David F. Martinez, Managing Director

Mr. Martinez has 20 years of experience in the corporate arena, with expertise in the area of international transactions, finance  and operations.  Immediately prior to joining Columbia West Capital, David served as Executive Vice President  of Business Development for Tarsadia Hotels, a private lodging and real-estate company based in Newport Beach, California.  Prior to that he spent a decade with Starwood Hotels & Resorts, where he served as Senior Vice President of Acquisitions & Development and played a key role in the company’s global growth and mixed-use expansion in the luxury and upscale/lifestyle space.  During his tenure at Starwood, Mr. Martinez led teams that successfully completed over 100 transactions in the US and abroad including property acquisitions, share purchases, joint ventures, mezzanine loans, management agreements and licensing deals representing total asset value in excess of $5.0 billion.

Prior to his tenure at Starwood, David served as Director of Business Planning for ITT Sheraton Corporation, a $5B global lodging and leisure company that was acquired by Starwood in 1998.  Mr. Martinez also worked with GE Capital and was a member of the launch team that expanded GE’s private-label credit card business to Latin America.  Prior to that he was engaged in private legal practice in Los Angeles, California, focusing on complex corporate, real estate and litigation matters.  Along with his financial, operations and transactional expertise, Mr. Martinez has extensive experience in the area of global organization and process design and post-merger business integration.

Mr. Martinez earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Utah, a law degree from the UCLA School of Law and an MBA from Stanford University.