Meet Kurt Berman

Kurt has travelled the World pursuing his love of luxury hospitality. This journey has taken him from the legendary hotels of Africa and Europe to spectacular villa estates in Thailand. From luxury wellness resorts in Asia to exclusive private islands in the Indian Ocean and the Caribbean. To his recent challenges of guiding hospitality groups in the USA through the Covid-19 pandemic and recovery.

His deep love for hotels and hospitality, combined with intense creative ability means his ideas are never ‘by the book’ nor ‘borrowed’ from competitors. Kurt brings a unique, cross-cultural sensitivity and worldly perspective to his work.

Kurt’s creative and dynamic mindset allows him to strategically define a project’s vision while also tactically  executing within practical hospitality parameters of time, budget and quality.

With Chandler House, Kurt brings into service his decades of international luxury experience and genuinely reflects who he is as a hospitality guru.

Meet Daniel Hintz

Daniel takes a systems-based methodology to placemaking and design, focusing on the dynamic ways the individual parts of a community interrelate to inform and fuel positive change.

He’s worked across North America, including downtown and neighbourhood master plans, regional economic development initiatives, organizational strategy and capacity building, talent recruitment and retention strategies, special event production, art and cultural initiatives, restaurant and hospitality concepts, food and culinary systems and public policy work.

Recently, Daniel served as Executive Director of Fayetteville Downtown Partners, where he was scoped to execute the downtown master plan vision. Projects included producing the Fayetteville Arts Festival, creating the Fayetteville Arts Council, co-writing the initial Fayetteville Public Art Policy, developing the state’s first municipally formed Arts District and successfully changing state BID law to include the arts as a fundable line item, among other development and activation projects. In 2007, he went on to serve as Executive

Daniel has taught at the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza School of Business and is a highly sought after speaker, having presented at TEDx, Tyson Foods, Walmart, American Institute of Architects, Arkansas Municipal League, Congress for the New Urbanism, American Association of Landscape Architects, Sarkeys Southwest Regional Leadership Forum, National Town Builder Association, International Economic Development Council, and many others.

Meet Matthew Gyulay

Matthew’s career has given him the opportunity to create work with immensely talented teams and highly collaborative clients. As a Creative Director he counts as his greatest achievement building and working with teams that have delivered award winning ideas that performed well in-market. Matthew has had the pleasure of working on both local and global campaigns for a large array of categories and brands, including IBM, Microsoft, Ford, Citibank, DuPont, Rogers, Ford, Coca Cola just to name a few.

Matthew – an avid lover of the arts – likes to take in gallery shows, plays and the symphony. He is also an artist, painting primarily in oils and watercolour. When not cracking the creative nut for his clients, he can be found in his studio at his easel or working on the set for some play or musical. In order to continue to be artistically inspired and experience the world, Matthew and his wife of 32 years love to travel when they can.

Meet Ben Pfinsgraff

Ben had an unusually diverse career path, moving seamlessly from Major League Baseball to investment banking to single-malt distilling and high-end hospitality. A former Philadelphia Phillies pitcher, Pfinsgraff is now part of the founding team for Common House, a gathering space that cultivates community through inspirational design, dynamic programming and fine dining across the US.

Meet Brad Kingsley

Brad Kingsley has always been fascinated by architecture’s ability to create a sense of place. Growing up in rural Kansas, he was inspired by highway overpasses rising from the plains, and how simple farm structures appeared as sculptures in the prairie. The contrast between rural and urban environments continues to shape his approach to architecture and design.

Brad joined Hufft in 2015 and took on the task of establishing the firm’s presence in Northwest Arkansas. Brad’s expertise with institutional, mixed-use, and commercial typologies has been fundamental for expanding Hufft’s portfolio of work in these markets, within and beyond the Northwest Arkansas region. A natural communicator, he excels at working with multi-faceted client groups to align the client’s goals and objectives with innovative design concepts. In addition, his expertise in urban design has been formative in bringing a sense of place and community to Hufft’s urban, commercial, and institutional projects.

Brad received his Bachelor of Architecture from Kansas State University and went on to Columbia University for his M.S. in Architecture and Urban Design. He began his career working for firms in Kansas City and New York, including Thomas Phifer and Partners, and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.

Meet Steve Brooks

Steve is a founding partner of Eldridge Brooks and a former partner at Arkansas’ largest law firm. Most recently, Steve was a partner at one of the state’s largest venture capital and growth equity investment firms overseeing private capital formation and strategy and mergers and acquisitions activities and leading investments in healthcare, software technologies, e-commerce, energy infrastructure and retail and e-commerce businesses. He has over 20 years of experience advising and investing in private capital funds, private companies, as well as advising limited partners and funds of funds. Steve’s practice is rooted in his broad experiences working with emerging high growth companies, investors, and funds, both in business and as a lawyer.

Prior to forming Eldridge Brooks, Steve was a partner at New Road Capital Partners, a venture capital and growth equity investment firm based in Bentonville, AR. He worked extensively with the portfolio companies as well as the funds themselves and their co-general partners, namely Kayne Anderson, based in Los Angeles, CA. Prior to New Road Capital, Mr. Brooks was a partner in the private equity and mergers and acquisitions practice group of Friday Eldredge & Clark, Arkansas’ largest law firm, from 2003 until 2013. Steve represented lower middle market issuers across the U.S. in private offerings of securities; structuring private equity funds and offerings; acquisitions and divestitures, as well as partnership and corporate tax matters. From 1995 to 2000, Brooks practiced as a CPA in both the private and public sectors in the tax section of Frost PLLC, Arkansas’ largest public accounting firm and was senior tax accountant with Tyson Foods, Inc. He graduated from the University of Arkansas School of Law (Fayetteville), Cum Laude, and the University of Arkansas’ Walton College of Business. He is a member of the Arkansas and Texas Bar, is admitted to the United States Tax Court and has served as Associate Justice on the Arkansas Supreme Court. Steve has been ranked by Chambers USA as one of America’s leading lawyers and was most recently recognized as a 2020 Mid-South Super Lawyer for his Mergers and Acquisitions practice.

Meet Michael Pedler

Michael is a performance-driven business strategist, integrated marketing communications professional and disciplined brand planner. He’s led cross-functional teams implementing global brand initiatives throughout North America.

Beyond the resumé, Michael is also a passionate arts lover (and musician). He appreciates the role arts play in developing, connecting and enhancing communities.