Commercial Deal Makers Forum - In-Person

David B. Dibo has initiated and closed many highly profitable hotel, real estate and financing transactions throughout the course of a dynamic career.

These transactions were completed during both stable and volatile business cycles in acquisitions, turnarounds, financings and dispositions. He has extensive experience with all types of land uses, having acquired, managed and overseen the development of raw untitled land, office buildings, hotels and resorts, residential properties (single and multi-family), and retail centers, as well as a wide spectrum of specialty real estate, including golf courses, health care facilities, and marinas. During a 5 1/2-year assignment, David helped to bring a highly troubled bank from the brink to profitability and sold. Following this assignment, David opened his own real estate advisory firm, Dibo & Partners.

Today, David works for the Mayor’s Office of Economic Development. As the Executive Director, he initiates plans and follows through on all actions that lead to smart economic growth throughout the City of Aurora

David works to see the big picture in a transaction, then
drills down and simplifies what appears complex on the surface level. He then methodically executes a strategy to transform these “diamonds in the rough.” He has worked both inside and as an advisor to both lenders and private and institutional investors, and he credits this for his ability to relate to diverse stakeholders. David has acquired numerous hotels for investment, including some fraught with significant challenges and hence, opportunity. He has worked through a myriad of entitlement hurdles and completed transactions in the continental United States, the Caribbean, Hawaii, and Europe.

David has bought and sold property for a mid-sized REIT (WRIT), an $8-billion-dollar diverse real estate investment and development company with a capital base of public and private debt and limited partnerships (VMS Realty) and directed the turnaround of a $200-million-dollar tax-free high-income fund with underlying (and often hidden) real estate value (Van Kampen Funds). He helped create a joint venture with a premier hotel company and a US financing partner and originated a development partnership for a large mixed-use mega yacht marina with office and retail components. He has worked on Wall Street (Morgan Stanley and Lehman), purchased and sold hotel portfolios, and championed the interests of bondholders and community and regional banks.

David has lectured at The Wharton School where he graduated, The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and The School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University. He and his college roommate founded the Spring Fling, the popular art and music event still held annually at the University of Pennsylvania. He has served as a Director of a noted women’s health center and the Wilmette Theatre in the north suburbs of Chicago.