Horwath and worked in operations with Westin and Sheraton. David Pollin graduated from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration.

Leader with over 20 years of experience in five stars Hotel operation in varied locations in Europe and USA with demonstrated success in leading and motivating teams, delivering results, developing and training, achieving high guest satisfaction ratings in heavily unionized environment while enhancing asset value by effectively controlling costs and improving productivity.

Jason Millhouse is the Washington, DC Managing Director of ZDS Architecture and Interiors, a dynamic multidisciplinary design firm specializing in bold and timeless spaces for the hospitality, commercial, and higher education sectors. For over 20 years, Jason has championed the creation of unparalleled guest experiences. Harnessing an invaluable background––overseeing design management in-house for prominent, luxury and lifestyle hotel brands––Jason brings to the design process a zealous curiosity with an authenticity of perspective. He has overseen the curation of spaces that are simultaneously innovative, imaginative, and impactful, approaching each client partnership with a commitment to creative exploration. Jason's unique expertise, coupled with his passion for architecture and design, is a significant asset in shaping the success of ZDS’ presence within the industry. As Managing Director, he oversees operations and development within ZDS’s Washington, DC office, while collaborating closely with creatives in the firm's Providence, Rhode Island office to inspire innovation across their national portfolios. This inclusive approach to design forms the bedrock of ZDS's vibrant culture, driving team excellence in pushing the boundaries of what's possible for every project. Prior to joining ZDS, Jason was the Director of Design Management for IHG Hotels and Resorts’ Luxury, Lifestyle, and Premium Brands, which include Regent, InterContinental, Hotel Indigo, and IHG’s newest luxury collection brand, The Vignette Collection. Prior to IHG, Jason spent more than a decade with Marriott International and The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company in the Global Design Department, where he led the design of many high-profile projects. Jason holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Architecture from Rice University, as well as a Master of Science in Real Estate Development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is a registered architect and member of the American Institute of Architects.

Amy began her role with HR Construction Group in August 2020 as their new National Director of Business Development, bringing 25+ years of business development experience to the team. Amy is responsible for driving her company’s go-to-market strategy in the hospitality, restaurant, multi-family, and retail markets by strengthening relationships with key clients while also earning new clients through networking and client-focused events. Her role involves creating and updating sales processes and reporting. She works closely with both Estimating and Project Management teams to develop long-term strategies that will increase company revenues through existing and new opportunities. Amy builds plans and programs to drive business into new markets by supporting strategic partnerships with third-party project management groups and owner`s representatives. Outside of work, Amy can be found running and training for local and regional races, giving away tons of vegetables from her home garden, making a mess while abstract painting, cooking creatively, listening (and dancing) to music, golfing, playing Catan, and spending quality time with her husband, daughter, close friends, and their furry pets.