Our Leadership Team

Navin Dimond is the founder of Stonebridge Companies. He serves as President and Chief Executive Officer, overseeing the company's development and investment functions. Stonebridge Companies has experienced substantial, positive growth. Mr. Dimond is the recipient of the Award of Excellence from the Asian American Hotel Owners Association, the Hotelier of the Year Award from the Colorado Hotel and Lodging Association and the prestigious Hilton Hotels Multi-brand Developer of the Year Award. In 2013 Stonebridge Companies received the coveted Marriott Partnership Circle Award, granted to Franchisees for their excellence and commitment to growth as well as dedication to their associates and guests. In 2007, Mr. Dimond received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in the Real Estate and Hospitality category for the Rocky Mountain Region.

As a result of his expertise and proven track record, Mr. Dimond serves in an advisory role for a wide variety of organizations. Currently, Navin serves on the Franchise Advisory Council for Hampton Inn Hotels by Hilton and Marriott's Residence Inn Advisory Board (TRIA Board). Navin has been involved with the Colorado Hotel and Lodging Association (CH&LA) for many years, serving as Chairman in 2003. In 2008 Navin was inducted into the CH&LA Hall of Fame. Mr. Dimond serves on the Washington State University College of Engineering and Architecture Executive Leadership Board, Cornell University's Dean's Advisory Board for the School of Hotel Administration and the Daniels College of Business Executive Advisory Board at the University of Denver.

Involvement in the local community is important to Mr. Dimond. Currently he serves on the Board of Trustees for the University of Denver and the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. In addition, Navin serves on the Foundation Board of the Metropolitan State College of Denver and is a Board Member of the Denver Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau (VISIT DENVER), serving as its Chairman in 2016.

Mr. Dimond is a graduate of Washington State University where he earned his B.A. in Business Administration and his B.S. in Construction Management. He earned his MBA in Real Estate and Construction Management from the University of Denver.

Tom Brinkman has joined the Executive Team at Stonebridge Companies as the President and Chief Operating Officer.

Widely recognized for his decorated career in the hospitality industry, Brinkman brings more than 30 years of experience as an executive with Marriott International. Most recently, Brinkman served as Chief Development Officer for United States full-service brands, where he was responsible for leading development strategies for Marriott's U.S. full-service development team.

Over his career at Marriott, Brinkman led various hotel development teams responsible for its numerous brands, including The Ritz-Carlton, St. Regis Hotels & Resorts, JW Marriott, The Luxury Collection Hotels, Gaylord Hotels and Resorts, Renaissance Hotels, Autograph Collection Hotels, Westin and Le Meridien Hotels, in addition to holding multiple regional and global management roles.

 

C.J. Chapman has joined Stonebridge Companies as General Counsel. He will provide in-house legal advice for Stonebridge and oversee the firm's risk management group.

C.J. is a Denver native and brings nearly two decades of experience as a general counsel and shareholder. Most recently, he served as general counsel to Elevation Capital, a venture fund based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

He previously served as executive vice president, general counsel, and corporate secretary to BellRock Brands Inc., a publicly traded company on the Canadian Securities Exchange, which he took public in November 2018.  Prior to that role, Chapman was a shareholder at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP, where he practiced in its real estate and corporate departments.

C.J. is a graduate of Princeton University and the University of Denver Sturm College of Law.

Steve Kakaty joined Stonebridge Companies in August 2022.  As Chief Investment Officer, Steve is responsible for leading the company's real estate acquisitions platform.  Steve has over 16 years of experience in the real estate industry, including nearly 14 years with Rockwood Capital where he served as a Director of Acquisitions and Asset Management with a primary focus on the hospitality sector.  Prior to Rockwood, Steve was an appraiser at Cushman & Wakefield.  Steve received a Bachelor of Science from Cornell University, School of Hotel Administration.  

Mark Hays joined Stonebridge Companies in November 2020 as Chief Accounting Officer. He is responsible for strategic accounting operations over the entire hotel portfolio. Mark has over 35 years of hospitality experience including nearly 15 years with Two Roads Hospitality/Destination Hotels where he served as Chief Financial Officer from 2013 to 2019.

Mark was a key player in the merger between Destination Hotels and Commune Hotels, which became Two Roads Hospitality, and played a key strategic role in the successful sale of Two Roads, to Hyatt Hotels. Prior to Two Roads, Mark served as Corporate Controller and Regional Controller for Sage Hospitality from 2000 to 2005. Mark also previously served as General Manager of the Embassy Suites Denver Tech Center and Holiday Inn Garden of The Gods, with Meristar Hotels. Mark holds an MBA and Bachelor of Science in Financial Accounting from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.

Jason Gaede joined the Executive Team in 2015.  Jason is responsible for leading the company's debt and equity initiatives for new and existing real estate investments. Jason has over 15 years of experience in the finance industry, most recently serving over five years as Chief Investment Officer for a multi-family office with over $1B in assets.

His background and experience includes investment banking, private equity, corporate strategy, and family office investing. Mr. Gaede received his Masters of Business Administration from the Darden Business School at the University of Virginia and graduated Magna Cum Laude from Texas Christian University earning his B.B.A. He is active in the Denver community and a member of various boards and organizations including Ace Scholarships and the Heart and Hand Center.

Randy Santulli joined Stonebridge Companies in early 2006 where he serves as Senior Vice President-Hotel Operations. He is responsible for all aspects of the hotel portfolio including select-service, extended-stay, mid-scale and full-service hotels. Mr. Santulli has an extensive background in food and beverage operations and has successfully repositioned numerous high volume restaurant and catering operations throughout his career.

Prior to joining Stonebridge, Mr. Santulli served with Remington Hotel Corporation as Divisional Vice President-Hotel Operations, where he was involved in over 45 hotel acquisitions. He previously served with Westbrooke Hospitality Corporation as Senior Vice President-Hotel Operations. Mr. Santulli holds a degree from the Culinary Institute of America.

Judy has over 25 years as a Sales & Marketing leader working in various leadership roles in full service and convention hotels, having served the last 15 years in a multi-unit VP role. Since joining Stonebridge in 2015, Judy has been responsible for overseeing the company's sales training and development that support the entire portfolio of hotels. Judy oversees sales revenue strategies that include driving top line revenue, achieving defined growth and profit targets as well as meeting market share goals. Judy also oversees sales recruiting efforts, building the sales strategy, devising sales tactics and working with the support teams to ensure success.

With over 20 years of excellence in the hospitality industry, Sharad Chand became Vice President of Hotel Operations in 2021, having been a part of the Stonebridge family since 2016.  Sharad received both the President's Award from Stonebridge Companies for 2017 hotel performance and the prestigious Diamond General Manager by Marriott International in 2018. He was promoted to Area General Manager and then Regional General Manager as the company footprint grew in the Boston Market.  Sharad's wealth of industry knowledge includes full service, boutique hotels, and select service brands, stemming from a career that grew from Front of House to Sales Manager to Director of Sales and Marketing, to General Manager.  Originally from India, Sharad attended Hotel School in Lucerne, Switzerland, and then received his Bachelor of the Arts degree in Hospitality Management from Johnson and Wales University, Providence, RI. Having studied in three continents, Sharad is fluent in four languages.  He enjoys skiing, hiking, biking, and golfing with his wife and two children, and spends many weekends volunteering at local food pantries and working alongside local philanthropic organizations.    

Hailing from Wichita, Kansas where he attended Friends University and chased storms, Chris Cheney has been in the hospitality industry for 17 years and has held management roles in the areas of hotel operations and revenue management with independent and branded hotels. Cheney joined Stonebridge Companies in 2007 as General Manager at the Homewood Suites by Hilton in Anchorage, Alaska.

He relocated with Stonebridge in 2009 to Denver, Colorado to open and operate the Hilton Garden Inn Denver Cherry Creek as General Manager before joining the corporate team in 2011 as Director of Revenue Management and later being promoted to serve as Vice President of Revenue Management. Cheney was recently promoted to Vice President of Hotel Performance and Analytics. Cheney is also on the Board for HSMAI Americas.

Dave Czarnecki joined Stonebridge Companies in 2018 and oversees a portfolio of full service, select service and extended stay hotels. Prior to joining Stonebridge Companies, Czarnecki held regional portfolio management positions with Interstate Hotels, The Summit Group and the Walt Disney Company. Throughout his 39+ year career in hospitality, Czarnecki has worked nearly every position in hotels and hospitality is his passion. Born and raised in the Chicago area, Czarnecki attended Northern Illinois University and is a member of Phi Kappa Sigma Fraternity. He started his career in 1982 as a Bellman at a Holiday Inn when he relocated to Colorado. He has one Daughter and one Son.

Bryan Edwards joined Stonebridge Companies in 2021 as VP, Food & Beverage, Strategic Sourcing, and Retail.  In his role, he leads food & beverage and retail operations, and manages continuous improvement in Stonebridge Companies supply chain and procurement strategies.  Prior to joining Stonebridge Companies, Bryan has held a number of executive leadership roles in the Restaurant, Hotel, Casino and Nightlife industries, with companies such as IHG Corporate, Two Roads Hospitality, Xanterra Travel Collection, and Pinnacle Entertainment. 

Matt Friend serves as Vice President of Risk Management for Stonebridge Companies. He is responsible for minimizing risk to the company by leading the company's risk management strategy, negotiating insurance programs, managing claims, implementing loss prevention programs and administering contract protocols.

He has over 23 years experience in the hospitality industry, most recently serving almost nine years as Director of Risk Management for Red Robin International. Mr. Friend is Past President of the Rocky Mountain Chapter of Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS) Board of Directors and is an Affiliate Faculty member at Regis University, College of Professional Studies in Denver, CO. Matt earned his Master's of Science in Management from Regis University and his Senior Professional in Human Resource (SPHR) certification.

Kate Hembree joined Stonebridge in 2019 and was selected for her role as VP, Controller of Stonebridge Corporation In 2021.  As VP, Controller Kate oversees the Accounting functions for the Stonebridge hotel portfolio.  Prior to Stonebridge, Kate spent much of her career working for Hyatt Hotels Corporation in Finance at multiple locations.  Kate holds a Bachelors of Science in Finance with a minor in Restaurant Resort Management from Colorado State University. 
 

Nasim Mansurov has over 20 years of proven top-level management experience in Information Technology, with a strong emphasis in ERP, hotel IT management, ISP management, telecommunications and infrastructure, datacenter management, project management, software development, virtualization and hosting. Currently serving as the Vice President of Information Technology, Mr. Mansurov oversees all aspects of the company's technology, current and emerging, as well as Telecom.

He is responsible for strategic evaluation of new systems that are proposed for the company and for providing technical training and support to all hotels. Mr. Mansurov fluently speaks four languages and received numerous awards and scholarships in the past. He earned his B.S. degree in Management and Marketing from University of Colorado, Boulder.

Jack joined Stonebridge Companies in 2014 and oversees Stonebridge Companies' full, select and extended stay portfolio. Prior to joining Stonebridge Companies, he was Regional Director of Operations with Expotel Hospitality LLC and RFS Hotel Investors/Flagstone Hospitality. Jack's professional career also includes multiple positions across many branded and boutique hotels where he specialized in underperforming and turn around assets. He has received General Manager of the Year honors several times throughout his career.

Jack began his career in restaurants while attending University of Florida and Palm Beach State College where he majored in Psychology. He is originally from Orlando, Florida and he and his wife have four children.

Tom joined Stonebridge Companies in 2012 as a General Manager to open the companies first dual brand hotel. Tom was promoted to his current role in 2017 and oversees a portfolio of full, select and extended stay hotels. Tom has been in the hospitality industry for 30+ years and has held multiple positions across many branded and boutique hotels.

Tom graduated from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas with his Bachelor's of Science in Hotel Administration. He is originally from Buffalo, New York and he and his wife have three children.