Pinnacle
Advisory
Group

Rachel Roginsky, ISHC, is the Owner and Founder of Pinnacle Advisory Group. She is based in the firm’s Boston office. Ms. Roginsky has more than 40 years of experience in hospitality consulting. After graduating from Cornell School of Hotel Administration, she started her career in hospitality operations, and then worked with the national accounting firm Pannell Kerr Forster, eventually becoming a Principal, overseeing their Management Advisory Services practice in New England. In 1991, Ms. Roginsky founded Pinnacle Advisory Group.

Ms. Roginsky provides hospitality operational, investment counseling and advisory services to corporate, institutional, and individual clients on all facets of hospitality real estate. Additionally, Ms. Roginsky has participated in numerous litigation assignments providing extensive experience for litigation support and expert testimony.

Ms. Roginsky is an appointed board member of The Cornell Center for Real Estate and Finance (CREF), and is the current Chair for Boston University School of Hospitality Administration’s Real Estate Advisory Council (REAC). She also serves as a board member to numerous hospitality-related organizations and societies, and is a regular guest lecturer at prestigious institutes of higher educations. Additionally, Ms. Roginsky is an adjunct professor at Boston University School of Hotel Administration. She is widely published and quoted, and is the co-editor and author for Hotel Investments: Issues and Perspectives, a well-regarded book (5 editions) published by the Educational Institute of the American Hotel and Lodging Institute. Ms. Roginsky is also certified as an arbitrator and mediator for Hospitality Alternative Dispute Resolution.

Allison R. Fogarty is Managing Director of the Florida office of Pinnacle Advisory Group. She has over 25 years of experience in hotel and resort development. As a consultant, she has directed and completed market and financial analysis engagements for hotels, resorts and gaming companies in the eastern United States and the Caribbean. Her corporate activities have included site selection, property inspection, contract negotiation and review and due diligence.

In addition, Ms. Fogarty has extensive experience with respect to strategic planning, financial analysis and operational oversight in the hotel and cruise industries. Ms. Fogarty has also conducted financial and market analyses for numerous master- planned resort residential development projects in the United States and Caribbean. An acknowledged expert in hospitality real estate, Ms. Fogarty has participated in numerous litigation assignments.

Ms. Fogarty’s industry activities have included speaking engagements, writing articles and teaching a graduate seminar in Hotel Feasibility Analysis at a leading hotel school. Ms. Fogarty’s previous employers have included the Hospitality Industry Services Consulting Group of Ernst & Young LLP, Cunard Hotels & Resorts and Pannell Kerr Forster. She is a graduate of the University of Rochester and holds a Master’s degree in Hotel Administration from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration.

Oversight of hotel acquisitions and dispositions | Property assessments | Management of budgets and financial plans | New development, renovation planning, and execution | Market re-positioning | Maintenance of statistical and financial records | Setting and achieving sales and profit targets | Analysis of sales and marketing statistics | Devising marketing and revenue management strategies for superior market penetration | Recruitment, training and management of leadership teams | Labor union negotiations | Negotiation of third party partnerships and vendor contracts | Assure compliance with licensing laws, health and safety and other statutory regulations | Expert testimony and litigation support | Strategic Planning

Jenny Lee is a Vice President with Pinnacle Advisory Group West based in Southern California with a primary focus on buy-side due diligence and appraisal assignments. Prior to joining Pinnacle in early 2013, Ms. Lee was the founder of Hospitality Research Solutions, a company that provides research services to hospitality advisory firms, hotel asset-managers, and hotel owners. Before and after receiving her MBA from Chicago’s Booth School, Ms. Lee was in the hotel group at Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels (JLLH) where she was responsible for driving and implementing regional and global hotel research publications.

Prior to obtaining her MBA, Ms. Lee was employed in JLLH’s transaction and strategic advisory team where she participated in underwriting hotel properties ranging from $10 million to $80 million. Her first job after earning a Bachelor’s degree was as management consultant at Economics Research Associates, an international consulting firm specializing in real estate, entertainment, and leisure, where she was involved in market and financial feasibility studies for clients such as Universal Studios, San Diego Zoo, and NASA.

Ms. Lee also worked for Grubb & Ellis in a research and management capacity. She has operations experience from the Westin Bonaventure Hotels & Suites in Los Angeles, the Anaheim Marriott Suites, and the Hilton Anaheim. Ms. Lee holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University and a MBA from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business with coursework concentration in marketing and finance

Karen Johnson, MAI, ISHC, is the President of Pinnacle Advisory Group West based in Newport Beach, California and supervises all of the consulting activities for that office. Ms. Johnson has been active as a hospitality consultant since 1981 and has extensive experience across all hospitality property types, providing solutions for a wide range of consulting questions. Prior to opening the West Coast office of Pinnacle in 2011, Ms. Johnson was employed by Warnick + Co as a hotel asset manager and consultant.

Ms Johnson spent almost nine years at Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels where she directed their Hotel Advisory Services Group for the Americas. In the late 1990’s she headed up Horwath Landauer Associates’ West Coast hospitality consulting practice. Earlier experience includes PKF Consulting in Los Angeles, Marriott’s Market Feasibility Department and Pannell Kerr Forster.

Ms. Johnson has been the asset manager for four hotels in the Western United states as well as negotiating numerous hotel management contracts and running the process for brand/operator selections. Ms. Johnson has prepared valuations and analyses for urban and suburban hotels, resort hotels, casino hotels, conference centers, economy lodging, convention hotels, branded residences, condo-hotels, fractional residences and entire resort communities. She has testified or provided expert witness reports for the US District Court, San Diego; US Bankruptcy Court, Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division; the 14th Judicial District Court of Dallas, Texas; and arbitration proceedings in London.

She has authored articles for the Cornell Quarterly, Hotel On-Line and Hotel News Now, as well as the chapter on hotel management contracts for the Urban Land Institute’s publication “Hotel Development Handbook.” Ms. Johnson is an MAI and a member of the Urban Land Institute, sitting on the Entertainment Council. She was also admitted to the International Society of Hospitality Consultants (ISHC.)

Kathy Cortez is a Vice President with Pinnacle Advisory Group based in the Newport Beach, CA office. Kathy has over 20 years experience in the lodging industry in a variety of areas including, feasibility, development planning, and real estate appraisal, as well as catering sales and human resources.

EXTENDED BIO: Prior to joining Pinnacle Advisory Group, Ms. Cortez was Director of Development Planning & Feasibility at Marriott International. At Marriott, she was responsible for evaluating lodging markets throughout the U.S. to determine the potential for new hotel development, franchise, and conversion opportunities for all Marriott brands in the full and select service segments. She also supported Marriott’s asset management team by completing analyses relating to renovations and/or expansions of existing Marriott hotels.  Prior to joining Marriott, Ms. Cortez was an Associate at PKF Consulting and was responsible for market analysis, feasibility, and appraisals of potential and existing hotels throughout the Western United States.

Lana Yoshii, is a Vice President for the Pinnacle Advisory Group West office.  Ms. Yoshii started her career in the hospitality industry in 1987.  Ms. Yoshii was previously employed by Hilton Worldwide, which acquired Promus Hotels Corporation, for 21 years, working in Finance, Market Analysis, Feasibility, Performance Metrics and headed the global Market Research department during her tenure. For three years, she headed the Research, Product Development, Content Management and HOST (Hotel Operating Statistics) departments at STR, Inc. (Smith Travel Research).

Ms. Yoshii has eight years of experience preparing impact analysis, feasibility studies, pro forma, capital analysis, and target market lists for Hilton, Doubletree, Embassy Suites, Homewood Suites, Hilton Garden Inn, and Hampton Inn/Suites hotel brands in urban, suburban, and small town U.S. markets.  While managing the Hilton Worldwide Market Research department, she was responsible for overseeing customer research, consumer insights, internal customer satisfaction survey system, STR data, competitive brand intelligence and syndicated research function for ten global brands.  At STR, she managed the development and release of the U.S. market forecast product and the worldwide census and pipeline databases.  She has authored articles for Hotel News Now, and has been a frequent public speaker at national, local, state and brand conferences/meetings regarding the lodging industry.

Laura C. Napier is a Vice President with Pinnacle Advisory Group based in the Boston office.  During the course of her hospitality career, Ms. Napier has worked both in hotel operations, and as a hotel consultant and appraiser.  She has performed market studies and valuations of investment grade real estate for over 125 hotel projects.  Market demand studies with financial analysis have included proposed and existing hotels of all types including luxury, full-service, limited-service, conference center and convention hotel facilities.  Appraisals have included proposed and existing hotels of all property types located throughout the country.  Additional hospitality consulting has included golf courses, timeshare facilities, condominium hotel facilities, hotel impact studies, economic impact studies, facilities analysis, and acquisition-related due diligence.  Clients have included financial institutions, city managers, insurance companies, individual hotel developers, hotel owners, and major hotel corporations.

Prior to joining Pinnacle Advisory Group, Ms. Napier was employed for four years by the Houston office of PKF Consulting.  As an Associate, her responsibilities included practice development, marketing, project supervision, work budgets, training, and staff evaluations.  Prior to joining PKF Consulting, Ms. Napier was employed by the Four Seasons Hotel in Houston, Texas for three years.  She worked in varying capacities within the Food and Beverage Department, and her last position held was as an assistant food and beverage manager, focusing on the fine dining restaurant.  Ms. Napier began her career at the Austin Chamber of Commerce during her undergraduate years in Austin, Texas.

Ms. Napier holds a Masters of Hospitality Management from the Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management at the University of Houston and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Texas at Austin.

Meri Keller is a Vice President for Pinnacle Advisory Group’s Boston office.   Ms. Keller has over 14 years of hospitality experience specializing in financial and market feasibility, acquisition and development underwriting, value-add opportunity analysis, and single asset and portfolio advisory sales. She has evaluated and advised on numerous assignments throughout the United States and Caribbean including luxury destination resorts, hotel conversion opportunities, university hotels, golf resorts, mixed-use developments, airport hotels, luxury destination resorts, and boutique properties.

Prior to joining Pinnacle Advisory Group, Ms. Keller spent over three years working for Jones Lang LaSalle’s Hotels and Hospitality Group (JLL) in the Full-Service Advisory Sales division, where her duties included underwriting and providing opinion of values for nearly $1 billion in full-service hotel, portfolio and financing transactions and assisting in the marketing of those opportunities by preparing offering materials and conducting property and market tours to potential investors. Prior to JLL, Ms. Keller spent five years working for Noble Investment Group, where she actively participated in the acquisition and development of over $170 million of hotel investments through underwriting, market research, due diligence, and closing and operations transition. Ms. Keller was also employed by PKF Consulting, where she performed various appraisals and market feasibility studies covering full-, select-, and limited-service hotels, proposed and existing luxury resorts, and land valuation. Ms. Keller began her career in hospitality managing upscale restaurants for Bravo Development in Atlanta, Georgia.

Ms. Keller has a Bachelor of Science Degree from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration and is an active member of the Cornell Hotel Society.  Ms. Keller joined Pinnacle in 2015.

Pamela S. McKinney, MAI, CRE is the Director of Pinnacle’s Valuation Services group. Based in Boston, Ms. McKinney oversees the firm’s highly respected hospitality appraisal practice, which includes the preparation of valuations for a wide range of client needs including investment portfolio reporting, loan collateral evaluations, foreclosure and bankruptcy actions, development and renovation funding analyses, tax abatements and assessments, eminent domain proceedings and acquisition/disposition due diligence.

Ms. McKinney holds the MAI designation of the Appraisal Institute, the CRE designation of the Society of Real Estate Counselors, and is a former member of the Board of Directors of the Greater Boston Chapter of the Appraisal Institute. With over 35 years of experience in the field of real estate valuation and development counseling, she is a State Certified General Real Estate Appraiser, holding active licenses in over 20 states and has qualified as an expert witness in the Middlesex, Norfolk and Suffolk County courts in Massachusetts as well as the Massachusetts Land Court, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware and the federal bankruptcy and tax courts. She also lectures widely on the topics of real estate finance, valuation and development for graduate level courses – most recently at Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Boston University.

In addition to her role at the Pinnacle Advisory Group, Ms. McKinney is the president and principal of Byrne McKinney & Associates, Inc., a nationally recognized real estate counseling and general practice commercial valuation firm with offices in Boston.

Sandy Lien is a Vice President with Pinnacle Advisory Group West based in Southern California. Ms. Lien has 10 years of hospitality real estate consulting experience. She has performed valuations and advisory assignments for a wide variety of hospitality product types in various locations throughout the United States and Mexico, including golf courses and resorts, casino hotels, convention centers/conference hotels, airport hotels, mixed-use developments, condo-hotels, fractional/timeshare projects, luxury destination resorts, and boutique properties.

Prior to joining Pinnacle Advisory Group West, Ms. Lien worked for Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels (JLLH) in the Strategic Advisory and Asset Management division in both the San Francisco and Los Angeles offices, where her duties included assisting in preparing estimates of value for appraisals and sales transactions; conducting market demand, market position, and highest and best use studies; and providing investment counseling and strategic planning. Prior to JLLH, Ms. Lien worked for HVS International in San Francisco, where she performed various appraisals covering full-, select-, and limited-service hotels; proposed and existing luxury resorts; land valuations; and condo-hotel properties. Ms. Lien was also employed by Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts (accounting operations) in Newport Beach, California, and Renaissance Hotels and Resorts (food and beverage operations) in Los Angeles, California.

Ms. Lien graduated with Distinction and Honors from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration with a concentration in General Financial Management.

Sarah Villeneuve, ISHC is an Executive Vice President and the Director of Pinnacle Advisory Group’s Washington DC office. Ms. Villeneuve has more than 36 years of experience of hospitality and lodging industry consulting experience with a variety of hospitality operations and properties, including hotels, resorts, conference centers and hotels, food and beverage operations, and city and country clubs. Advisory experience includes feasibility, operations reviews, financial analysis, impact analysis, repositioning, site selection, litigation support and expert testimony, and other industry-related services.

After gaining foodservice operations experience and graduating from Michigan State University and the Culinary Institute of America, Ms. Villeneuve continued her career in hospitality operations in New Orleans, and then joined the national accounting firm Pannell Kerr Forster’s hospitality consulting group. In 1991, Ms. Villeneuve joined Gloodt Associates, an appraisal firm with focus on the hospitality industry, and in 1994 founded Impact Hospitality Consulting, LLC. She also has hands-on experience in hotel food and beverage operations and independent restaurants.

Ms. Villeneuve is a member of the International Society of Hospitality Consultants, an invitation-only association of widely-respected hospitality professionals from around the world.

Tracy Cooper Ramos is a Vice President of Pinnacle Advisory Group and with decades of experience in the hotel and real estate industries, with extensive experience in asset management, market and financial analysis and projections for underwriting for financing. She specializes in litigation support and asset management and has a keen understanding of the intricacies of hotel ownership, financing and development and uses this knowledge to assist clients with special projects serving their unique needs.

Ms. Ramos is a graduate of the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University.