John is the Founder, President and CEO of Oxford Capital Group, LLC, a national real estate investment and development firm focusing on large scale hospitality, mixed-use, senior housing, multifamily, urban retail, parking, and other operationally intensive forms of real estate. Oxford Hotels & Resorts, LLC, its wholly owned management affiliate, specializes in developing, operating and branding distinctive, high design lifestyle hotels, rooftops and other food & beverage venues around the country. Oxford, its affiliates and principals have been involved in approximately $3 billion of transactions, including approximately 13,000 hotel rooms. Noted national projects include Godfrey Hotel-Hollywood, Godfrey Hotel-Boston, Metropolitan Hotel and Lexington Hotel – New York City, National Conference Center-Lansdowne, VA, Residence Inn and Spring Hill Suites in Charleston, SC, and Godfrey Hotel & Cabanas-Tampa Bay. Included in his 17 Chicago area projects (13 of which are hotels) are the recently topped off 56 story Essex on the Park luxury apartment building, and his soon to open Hotel Julian-Millennium Park. Other Chicago projects include Langham Chicago, LondonHouse Chicago, Godfrey Chicago, Hotel Essex, Hotel Felix, Hotel Cass, Hotel Versey, Claridge House, Hyatt Magnificent Mile, Renaissance North Shore, Doubletree North Shore, and Hyatt House Northwest. Additional rooftop and food and beverage venues include IO, LH, SX-Sky Bar, ALK, WTR and Spa Boutique. John and/or Oxford have been nominated for and/or won numerous awards including: Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Arthur Rubloff Humanitarian Award, Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year, Crain’s “40 under 40” and Who’s Who, Developer of the Year, Development of the Year, Redevelopment of the Year, National Hotel Transaction of the Year, Historic Redevelopment of the Year and the Top Hotel in the Continental US. He earned a BA from The University of Michigan and an MBA from University of Chicago. He also studied at Northwestern University, Harvard Business School (YPO’s Presidents’ Program) and Oxford University (Christ Church).

As President and Principal at Kor, Brian De Lowe leads corporate strategy and the sourcing and execution of real estate acquisitions. Brian is also President and Co-Founder of Proper Hospitality. Since 2004, Brian has successfully closed over $1 billion of acquisitions and dispositions of multifamily and hospitality real estate assets. Prior to re-joining Kor, Brian was the Vice President of Business Development for Viceroy Hotel Group, where he oversaw the company’s acquisitions and business development activity in the Americas. He previously served as Development Director at both Viceroy and Kor, leading the acquisition, development and redevelopment of real estate assets in the U.S. and Latin America. Brian started his career in the Debt & Structured Finance group of Buchanan Street Partners. He is a graduate of the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business, where he graduated magna cum laude.

Mr. Marquis began his business career on Wall Street with Dean Witter Realty, Inc., where he was an analyst and asset manager on a diversified real estate portfolio valued at more than $1 billion. He subsequently joined Investcorp International to assist in the reorganization of its real estate department, working with senior management on the acquisition, disposition, and asset management of more than $700 million in real estate investments. In 1997 he joined Pacifica Real Estate Group as an asset manager responsible for the commercial real estate portfolio. In 2000, Mr. Marquis, along with his father Dale Marquis, activated Invest West Financial Corp as the family's primary business and acquired Pacifica Hotel Company from their partners. Today they work together in creating and developing a dynamic family business focused on real estate and hospitality investments for the future. Mr. Marquis has a BA in Communications with a Business Minor from Brigham Young University and an MBA from Pepperdine's Graziadio School of Business. He also completed Harvard's Families in Business seminar. He has served on the boards of several community groups, including the United Boys and Girls Clubs, Autism Society of American, and Cold Springs School Foundation, and is also a member and past member of the board of the Young President's Organization (YPO).

Janis Cannon is Senior Vice President of Upscale Brands and a member of the senior executive team for Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH), one of the world’s leading lodging franchisors. In this role, she is responsible for the overall performance and growth of the company’s upscale portfolio and leads the brand strategy and positioning of Cambria Hotels and the Ascend Hotel Collection. Since joining Choice Hotels in 2016, Ms. Cannon has increased Cambria’s hotel openings and pipeline developments by more than 50 percent, driven revenue in key urban markets, and grown the Ascend Hotel Collection, recognized as the industry’s first “soft” brand, to more than 250 properties worldwide. Prior to joining Choice Hotels, Ms. Cannon spent more than 25 years in branding, sales, marketing and hotel operations. She most recently served as Vice President and Global Brand Leader of Upscale and Lifestyle Brands at IHG, where she developed and implemented brand strategy, and facilitated development projects and positioning efforts for the company’s portfolio. Previously, she held senior leadership positions as Deputy Commissioner in the Georgia Department of Economic Development, and Global SVP at Swissotel Hotels and Resorts. Ms. Cannon earned her bachelor’s degree in speech communication from Valdosta State University. She was named as Female Executive of the Year by Hotel Interactive Inc. in 2019 and recognized by Hotel Business Magazine as one of the industry’s “Top 10 to Watch” in 2018. She currently serves on the Executive Planning Committee for NYU’s International Hospitality Industry Investment Conference.

Paul Sanford is the Chief Executive Officer of Good Hope International as well as the Asset Manager for the Wincome Group’s investments in the US. Since joining Good Hope International and Wincome Group in 1991, Paul has overseen the group’s investments in a number of real estate sectors including residential, commercial, and retail. Hospitality has always been a major investment for Wincome and Paul currently oversees four hotel properties here in Southern California. A graduate of Pepperdine University, Mr. Sanford earned a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Master’s in Business and Management. Mr. Sanford began his career in the Hospitality industry in 1978 in Maui, Hawaii where his first managerial position was with the Inter-Continental Hotel Group. With over 20 years of experience, Mr. Sanford’s talents have encompassed both the Hospitality and Real Estate industries where he has experience in both asset management and development. Mr. Sanford has held executive level positions with a variety of upscale and luxury boutique hotels, along with brands such as Wyndham, Hyatt, Westin, and Holiday Inn hotel groups as well as independent boutique hotel properties gaining firsthand knowledge of all aspects of the trade. Paul has also gained hands on experience in full construction, opening, rebranding, renovation, and construction of residential and commercial real estate assets. Prior to joining the Good Hope International and Wincome Group, Mr. Sanford was the owner and Chief Operating Officer of a successful restaurant group with a portfolio that included multiple, high-end dinner houses throughout California’s Central Coast.

Ernest Lee is Managing Director of Development & Investments for citizenM Hotels in North America. In this capacity, Ernest is responsible for leading new development efforts, managing the company's principal investments as well as implementing strategic initiatives within that region.

Prior to joining citizenM, Ernest was a Senior Director within Cushman & Wakefield's global lodging and leisure group (formerly Sonnenblick-Goldman), where he provided capital markets advisory for hotel owners and was involved in over $3 billion of asset sale, finance, and equity capitalization transactions​. Ernest is a graduate of New York University.

Rani Gharbie is currently the Head of Acquisitions & Development for The Pod Hotels where he is responsible for identifying potential investment opportunities and working closely with capital partners and strategic investors to increase equity positions and funding for future projects for the brand. Formerly, he oversaw development and acquisitions for North America at Virgin Hotels. Prior to that, Gharbie was the Managing Director and Founder at Cedar Funds, a New York City based development and investment firm with a focus on progressive hotel and real estate assets, as well as regional Director of Development with InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), where he was responsible for actively expanding IHG’s premier hotel brands including InterContinental, Hotel Indigo and Holiday Inn. In this position, he oversaw and contributed to the growth of 20 hotels worth over $1.8B in real estate value.

In addition, Rani is an Adjunct Professor at Columbia's Master in Real Estate Development program, where he teaches the spring course Private Equity Development, Hotel Focus. He holds a Master’s Degree from the program, an MBA from the HEC Business School in Montreal, a Bachelor degree in Hotel Management from the Glion Hotel School in Switzerland, and a Certificate in Hotel Real Estate Investments and Asset Management from Cornell University in New York. Rani is a regular guest speaker at key industry conferences and is an avid traveler, runner, cyclist, golfer and Vinyasa Yogi. He currently resides in New York City.

David Kuperberg is the Head of Development, Dream Hotels at Hyatt. In this role, Kuperberg is

responsible for the continued growth and success of Dream Hotel Group’s portfolio of lifestyle brands,

which includes Dream Hotels, Time Hotels, The Chatwal and Unscripted Hotels, in emerging and

established markets worldwide. He most recently served as Senior Vice President of Development for

Virgin Hotels prior to joining Dream Hotel Group in 2013.

Kuperberg started his hospitality career in 2004 as Senior Director of Mergers and Acquisitions with

Wyndham Worldwide Corporation, where he oversaw the acquisition of Ramada International from

Marriott, which included more than 200 hotels and resorts worldwide and later launched Wyndham’s

international hotel business. He was then appointed to Vice President of Global Development and

Strategy where he achieved great success leading the acquisition of the TRYP brand from Sol Melia,

representing 94 hotels across Europe and South America, as well as a joint venture with Malta-based

Corinthia Group to acquire and rebrand its 15 European hotels under Wyndham flags.

Prior to joining Wyndham, Kuperberg served as an associate for True North Capital, a New York-based

private equity group and merchant bank that provides financing solutions to companies in the U.S. and

Europe. He also worked as a strategy consultant for Computer Sciences Corporation, where he gained

invaluable experience in the Management Consulting division.

Kuperberg holds a Master of Management degree from Yale University. He earned his Bachelor of Arts

degree in History from the University of California at Berkeley.