Lorne Bassel
President & CEO, Crave
Co-Founder, INITIAL
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.