Southport: Seattle's New Horizon

A Cast Study on the Southport Hyatt

• The $590M Gambit

  Brent Camann

  Senior Asset Manager

  SECO Development

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  Kimo Bertram

  Proven development team leader with a track record of adding full service, luxury and lifestyle hotel rooms for two large global hospitality companies by way of hotel acquisitions, management agreements, and franchise agreements. Grounded in a feasibility background and opportunistic and creative with targeting opportunities, managing internal resources, and negotiating contracts. Well versed in capital structures with involvement with over $4B in real estate development and deployment of over $750MM in equity, preferred equity, mezzanine debt, debt guarantees, and key money.

  Hyatt Hotels

  VP, Real Estate & Development

  Redefining the Southport

  Kimo Bertram

  VP, Real Estate & Development

  Hyatt Hotels

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  Ron Mitchell

  Throughout his career, he has worked closely with some of the top brands in the industry, directing the design, planning and project management for five-star properties, boutique hotels and luxury resorts around the world. As the hospitality market leader for MG2, Ron captures the story each client wishes to tell through their site, architectural design and guest experiences. His work reflects an expertise in creating spaces that are not only memorable for guests, but also highly reflective of the needs of hotel owners and operators.

  MG2

  Principal

  Age-Agnostic Design

  Ron Mitchell

  Principal

  MG2

• Moderator

  Andrew Vuong

  VP of Business Development

  Seattle EDC

Differentiating Seattle Hospitality

Tourism in the Emerald City: Past, Present and Future

• 

  Bashar Wali

  “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.

  Practice Hospitality

  Founder & CEO

  Classic Hotels in the PNW

  Bashar Wali

  Founder & CEO

  Practice Hospitality

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  John Oppenheimer

  John Oppenheimer is Founder and Chairman of Columbia Hospitality. Columbia Hospitality operates over 100 properties in 12 states including hotels and resorts, residential, golf, distinctive venues, and restaurants and bars. Under John’s leadership, Columbia Hospitality has received countless awards in 2024 including: Fastest Growing Companies and Washington Best Workplaces (Puget Sound Business Journal), Family Business Award Honoree (Puget Sound Business Journal), as well as Best Company Work-Life Balance and Best Company Happiness (Comparably). In addition to launching Columbia Hospitality in 1995 (to manage Bell Harbor International Conference Center for the Port of Seattle), John has also founded five successful, private hospitality-related businesses. John was a founding general partner of Seattle Hotel Group, the investment group that developed the Four Seasons Hotel and Residences Seattle. John currently sits on the following boards: Virginia Mason Franciscan Health Board, Smoke Tree Corporation, Four Seasons Seattle Homeowners Association, UW Center for Leadership Studies Advisory Board, Anthony’s Restaurants, Northland Properties, and Chelan Valley Farms. Examples of John’s past non-profit boards included Chair of the Woodland Park Zoo, Chair of YPO Gold, board member of 5th Ave Theater, among others. He served as a past member of the advisory board of Northern Trust. John was also recognized as a 2024 Director of the Year honoree and selected as a Power 100 honoree every year since 2019 by Puget Sound Business Journal.

  Columbia Hospitality

  CEO

  Founder of 5 Successful Hospitality Businesses

  John Oppenheimer

  CEO

  Columbia Hospitality

• 

  Joslyn Balzarini

  Joslyn is a Senior Interior Designer and Architect with over 15 years’ experience in workplace, commercial, hospitality, retail, and multi-family design. She is a strong proponent of B+H's Advance Strategy approach that upends the traditional design process and begins instead with an exploration of the client's business and organizational goals. She believes that when designers drop their egos and start listening to their clients, everyone is happier. Joslyn's data-driven approach allows her to meet people in their own space, witness daily interactions, and immerse herself in their culture. She rejects the notion of a pristine, photo-ready workplace and instead believes that the kinds of spaces that support and grow organizational culture are meant to be hacked, pulled apart, and put back together in unexpected ways. In Joslyn's experience, it is frequently possible to bring a project in under budget when the focus is on culture and business performance rather than the proforma. Joslyn's recent clients include Microsoft's Studio H, B34 Café and the B34 Executive Refresh as well as the highly popular new co-working space, the Coterie Worklounge in downtown Seattle

  B+H Architects

  Senior Associate, Interior Design Practice Lead

  Moderator

  Joslyn Balzarini

  Senior Associate, Interior Design Practice Lead

  B+H Architects

• 

  Murray Dow

  Murray Dow has dedicated his entire career to the hospitality industry, working both on the front lines and behind the scenes of prestigious hotels across the country. His passion, vision and experience led him to found The Dow Hotel Company in 1997. Under his guidance, DHC has grown into a successful, nationwide hotel investment and management company with a substantial collection of popular hotels and an innovative restaurant division. Dow leads corporate strategy, investment opportunities, capital formation and investor relations, as well as hotel design and construction. Dow launched his career in the management development program of Westin Hotels & Resorts more than four decades ago. After working his way through all departments of the famed Benson Hotel, he became the opening assistant director of rooms at the 1400-room Westin Detroit Plaza. He spent over five years in senior management at Four Seasons Hotels, including the Ritz-Carlton Chicago, the Four Seasons Clift Hotel in San Francisco, and the historic Four Seasons Olympic Hotel in Seattle. Dow then served as managing director for Christensen Hotels in the Seattle area and as opening general manager of the Boca Raton Marriott in Florida. Prior to founding DHC, Dow was named executive vice president and chief operating officer of HEI Hotels & Resorts. Under his tenure, the company grew from a single property to 20 properties with over $200 million in sales. Dow is a graduate of Western Washington University's College of Business and Economics. He currently serves as chair of their College of Business and Economics Center for Excellence in Business Education. In 2007 he received the college’s most distinguished executive award, presented by Sigma Iota Epsilon. Dow is a member of the Hilton Advisory Council and is involved in Seattle’s Lodging Roundtable, which is concerned with travel and tourism issues impacting the lodging industry. He is a frequent speaker for industry-related organizations. Additionally, he is active in several community and charitable organizations. Dow is the father of three daughters, and enjoys discovering new wines and spending time on the golf course.

  Dow Hotel Company

  President

  The Art of Creating Great Hotels

  Murray Dow

  President

  Dow Hotel Company

• International Travelers and the Future of SEA Lodging

  Tom Norwalk

  CEO

  Visit Seattle

• the finance story

  Josh Berde

  SVP - Originations, West Region

  KeyBank Real Estate Capital