Liran Wizman

In a sidestep from a career path as a lawyer and economist and perhaps subconsciously tapping into his creative genes (his mother is an artist) Liran Wizman is renowned for assembling a cast of interesting talents, bringing a feeling of design-led storytelling to all of his hotels. Wizman’s attention to service came as the result of a formative experience staying at London’s Selfridges Hotel as a 12-year old boy. The stuffy, overheated rooms were compensated by what he describes as ‘pleasant, proper and traditional English service’ and it is this lasting impression that continues to inspire and has proved a cornerstone of his business success.

Wizman began his hotel career in 2001, working with an investment group to purchase European hotels with Grand City Hotels Group (GCH), one of the top hotel management companies in Europe. Currently it is the biggest hotel owner-operator group in Germany, with over 65 hotels and 15,500 rooms across Europe. Wizman also founded and chairs the Amsterdam based hotel and development company European Hotels Private Collection (EHPC) which umbrellas design-led lifestyle hotels including Sir Hotels, Max Brown Hotels, W Amsterdam and Park Hotel Amsterdam; His portfolio now stands at 26 hotels and restaurants with several new properties set to open across Europe by 2020.

Nikola Reid

Nikola is a Director in Deloitte’s Hospitality Advisory team, part of Deloitte’s global THL (Tourism, Hospitality & Leisure) industry group, which provides consulting, corporate finance, tax and assurance services to owners, operators, lenders and investors in the sector.

Nikola has over 11 years of global experience in the industry working with a wide spectrum of hotel clients including PE, SWF, institutional, HNWIS as well as investors, lenders, developers and operators. She has been involved in major restructurings and acquisitions in the European hotel market, and has provided bid support and due diligence across the US, Europe, Middle East and Asia. Nikola has spoken at major industry events and has regularly been quoted in financial and trade press. She also sits on Deloitte UK’s THL executive board and is a member of the International Hotel Investment Council.

Torgeir Silseth

Silseth’s first hotel related work experience was as a chef at Union Hotell in Geiranger, an effort that led to a prestigious trainee position at the hotel Vier Jahrezeite in Hamburg. In 1991, he became General Manager at Quality Hotel Hafjell and held this position until 1996, when he was made Operations Manager for Choice Hotels Scandinavia (later Nordic Choice Hotels). In 1999, Silseth was named deputy CEO, and in 2006 he replaced Petter Stordalen as CEO of the company, while retaining a close work relationship with the owner and chairman of the board of Nordic Choice Hotels.

Silseth is educated at the Norwegian School of Hotel Management, and has also served as a UN peacekeeper in Lebanon.

Carlton C. Ervin

Carlton has led Marriott and Ritz-Carlton’s development efforts in Europe since 2009, and currently has the position of Chief Development Officer, Europe.

From 2002 to 2008, he held the positions of VP and then SVP of Caribbean & Latin American Development for Marriott & Ritz-Carlton.

Before joining Marriott’s Lodging Development Department in 2000, Carlton worked as a development attorney for Marriott's Legal Department, focusing on transactions in the Caribbean & Latin America. Before joining Marriott, Carlton was an associate in the corporate banking division of Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett in New York City from 1996-2000.

Carlton holds a JD (cum laude) from Harvard Law School and a dual degree (BA) in Economics and Political Science (magna cum laude) from Duke University

Lambis Pahiyiannakis

Mr. Pahiyiannakis is responsible for hotel acquisition deal sourcing and underwriting with a primary focus on European markets. Based in Barings’s London office, he is also responsible for supporting the Barings Structured Financing and Core Mortgage groups with underwriting of hospitality related loans. Other responsibilities include support of Barings’s broader Asset Management, Business Development and Portfolio Management efforts in the US and Europe. Mr. Pahiyiannakis served as a US based Associate for the Hotel Group for over two years before being promoted to Assistant Vice President and joined Barings in 2013.

Prior to joining Barings in 2013, Mr. Pahiyiannakis was a Business Development and Acquisitions Analyst for Pyramid Hotel Group in Boston for over two and a half years. There he was actively engaged with all Business Development efforts and assisted with adding and retaining more than 20 management contracts to a portfolio of approximately 50 hotels through underwriting billions of dollars worth of hotel real estate assets.

Mr. Pahiyiannakis earned a BS degree from Boston University with a double major in Economics and Hospitality Administration.

Elie Younes

Elie Younes leads Rezidor Hotel Group’s expansion across Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) with an international team of 25 executives based in Barcelona, Brussels, Cape Town, Dubai, Frankfurt, London, Milan, Moscow and Oslo. Under his leadership, the company launched and delivered an active asset-light strategy with a solid pipeline of 120 hotels and opened more than 110 hotels across EMEA.

In his role, Elie is focused on driving organic growth and helping steer the company’s expansion related acquisitions, as well as growth into new concepts in alternative lodging.

He recently re-engineered Rezidor’s strategy to focus on asset-right growth and accordingly adjusted the organization and its corresponding capabilities. He also leads the enabling of a value proposition to owners; which Elie believes will result in a key competitive advantage to the company.

Elie began his career in managerial roles in his home country of Lebanon before joining HVS in London in 2001. Younes later joined Starwood in London as Senior Director of Acquisitions and Development, then Hilton Hotels Worldwide as Vice President of Development in Dubai, before joining Rezidor in 2010, as Vice President of Business Development for the Middle East and Africa. In January 2013, he was promoted to Senior Vice President of Business Development EMEA, and then to Executive Vice President and Chief Development Officer two years later.

Elie is fluent in English, French and Arabic. He was educated in Beirut, Paris, New York and London, at universities including Notre Dame, IMHI/Essec, Insead, Cornell University, Johnson Graduate Business School and City University.

Jesper Engman

Jesper Engman is Vice President Business Development for Scandic Hotels and a member of Scandic’s Executive Committee. Jesper is responsible for the company’s acquisition and development department including the sourcing and signing of new hotels, take overs and conversions, and the renewal of existing lease agreements. Jesper has been part of the successful growth of Scandic from 135 hotels in 2006 to 280 hotels today. Prior to Scandic, Jesper worked for the hotel real estate company Pandox as Director Business Area and analyst. Jesper has 20 years of experience in the hotel real estate sector and holds a Master of Science in Engineering from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.

Frank Hildwein

As Head of Hotel Acquisitions and Sales, Mr. Hildwein is since 2013 responsible for the overall sourcing and underwriting of Hotel real estate investments for the Deka Group. Prior to joining Deka, Mr. Hildwein served as a Senior Vice President of Heitman's European Acquisitions group, responsible for real estate investments in Europe. Prior to joining Heitman, Mr. Hildwein was responsible for acquisitions in Northern Europe and UK and dispositions across Europe at the German Fund Manager Commerz Real. Mr. Hildwein received a Degree in Business Administration. He is based in Deka´s Frankfurt office.

Rasmus Nørgaard

Rasmus Nørgaard is Partner and co-founder of NREP and acts as co-CIO. Rasmus is a member of the Transactions Team and has extensive experience in all aspects of real estate investing, having managed the sourcing, financing, underwriting, due diligence and execution processes. Prior to founding NREP, Rasmus was Head of International Real Estate at Nordea Asset Management & Life, where he was responsible for the sourcing, evaluation and underwriting of real estate fund managers and oversaw €300 million of fund commitments. Prior to Nordea, Rasmus worked as a consultant at McKinsey & Co., where he was involved in several strategy, business development and M&A processes, predominantly working with large multinational clients based in Denmark. Rasmus began his career at Unibank Markets advising clients on interest rate hedging strategies. He holds a M.Sc. in Economics & Finance from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark and University of Washington, USA.

Erik Florvaag

Erik is Head of Hotel Acquisitions at Art-Invest Real Estate, based in Cologne, Germany. He is responsible for all hotel acquisitions and financings of Art-Invest. Since 2013, he acquired more than 25 hotels with a total investment volume of more than € 875 mil.

Erik has broad expertise in the hotel investment and financing sector, but also possesses asset management and operational competence. References include the acquisitions of the Le Méridien Frankfurt, Sofitel Hamburg, Nikko Hotel Dusseldorf, Maritim Cologne as well as the management of Art-Invest’s first owned and operated hotel, the Holiday Inn Express Stuttgart.

Erik has over 8 years’ experience in the hotel real estate sector. Before joining Art-Invest, he worked as a Project Manager at Ebertz & Partner with the responsibility for re-financings, e.g. the Sofitel Bayerpost Munich, and the restructuring and sale of several hotel assets. Erik studied Business Economics and International Real Estate Management and holds diploma as well as a MBA.

Truls Nergaard

Truls Nergaard heads the Real Estate Investments at Storebrand Asset Management. Storebrand Asset Management is Norways largest Asset Manager with an AUM of more than 700 bill. NOK. Storebrand Real Estate manage a portfolio of properties on behalf of Storebrand Livsforsikring and more than 70 external investors in Norway and Sweden with values exceeding 42 bill. NOK. Storebrand is active in all segments of Real Estate.

Truls Nergaard has more than 30 year experience in Norwegian Banking and Real Estate business. He has held positions as GM and EVP in the DNB Group in Norway and abroad for many years. He has been with Storebrand for 9 years, as Head of Storebrand Bank, he then built up a Debt Investment operations in Storebrand. He joined Asset Management in 2016. He has extensive board experience in the real estate area.

Pieter van Tilburg

During his Masters in Entrepreneurship and New Business Venturing at Rotterdam School of Management, Pieter founded CityHub together with a university friend. From scratch, they have built a hospitality concept around the desires and wishes of Millennial travellers. With state-of-the-art sleeping units, a ‘digital first’ lobby and an app that helps travellers to get the most out of their visit to a city, CityHub aims to revolutionize the hospitality industry and create a strong brand for the travel-savvy Generation Y.

CityHub’s first location (Amsterdam) has proven its success (average occupancy of 98% and an ADR of 40% higher than projected). With a second location that just opened (April 2018) in Rotterdam (The Netherlands), CityHub has now set out to roll out its concept European-wide.

Keith Evans

Keith Evans is Senior Vice President – Hotel Acquisitions, where he is responsible for hotel sector investments across Europe. Hotel investments include corporate or asset acquisitions, joint venture partnerships and non-performing loan portfolios. He has significant cross border experience around the globe in hotel acquisitions, development, asset management and capital markets. Starwood Capital is a leading private equity firm with a strong focus on global real estate. Hotel sector investments make up a significant component of its overall $56 billion AUM. Since joining Starwood in 2013, he has completed a variety of equity and debt investments in the UK, Spain, and Netherlands.

Prior to joining Starwood Capital Group, he worked as Vice President Mergers & Acquisitions for Kingdom Hotel Investment (KHI), a global hotel real estate investment company focused on Asia and EMEA regions, whose hotels were operated by its affiliate management companies Four Seasons and Fairmont (FRHI). While at KHI, he was responsible for joint venture partnerships and disposition initiatives. Formerly, he worked at Invesco Real Estate (IRE) where he focused on European hotel investments and asset management, contributing to the acquisition of ca. $1.2bn multi-branded portfolio of 22 hotels across nine countries.

During his 14 years of experience in the hotel sector, he also held roles in operations management with Four Seasons in the US and hotel investment advisory in Spain.

Keith holds an MBA from IESE Business School in Barcelona, Spain.

Johannes Torpe

A playful wold-citizen
The founder and vision behind Johannes Torpe Studios, Danish designer Johannes Torpe is an unconventional creative in every way imaginable. Guided by the believe that we do our best work when we pursue things that move us, Johannes Torpe is an advocate for an unrestrained and intuitive approach to design and life in general.

Johannes left school at the age of 12 to play the drums and is completely self-taught as a creative practitioner. His playful attitude has made him a pioneer in the world of lifestyle, design and immersive branding experiences. For over 20 years he has helped clients worldwide build and strengthen their brands with thought-provoking solutions in concept design, interior design and industrial design.

Having worked in most areas of the world Johannes' practice has achieved a universality that speaks for itself. His vast experience and diverse portfolio reveal a fearless approach to the business of design. To him creativity is neither confined to disciplines nor industries. His studio has been called unconventional on more than one occasion and wears this with pride.

Peter Tengström

Midstar is a hotel real estate investment and asset management company with investment capabilities in the Nordic region. Midstar currently owns 16 hotels with a total of 2143 rooms in 10 cities in Sweden, 4 in Norway and 1 in Denmark.

Peter is part of the founding team of Midstar and is the managing partner. Peter has more than 20 years of experience in hotel asset management from both the owner and the operator perspective. Before founding Midstar he previously worked for the Rezidor Hotel Group, based in Brussels, responsible for business development in the Nordic and Baltic region including new developments as well as major repositioning of existing hotels in the portfolio. He has also worked for Pandox AB, a public hotel real estate company in Stockholm, as part of the acquisition and investment team. During his earlier career he worked in London with consultancy companies HVS, and CBRE. Peter was the winner of the Nordic Hotel Professional of the Year award in 2016 and holds a Hospitality Management Diploma from Cesar Ritz, and a BSc in Hospitality Administration from Cornell University, focusing on finance and hotel real estate.

Frank Fiskers

Frank retired in August 2017 after having led Scandic Hotels Group as CEO over the last ten years. Leading a private equity buy-out of Scandic in 2007, he oversaw the growth from 110 to 285 hotels and projects as well as the successful IPO in 2015. Prior to Scandic, Frank had senior operational roles with Rezidor and Hilton International. Today, he is advisor to private equity funds, involved as guest lecturer in hospitality education and a professional company Board member.

Demian Hodari

Demian Hodari is Associate Professor of Strategic Management at the Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne where his innovative teaching methods have been recognized as a Best Teaching Practice.  His research has also won numerous awards and he was named the Researcher of the Year in 2015.   Demian’s achievements were recently acknowledged by Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration where he was invited to spend a semester sabbatical as a Visiting Research Fellow at the university’s Center for Hospitality Research.  His research focuses on the strategic partnerships between hotel owners, management companies, asset managers and general managers, and on the performance of professionally managed versus independently managed hotels.  His most recent academic publications have appeared in the Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, Tourism Management, the International Journal of Hospitality Management, and The Journal of Hospitality Financial Management. He regularly presents his research at academic conferences, provides executive education and is a frequent moderator and speaker at hotel industry events.  Demian regularly publishes practitioner-oriented articles in hotel industry trade publications.

Prior to beginning his academic career Demian spent 15 years working in the hospitality industry.  He was for several years a hotel general manager and the president of an independent hotel management and consulting company in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He holds a Ph.D. in Strategic Management from the University of Surrey’s School of Management, a Masters (Honors) from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration and a B.A. in comparative religions and philosophy from Georgetown University. 

Christian Kielgast

Christian Kielgast is Partner at Nordic Hotel Consulting (NHC). NHC is a leading hotel consultancy in the Nordics, active within the areas of advisory (appraisals, feasibilities, operator search), asset management and investment advisory. Christian is responsible for NHC's investment advisory unit working with transactions and financing for international and regional investors and banks. NHC was founded in 2004, and Christian Kielgast joined the group in 2007 and became a partner in 2009.