Emir Tursic is a Principal and Office Director for HKS Salt Lake City with 20 years of professional experience in hospitality, entertainment, and residential design. Emir's hospitality experience ranges from resorts that changed the paradigm of hospitality design in Las Vegas and luxury ski resorts in the Wasatch Range to urban lifestyle hotels throughout America. His international experience includes specialty proton cancer treatment centers in Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom. In his resident city, Emir completed several hospitality, entertainment and residential projects that are changing the fabric of the Salt Lake City Downtown.

Ryan Ritchie is a Co-Founder and Managing Partner of The Ritchie Group (TRG). He has been instrumental in setting the direction and vision for the company. His primary roles at TRG include deal sourcing, project entitlements, design development, market feasibility, construction management, and overall project management of a design and construction team. Ryan has a passion for creating great real estate. He believes strongly in the philosophy that the highest quality of real estate yields the best returns for the greatest public and private benefit. Ryan received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brigham Young University.

In his role as associate, project manager and architect with Architectural Nexus, Mihnea pursues his passion for functional, beautiful, sustainable and innovative designs on commercial mixed-use and multi-family projects. His work includes planning, pre-design, design, implementation and post-occupancy assessment for developments of different sizes, from 30 units to 1,200 units. He strongly believes architecture should focus on people and their experience and enjoys the design process as much as the end result. He thrives to understand the problem, ask the right questions of the right team members and delve deeper to propose solutions which address all aspects of the issue at hand, within the parameters of the project. Prior to joining Architectural Nexus, Mihnea practiced as Staff Architect at Tulane University and had the opportunity to oversee a wide range of transformative new construction projects. In this role, Mihnea developed a unique institutional owner’s perspective towards achieving the best design outcome with the most efficient use of resources over the entire life of the building. Mihnea earned a Masters of Architecture magna cum laude and a Masters of Preservation Studies from Tulane University in New Orleans, LA. He has also presented at the AIA annual conference, USGBC Greenbuild, National Trust for Historic Preservation Past Forward Conference and others.

Dee Brewer is Executive Director at the Salt Lake City Downtown Alliance, a business improvement district that activates and promotes downtown SLC as the regional center of commerce, culture and entertainment. The Alliance advocates for downtown's daytime and nighttime economies including commercial and residential development, arts and entertainment content, and retail and restaurant success. The Alliance produces fifty Downtown Farmers Markets each year, manages construction mitigation services on major projects and deploys a team of Street Ambassadors daily to support a safe, clean and courteous experience for all downtown residents, workers and guests. Dee previously led marketing and tourism initiatives for City Creek Center. He was Associate Vice President of Marketing and Public Relations for University of Utah Health Sciences and University Health Care. He previously founded and operated Dee Brewer Strategic Communications for nine years which supported numerous clients in the hospitality and healthcare sectors. Dee has served on and led many community boards and is a past chair of Visit Salt Lake. Dee enjoys living and working downtown and playing in the Utah mountains and deserts.