Team

Meet Our Visionaries

Lorne Bassel

President & CEO, Crave
Co-Founder, INITIAL

Lorne Bassel

President & CEO, Crave
Co-Founder, INITIAL

Former Executive VP and co-founder of Intrawest’s Placemaking division, Lorne combines three decades of groundwork in real estate development with a passion for master planning innovative people places in both urban and resort locations throughout the world. When he’s not dreaming up the next destination for people to gather and play, Lorne can be found indulging in the simple life with his two sons and wife, tossing a frisbee on the beaches of Costa Rica.

Dave Kleinkopf

Community and Legal Advisor

Dave Kleinkopf

Community and Legal Advisor

A lawyer and developer, Dave is the perfect balance between legal and business mind. With 30 years of experience covering all aspects of real estate development and finance, Dave rightfully believes the most successful projects are those with a sense of community. In his own community, Dave spent years mentoring students at an inner-city school in Denver. When the school closed last year, rumour has it he got a tattoo to commemorate it.

Dina Abreu

Accountant

Dina Abreu

Accountant

As keeper of the books, Dina’s primary focus is simple — making sure we’re still in business. Our designated Office Mom, Dina is the first to clean up your spill or magically produce Tylenol from her purse when you’ve been staring at the screen too long. Just try not to love her — we dare you.

Jean-François Garneau

Chief Possibilities Officer
and Co-Founder, INITIAL

Jean-François Garneau

Chief Possibilities Officer
and Co-Founder, INITIAL

As Chief Possibilities Officer, JF’s cultivates the magic and wonder that transforms the simplest of places into world class destinations. With a background in architecture and urban design, JF is a keen study on the creation of cities, towns, villages and the future of people places everywhere. Ever the trendsetter, JF will quickly coin anything that isn’t relevant now as, “so last week”. Just take a look at his sneaker game, and you’ll understand.

Kathryn Burns

Hospitality Advisor

Kathryn Burns

Hospitality Advisor

With over 25 years of experience as an executive in the hospitality industry, Kathy’s passion has led her to excel in the development, rebranding and repositioning of hospitality properties. When Kathy isn’t scoping out the next hotel development opportunity, she can be found soaking up the coastal glory at her family home in Kennebunk, Maine, with her husband and two kids.

Lorne Bassel

President & CEO, Crave
Co-Founder, INITIAL

Lorne Bassel

President & CEO, Crave
Co-Founder, INITIAL

Former Executive VP and co-founder of Intrawest’s Placemaking division, Lorne combines three decades of groundwork in real estate development with a passion for master planning innovative people places in both urban and resort locations throughout the world. When he’s not dreaming up the next destination for people to gather and play, Lorne can be found indulging in the simple life with his two sons and wife, tossing a frisbee on the beaches of Costa Rica.

Danielle Cheff

Urban Planning

Danielle Cheff

Urban Planning

A force of nature is the best way to describe Danielle. Planner, runner, photographer, super-mom and world traveller, we have a hard time keeping up! Passionate and creative, hard working and determined, a self-proclaimed introvert – she may shy from the spotlight but she can’t help but find herself in it, because we all adore her so much. What can we say, her sucre à la crème has us enchanted…

Mary Perdue

Project Coordinator – Colorado

Mary Perdue

Project Coordinator – Colorado

An invaluable member of our team, Mary wears many hats — from office manager to former inn manager, and community relations to billing, Mary’s 10-year tenure has seen the project through quite the evolution. When she’s not putting out metaphorical fires, Mary devotes much of her time to several local school boards and to her own three kiddos. She also makes a mean scrambled egg and bacon breakfast, and keeps the coffee flowing all day long.

Tim Hasid

Placebranding Advisor

Tim Hasid

Placebranding Advisor

An expert in places to see and things to do, Tim’s rigorous research coupled with his own passion for travel have allowed him to hone in on the branding, charisma and identify-shaping details required for destinations to succeed regardless of scale. Both Tim’s catlike, sunshine-seeking behaviour and his profound tea fanaticism are noteworthy. And if you’re wondering where he picked up that accent — frankly, so are we.

Tim McGuire

Director – Colorado

Tim McGuire

Director – Colorado

Tim has his head in the clouds, literally. As Director of our Colorado development, Tim runs things on the ground — which just so happens to be 7,800 feet above sea level. The air may be thin, but that doesn’t stop Tim from overseeing everything from entitlements and design to water rights and PR. An avid mountain biker and devotee to the slopes, Tim owns more plaid shirts than a lumberjack. Tim spends his free time with his wife, two daughters, and dog.

Will Azeff

Development Director

Will Azeff

Development Director

We call Will our in-house recreation specialist. An entrepreneur through and through, Will couples his development expertise with a knack for knowing how people like to spend their leisure time — and creates places for them to do so. A certified ski instructor, Will’s love for the slopes is so mountainous (pun intended), he had the brilliant idea to give his two kids the middle names Avalanche and Glacier — and fight for those names in court. Spoiler alert: he won.