Ben Rowe is a Founder and Managing Partner of KHP Capital Partners, a real estate private equity firm focused on investments in boutique and independent hotels. Headquartered in San Francisco, CA, KHP invests across the United States and Canada and is focused on disciplined acquisition criteria and implementing value-add investment strategies that capitalize on their team’s experience in hotel operations and development. The company currently has approximately $640 million under management and owns eighteen properties across the U.S. Ben has direct responsibility for finance, asset management, capital-raising, and investor relations.
Ben began his career as an investment banker focusing on capital raising and strategic advisory work in the lodging and gaming industries with Salomon Smith Barney in New York. From 1999 to 2000, Ben served as the CFO of Leirum, a restaurant and entertainment group that developed and operated restaurants under the Muriel brand name. He then joined Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants in 2003, where he was appointed as the Director of Corporate Finance and Development, followed by a promotion to Senior Vice President, Treasurer in 2005. He later served as Kimpton’s Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer beginning in 2008, where his responsibilities included securing debt and equity capital, managing banking and investor relationships and communication, owned asset management, financial reporting, budgeting, risk management, tax planning and management, treasury management, and information technology. Under Ben’s leadership, Kimpton grew to become the largest independent owner and operator of boutique hotels in the United States. Ben’s current firm – KHP Capital Partners – took over Kimpton Hotels & Restaurant’s fund management business in January of 2015 following the sale of the hotel management company.
Ben holds a B.S. with Distinction from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration, where he majored in hospitality finance. He also holds an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Ben serves on the Board of Directors of TrueGreece, a privately held Greek and Mediterranean focused luxury travel company, which he co-founded in 2004. He also serves on the National Board of Directors of Spark, a nonprofit youth mentoring organization. Ben lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife and two children.
