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Speakers and Panels

Retail & Restaurant Renaissance

What's Next for Health | Wellness | Design in the Retail & Restaurant Scene

Heather Personne
High-End Scottsdale

Heather Personne

Principal

Point B

Bob Agahi
The Colony

Bob Agahi

Founder

Western Vertical Holdings

Ryan Hibbert
Farm + Craft

Ryan Hibbert

CEO

Riot Hospitality Group

Jeff Carpenter
Retail On Lightrail

Jeff Carpenter

Partner

SimonCRE

Chris Osborn
Moderator

Chris Osborn

VP

Western Retail Advisors

Heather Personne

High-End Scottsdale

Point B

Heather Personne is a Principal with Point B, a national real estate development, management

consulting and venture capital firm. Heather oversees Point B’s growing real estate development

business, focused primarily on small-scale ground-up and adaptive mixed-use redevelopment in urban

areas.

Ms. Personne has over 20 years of experience in real estate acquisitions, development, management

and dispositions. Throughout her career, she has spearheaded the development of more than 100

retail, office and multi-family properties throughout the western United States. Prior to joining Point B,

she held roles as a Retail Partner with Phoenix-based commercial development and investment firm

ViaWest Group and as a Principal with Evergreen Devco, Inc., a regional retail and multi-family

developer.

Ms. Personne graduated Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Arizona Honors

College and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and French. She is heavily involved with the

Urban Land Institute, having served as Membership Chair, founding member of the Arizona Chapter of

the Women’s Leadership Initiative and Technical Advisory Panel Moderator. Ms. Personne currently

serves as Chair of the ULI Arizona Trends Day Conference, the largest ULI event in the district council

system, and Vice Chair and founding member of the national ULI Place Making Product Council. She is

also a member of ICSC, the Arizona chapter of CREW and sits on the board for the Phoenix Center for

the Arts. In addition to her professional commitments, Ms. Personne also participates on the alumnae

board of the Phoenix chapter of Kappa Alpha Theta and is a founding board member of the Roadrunner

League of Boys Team Charity, a civic organization focused on encouraging philanthropic commitments

among young adults. Ms. Personne resides in Scottsdale, Arizona with her husband Matt and three

children. In her spare time, she enjoys hiking, snow-skiing and traveling.

Bob Agahi

The Colony

Western Vertical Holdings

Bob is a founding principal of Western Vertical Holdings in Phoenix as well as a partner in several projects with Los Angeles based Triyar Companies. Bob and his partners have had the privilege of being involved in some of the most transformative retail redevelopments in Arizona, most notably the Scottsdale Entertainment District. His emphasis has been on entertainment and hospitality anchored retail projects and assemblages. Bob’s most recent project is an adaptive reuse assemblage in north central Phoenix named “the Colony”. It was a former boarded up abandoned senior housing facility as well as a 1950’s built empty furniture warehouse which is now 100% leased to 4 local restaurants, a hidden speakeasy, a cycle spin class concept, waxing studio, clothing boutique & optical shop. Bob is also the managing partner of Valley East Properties, a New York based real estate holding company with multiple NY based office properties. Bob co-founded the OneFive organization in 2007, a local non profit 501c3, which has raised several hundreds of thousands of dollars for local and national charities.

Ryan Hibbert

Farm + Craft

Riot Hospitality Group

Ryan Hibbert is the CEO of Riot Hospitality Group, a rapidly growing and creative firm.

“I am a real big believer in managing by doing. I grass-roots develop all my management. That’s the difference between me and most of my competitors. I run the restaurant business by developing talent and getting my hands dirty every day.”

Hibbert has been able to create successful concepts in a highly competitive market.

“In the hospitality industry you have to differentiate yourself with the environments you create, and the quality of product you serve. I’m very good at creating an environment, a culture. Riot Hospitality creates really unique environments that breed incredible cultures around our brands. The quality of the food, service and entertainment is exponentially better than what you get at other places, and that builds loyalty. We give local residents an opportunity where they feel like they belong, and they love what they are experiencing .”

Hibbert, a University of Arizona graduate, has a degree in Molecular and Cellular Biology.

Setting, rather than following trends is one of the keystones of the firm’s success.

“People are always blown away by our level of execution. The level of our food quality, customer service and entertainment is something everyone else in the hospitality market is trying to emulate. But when we get it down, when we get it right, everytime.”

Jeff Carpenter

Retail On Lightrail

SimonCRE

Jeff Carpenter is a Partner at SimonCRE where he specializes in single tenant build-to-suits, redevelopments projects, and shopping center acquisitions. SimonCRE currently has roughly 40 active projects totaling approximately $120 million in construction. Prior to joining SimonCRE, Jeff worked for a national shopping center developer based in Scottsdale, AZ. Jeff was born in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, grew up in Tucson, Arizona, and attended Arizona State University. He is an active member of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) and the Urban Land Institute (ULI).

Chris Osborn

Moderator

Western Retail Advisors

Chris Osborn, Vice President Restaurants & Hospitality. Growing up around family-owned restaurants, Chris has an innate passion for the hospitality industry that he channels into representing WRA’s restaurant and hospitality clientele. Through-out his career, Chris honed natural interest into professional expertise. His training began at the age of 14 when he started working in and later managing Phoenix-area restaurants, lounges and clubs. At 29, Chris took ownership of his first restaurant, adding a second two years later. During his tenure as a manager and then owner, he presided over $83.0 million in gross sales at these establishments. Since 2011, Chris branched out into restaurant

real estate. He gained brokerage experience at Newmark Grubb Knight Frank and GDC/RE before joining WRA. His accolades include numerous television cooking appearances, professional public speaking opportunities and the 2011 Future Award, which recognizes Arizona’s Finest Business People Under 35. Chris is a second-generation Arizona native who was raised in North Scottsdale. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Arizona State University. Chris is a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers and supports several philanthropic causes including the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Chris and his wife live in Scottsdale with their three rescue dogs.

Hot Hospitality

5 Stars ONLY: The Latest on PHX's Trendiest Hotels & Hospitality Developments

Chris Stanley
Element Hotel Chandler

Chris Stanley

Sr Director Development

Starwood Hotels & Resorts

Kristopher Harman
AC Hotel

Kristopher Harman

VP

Woodbine Development

John Grossman
$62M FireSky

John Grossman

President

Grossman Company Properties

Mark Philp
Desert Luxury Design

Mark Philp

Director

Allen + Philp Architects/Interiors

Anissa Mendil
Moderator

Anissa Mendil

Director

3rd story

Kristopher Harman

AC Hotel

Woodbine Development

Kristopher Harman joined Woodbine’s Phoenix office as a project manager in 2008 and was promoted to vice president in 2014. In his current role, Kristopher leads Woodbine’s entitlement and contract negotiation efforts, focusing on project acquisition and aggregating the information that drives the decision-making process for internal and external investment committees, as well as negotiating and coordinating sales and leasing transaction activities. His attention to detail and expertise have played a key role in the success of acquisition, disposition and development of various Woodbine projects across the United States, including: The Sentinel Hotel in Portland, Oregon; The Old No. 77 Hotel in New Orleans; AC Hotel Irvine in Irvine, California; The Plaza Lofts at Kierland Commons in Phoenix/Scottsdale; AC Hotel Tempe in Tempe, Arizona; and Mountain Shadows Resort in Paradise Valley, Arizona.

Before joining Woodbine, Kristopher worked as a real estate attorney at Fennemore Craig and as an officer for an Arizona-based master-planned community developer. He is an active member of the Urban Land Institute Recreational Development Council and is also involved with Valley Partnership, the State Bar of Arizona and the Maricopa County Volunteer Lawyers Program.

A native Arizonan whose family owned a citrus farm, Kristopher earned his bachelor’s degree from Northern Arizona University and his MBA and law degrees from The University of Arizona. Outside of the office, he enjoys the great outdoors, travel, photography and spending time with his three children.

John Grossman

$62M FireSky

Grossman Company Properties

John drives investment and development across the GCP and Classic hospitality portfolio of properties. As CEO and Creative Director, he leads all aspects of project conception, design, branding, programming, and positioning for long-term stewardship of each asset.

His 20 years of experience in real estate development combine expertise in design-forward and environmentally conscious hospitality, office, aged care, affordable housing, and high-quality housing developments in markets ranging from San Francisco, CA to Sydney, Australia. John is an active member of Young Presidents’ Organization and serves as a Trustee of Idaho Rivers United and Climate Ride.

Mark Philp

Desert Luxury Design

Allen + Philp Architects/Interiors

Mark A. Philp, AIA, is a Founding Partner of Allen + Philp Architects / Interiors. His responsibilities for the firm include defining design philosophy and direction and continual historical and contemporary research ensuring building typology familiarity, materials, and systems. More than 40 projects have received awards for design excellence under his direction.

His “project specific” responsibilities include listening, interpreting, setting design and program direction through the design charrette process, program integration into the overall project composition through working with design team members, leading the project design effort to craft the exterior and interior architecture and sequencing of spaces. He has given personal attention to the creation of special destinations and their design personality.

Mr. Philp attended the College of Architecture at Arizona State University, is licensed as an Architect and holds certification from the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards, and is a member of the American Institute of Architects.

Anissa Mendil

Moderator

3rd story

After a six-month internship at the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture in Scottsdale, Arizona, Anissa went on to receive a diploma in Interior Architecture from the University of Applied Sciences in Rosenheim, Germany, her native country. Thereafter, Anissa gained work experience in the United States and Germany before relocating to the UK in 2007, where she co-founded Seven am Design with Ben Meyer in London. During this time, Anissa also began her training in classical Feng Shui.

Anissa's passion for the Southwest couldn't keep her away for long so she returned to Arizona in 2013, where she is now the creative force behind the interiors division of 3rd story. Anissa has a proven track record in hospitality, commercial and workplace design, where she blends form and function to create inspiring interiors.

Current/Recent Projects:

Hotel Valley Ho, Scottsdale - 191 Guest Room Remodel (2015);

Hilton Phoenix East, Mesa - 260 Guest Rooms and Public Area Refurbishment;

Fat OX Restaurant, Scottsdale - High end Italian restaurant for Chef Matt Carter;

Mission North Restaurant, Kierland - Latin inspired restaurant for Chef Matt Carter;

Summary

Where does the Grand Canyon like to shop? At the Gap!

We couldn't resist presenting our first ever Phoenix Retail & Hospitality forum without a cheeky chuckle! Whether tourists come to snap a pic, whitewater raft down, or hike it from top to bottom, the Grand Canyon brings out-of-towners from all over the world. 

So what does this have to do with Phoenix? Most of these GC tourists make their first stop in AZ's very own capitol city. With Phoenix becoming one hot place for retail and hospitality, it's all the more reason for tourists to extend their trip and explore the Valley of the Sun.

Come hear from the top players in Phoenix's retail & hospitality industries about what's in store (and hotel) for the latest trends in shop and travel.

Questions? Comments? Contact our Phoenix Event Producer Sarah at sarah.rotholz@bisnow.com

Venue

Grand Sheraton Phoenix
340 North 3rd Street
Phoenix, AZ 85004

Ballroom: Camelback Ballroom, 2nd Floor


Valet:
0-3 Hours - $12
3-6 Hours - $16
6+ Hours - $29

Self-Park:
0-3 Hours - $9
3-6 Hours - $13
6+ Hours - $19

Agenda

Time Activity
2:30 PM
3:30 PM
Breakfast & Networking
3:30 PM
4:15 PM
Hot Hospitality
4:15 PM
5:00 PM
Retail & Restaurant Renaissance
5:00 PM
5:30 PM
Post-Panel Networking

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