Michael G. Medzigian
Mr. Medzigian is Chairman and Managing Partner of Watermark responsible for the overall direction of the firm and its investments. Early in his career he gained valuable managerial and operating experience which he later utilized as a business advisor to many of the world's leading real estate and lodging industry participants. He ultimately became one of the largest investors and operators of real estate private equity funds in the world. While active in other sectors, over the course of the past two decades Mr. Medzigian has been recognized as one of the largest and most successful investors in the lodging and related sectors.
Prior to the formation of Watermark, Mr. Medzigian was President and Chief Executive Officer of Lazard Freres Real Estate Investors and a Managing Director of Lazard where he was recruited to oversee the repositioning of one of the largest real estate opportunity fund operations in the world including four discretionary equity funds with $3 billion of committed capital and a $7 billion portfolio of interests in 15 real estate operating companies in a wide range of asset classes as well as numerous direct equity and mezzanine investments. He was previously a Founding Partner of Olympus Real Estate Corporation, the real estate fund management affiliate of Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst, which during his tenure, successfully raised and invested over $3 billion in a broad range of real estate holdings. Earlier in his career, Mr. Medzigian was President of Cohen Realty Services, a Chicago-based real estate investment services firm responsible for a $2 billion portfolio of assets and mortgages, he founded and was National Director of the Hospitality Consulting Practice at Deloitte & Touche, and he held various management positions with Marriott Corporation.
Boards and Memberships
Mr. Medzigian is or has served as Chairman and a Director of Atria, Inc., Chairman and a Director of Kapson Senior Quarters Corp., President, CEO and a Director of Park Plaza International, as a Director of American Apartment Communities, the American Seniors Housing Association, Arnold Palmer Golf Management, the Assisted Living Federation of America, Dermody Properties, iStar Financial (NYSE: SFI), Kemayan Hotels and Leisure (Australian ASX), and the Rubenstein Company, and as a member of the Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate, the Cornell Hotel Society, the Cornell Real Estate Council, the New York Hospitality Council, Pension Real Estate Association, the Urban Land Institute (Chairman of the Hotel Development Council), and Young President's Organization (Executive Committee Member).
Education
- Cornell University, Bachelor of Science
Personal
Resides in Lake Forest, Illinois with his wife Michele and their three children.
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