Portland State of the Market

“My People used to say, when a stranger appears at your door, feed him for three days before asking who he is, where he's come from, where he's headed. That way, he'll have strength enough to answer. Or, by then you'll be such good friends, you don't care.” Bashar Wali is a founder, a father, and a hotel fanatic. He’s a pragmatist—hungry to experience life not as it is packaged and sold, but as it is. His vested interest in hospitality, culture, and design, is cut with curiosity of what’s possible, beyond the status quo. Bashar is always looking for that spark—that perfect symmetry of an idea and its physical manifestation—to make human experiences as we know them, better. He’s the consummate Host of the Soirée—ever in pursuit of a shared humanity among friends, colleagues, and total strangers. This is perhaps his greatest gift: bringing together a group that’s more inspiring than the sum of its parts. As founder and CEO of This Assembly and Practice Hospitality, Bashar draws upon expertise honed over a 30-year career in hospitality. An expert in the lifestyle space, Bashar is known for pushing limits in his philosopher-meets-hotelier kind of way. Whether helming the TEDx stage, hosting a Global YPO event, or collaborating on Clubhouse, Bashar’s message is unwavering: service is what you deliver, hospitality is how you make people feel. Bashar has done every job in a hotel—from frying an egg to negotiating a deal—working for Starwood Hotels before leading acquisitions and development globally at Grand Heritage Hotels. Prior to launching This Assembly and Practice Hospitality, Bashar served as President/CEO of Provenance Hotels, where he remains a partner, for 15 years, growing the company from five to 15 hotels, 1,500 team members, and expanding the collection from the Pacific Northwest to an award-winning national brand, with annual revenue in excess of $150 million. When Bashar isn’t traveling to 50+ countries and 45+ states, he’s home in Portland, Oregon with his wife and kids, dreaming up the hotels of tomorrow.

Vanessa Sturgeon became president and CEO of TMT Development in 2003. Founded by her grandfather, Thomas P. Moyer, Vanessa started learning the business while still in college. Today, she leads a team that manages more than 6.5 million square feet of mixed-use high-rise assets, retail shopping centers and industrial parks in Oregon and Washington. Her grandfather’s entrepreneurial spirit and fierce commitment to Portland is evident in the way Vanessa leads TMT and serves her community. With countless business accolades and extensive board service to her credit, gratitude for the life she leads fuels her “love what you have” philosophy and her passion to help those who struggle with inequity. As a mom to three boys, Vanessa loves the feeling of family at TMT. “We all like each other. It’s authentic. We don’t take ourselves too seriously. We laugh a lot … we have fun. I can dish it, but I can take it, too.” The company she leads places a high value on service. Service to tenants, business partners, coworkers and community. Empowering people to lead and serve from wherever they are is something she believes in; something she learned from mentors who let her make mistakes and build her reputation. “My grandfather placed a high value on service, on how you treat people … on being embedded in and connected to the community in lots of different ways. That’s how you impact change.” Vanessa attended Santa Clara University, Atkinson Graduate School of Management and Willamette University College of Law.