Mr. Koenig was a Senior Partner and COO of Ares’ $10 billion Real Estate Division. Mr. Koenig serves on Ares’ Real Estate Executive Committee and is the Chairman of Ares’ Real Estate Group's U.S. Equity, Europe/India Equity, and Real Estate Debt Investment Committees. He is also a member of the firm-wide Risk Committee. Mr. Koenig joined Ares in July 2013 from Area Property Partners (formerly Apollo Real Estate Advisors), where he was the CFO, CAO and Senior Partner from 1995 to 2013. Before its sale to Ares, Area was a $6 billion AUM highly successful real estate private equity firm offering closed and open-ended investment funds. Mr. Koenig’s functional responsibility covered Finance, audit, tax compliance and tax structuring.  He helped scale the business to accommodate the growth of the firm from $500MM to $6BB of AUM including its expansion to Europe.  Mr. Koenig participated in significant transactions notable of which is the $1.3BB construction loan for the development of the Time Warner Center in NYC. He served on all Fund investment committees focused on ensuring both appropriate risk reward parameters were addressed and fiduciary obligations to investors were satisfied.

Mr. Koenig serves as Lead Independent Director for Emeritus Corporation and Treasurer of a condo board in New York. Mr. Koenig graduated from Binghamton University with a B.A. in English and holds an M.B.A. in accounting from Baruch College.

Ms. Hamlin is the President of Hamlin Ventures, LLC.  Hamlin Ventures is a design-driven real estate development company that specializes on select urban projects. Founded in 1998, Hamlin Ventures is recognized for producing distinctive market-rate and affordable projects in Manhattan and Brooklyn.  In addition to her prominent role at Hamlin Ventures, she is also the Director of Curriculum and an Adjunct Professor of Real Estate Development at Columbia University.

Prior to founding Hamlin Ventures, Ms. Hamlin served as the President of Swig, Weiler and Arnow, a premier developer of notable office and hotel properties. Ms. Hamlin is also the founder and head of Studio HV, a creative studio that addresses urban challenges through participation in competitions and consulting assignments. As a dedicated urbanist and proponent of the arts, Ms. Hamlin previously served as Chair of the Board of the Van Alen Institute for Public Architecture and as Chair of the Public Art Committee of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership. She has also served as a juror for the Art Works program at the National Endowment for the Arts. Currently, she is a board member for The Actors Fund Affordable Housing Corporation, the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership and Art Omi.  Ms. Hamlin received a Bachelor of Art degree from Sarah Lawrence College and a Master of Urban Planning degree from Princeton University.

Bob Chitty is Senior Vice President, Corporate Investment & Transactions, for the Americas region of IHG and is responsible for monitoring IHG’s capital investment in hotels, negotiating complex deal transactions, managing relationships with major equity and debt providers and M&A activity.

He most recently served as Senior Vice President, Corporate Finance and Upscale Development and was responsible for implementing IHG’s strategy of expanding rooms’ distribution, primarily of IHG’s upscale brands in North America, through joint ventures, debt financing, management and franchise agreements and other structures designed to minimize capital investment. Prior to that, Mr. Chitty was Vice President, Asset Disposal, for IHG, where he focused on executing IHG’s “asset light” strategy disposing of over $1 billion in hotel investments while maintaining long term management and franchise agreements.  He has also served as Vice President, Tax & Treasury, at IHG.

Before joining IHG in 1997, Mr. Chitty held positions at CSX Corporation and Arthur Young & Company. Mr. Chitty received his Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting and his Master of Science in Taxation from Pace University and is a Certified Public Accountant 

Mr. Arbid serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Amwal AlKhaleej, a Private Equity firm headquartered in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Prior to Amwal AlKhaleej, Mr. Arbid worked as an Engagement Manager at Booz Allen Hamilton in Europe and the Middle East, as an Associate at Citigroup's Investment Banking division in London, and as a Brand Manager for German Multinational Henkel in Paris.

Mr. Arbid serves on the boards and committees of Amwal AlKhaleej portfolio companies, including Body Masters and Bamboo Finance, the latter being one of the largest global investment companies with a social investing mandate. Furthermore, Mr. Arbid was elected on the Wharton School Global Alumni Board. Additionally, he is a co-founder and board member of several well-regarded business ventures including Sanad Healthcare, a trading and maintenance medical equipment company, and the Clinics, a chain of medical centers.

Mr. Arbid holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He is fluent in English, French, Arabic and Italian, and has a basic knowledge of Spanish.