NYC's Hospitality Climate

Matt Levine (born February 17, 1982) is an American entrepreneur and restaurateur known for his ventures in branding and hospitality. Matt Levine is the owner of SoHo market to table restaurant, Chalk Point Kitchen and classic cocktail lounge and piano bar The Handy Liquor Bar, Levine owns a leading downtown New York City inspired food and beverage company, indieFORK. Known as one of the forerunners of New York City progression, Matt Levine has led some of the most popular restaurants in Manhattan to success over the last decade. Previously, Levine was the owner of the Lower East Side Manhattan lounge, The Eldridge, and creator of Steelo', a high-end men's clothing collection. Levine's hospitality portfolio also includes NYC restaurant Sons of Essex. Acclaimed Food & Beverage website Culintro praised Levine commenting “Levine’s restaurants are high-profile and highly creative in both concept and execution.” His other venture, Brandsway Creative, is a branding & marketing firm based out of Manhattan, New York.

He has a national practice and possesses a unique understanding of the core business needs of his clients. David consistently receives high praise from both his clients and opposing counsel for his breadth of knowledge and ability to navigate complex negotiations. His client base includes developers, landlords, tenants, entrepreneurs, investors, and other parties, whom he represents in a variety of real estate related matters including shopping center, office and residential development, sales, acquisitions and leasing, including underlying corporate work pertaining to partnerships and joint ventures. He also has extensive experience in the real estate matters of restaurants, bars and nightclubs, including signature restaurants of several of the top chefs in the world. David is long standing member of the International Council of Shopping Centers. He is a frequent continuing legal education presenter on a variety of real estate topics, including sustainable initiatives and in-depth analysis of specific developments, the issues encountered and the impact on surrounding areas.

Brad Wilson is President and co-Partner of Atelier Ace. His first jobs in hospitality were with Hilton International, Park Hyatt, and Westin. He was recruited to launch the first W Hotel and helped guide the fledgling Starwood brand’s early days, rising to Vice President of Operations for W Worldwide. From there, he helped build James Hotels from the ground up, serving as CEO. Wilson attended Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration.

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.

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.

Jamie Hodari is the CEO and Co-founder of Industrious, the largest premium workplace provider in the U.S. Under his leadership, Industrious has grown to over 95 locations across more than 50 cities, achieving the best unit economics in the industry, and pioneering the evolution to landlord partnerships over traditional leases. Prior to Industrious, Jamie was CEO of Kepler, a hedge fund analyst at Birch Run Capital, a corporate lawyer at Sullivan & Cromwell, and a reporter for the Times of India. He holds a J.D. from Yale Law School, an M.P.P. from Harvard University, and a B.A. from Columbia University.

Ray joined The Johnson Studio at Cooper Carry as Director of Design,where he leads the restaurant, hospitality interiors and club design studio. He has a broad range of design experience, from restaurants, hotels and casinos, to cruise ships, museums and children’s hospitals. He has worked on projects across the country, as well as in South America, Europe, Africa and Asia. Building memorable, immersive destinations has been the focus of Ray’s career. He believes in storytelling as an organizing principle in design, and through unique stories he brings out each project’s own sense of place and character. Ray received his B.A. cum laude from Yale University and Master of Architecture from The Graduate School of Design at Harvard University.

Jack Pulvirenti, an Audit Partner, member of the Executive Committee, and the Hospitality Practice Leader at Berdon LLP, has been with the firm since 1988. A specialist in the hospitality and real estate industries, with a focus on closely held businesses, he also advises clients in retail, distribution, and professional services.

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.

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.

Bruce Bronster, Partner with Windels Marx, represents prominent restaurants, investors, night clubs, celebrity chefs, prominent food purveyors and distributors, industry personalities, fashion designers and supermodels, actors and others on hospitality projects and legal concerns. Follow Bruce on Instagram @brucebronster for pictorial insights on his world of travel, flavor and noteworthy friends.