Mark Owens is Vice Chair and Leader of the Hospitality Practice Group at Colliers International, joining in 2023. His transactional experience is achieved through diligent work and an international  team oriented approach, consistantly closing iconic transactions with international clients and capital sources.  Most recently Mark was Head of Hospitality Capital Markets for CBRE Hotels, working with his colleagues to move the platform into one of the leading advisors, completing more than $4.5 billion in annual debt and structured finance volume and participating in the team achieving #1 market share. He and his colleagues are responsible for hospitality related transactions across the spectrum, including investment sales, debt, equity, joint venture equity.

Mark’s recent iconic transactions include the $350 million refinancing for Strategic Hotels & Resorts, the $300 million construction financing for the Loews Arlington Hotel and Convention Center, the $520 million Trinity Investments Fund I equity raise, and the sale of over 50 hotels on behalf of Starwood Capital.

Prior to joining CBRE, Mark ran the hospitality practice at The Ackman-Ziff Real Estate Group, building the team’s production to in excess of $1 billion in annual transaction volume. In addition to Ackman-Ziff, Mark was a vice president at Sonnenblick Goldman where he closed $3 billion in transactions representing a variety of institutional and opportunistic investors as well as ownership/management companies and also worked at HVS International in its New York office.

Mark is on the board of the Center for Real Estate Finance at Cornell University’s SC Johnson College of Business and a frequent speaker at NYU, ALIS, the Lodging Conference, among others.

John Avanzino is a Senior Vice President with the Hospitality Practice at Colliers, specializing in debt and structured finance as well as institutional investment sales across all lodging asset classes for Colliers’ and the team’s long-established relationships. John has financed and sold nearly $3.0 billion of hotels and resorts throughout The Americas and Caribbean and raised funds through international efforts with investors including sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and ultra-high-net-worth individuals. 

Prior to joining Colliers, John was Vice President at CBRE Hotels and part of the Institutional Group within the capital markets division where he completed sales, advisory, joint venture, financing, leasehold, and development transactions. Select notable achievements include, the Strategic Hotels & Resorts portfolio refinancing, the Loews Arlington Hotel & Convention Center ground-up construction financing, Trinity Investments GP fund raise, Frenchman’s Reef’s redevelopment facility, and the Newport Beach Marriott acquisition and renovation financing. John received the Commercial Observer Top Young Professionals Award (2021), appeared as a panelist at NYU’s Hospitality Investment Conference (2022), and served as a guest lecturer for the Hospitality Asset Managers Association (2020) and NYU’s Schack Institute of Real Estate. Prior to CBRE, John was involved with more than $550 million in acquisitions for value-add and direct development investments at Lowe Enterprises.  

Originally from Manhasset, NY, John holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Rollins College and a master’s degree from New York University in Real Estate Finance.