The Executives

We understand the Quintess, LRW experience comes from the combined commitment and talent of our people — the faces, voices and personalities that touch our Members. We are proud to introduce our exceptional Executive team.

Pete Estler

Board Member, Founder and CEO
Peter Estler is a successful serial entrepreneur with world-renowned expertise in integrated technologies, database marketing, business development, new media and finance. In 1993, Estler was the Founder and CEO of dbINTELLECT Technologies, a marketing information warehouse company for elite customers including General Motors, Chase, MCI, Merrill Lynch, Sprint, Signet Bank, TRW and Nielsen. Within three years of operations, the company achieved over $50 million in annual revenue. Estler then went on to start his next company in 1996 when he became the Founder and CEO of MatchLogic, an innovative Internet advertising company whose clients included General Motors and Procter & Gamble. After 14 months of operations, the company was sold in an all-stock deal for $90 million. The following 10 months returned nearly $1 billion to the original MatchLogic investors as the Excite stock price went up over 10 times. During his career, Estler also made investments in real estate projects on an international basis. Out of college, Estler was recruited to Bell Laboratories where he specialized in Telephony Systems and Systems Architecture. After the break-up of AT&T, Estler joined the ranks of EDS, where he spent 11 years and was recognized as one of the top 16 technologists in a company of over 70,000 employees.

Karen Short

President
Karen Short is responsible for leading all facets of the company’s managerial, operational and member services functions. She has more than twenty years experience in luxury hospitality, destination marketing and management. In 1997, she founded INNPERSPECTIVES Consulting Inc.; a firm dedicated to assisting hospitality and tourism entities with profit enhancement through improved customer and strategic partner relationships. Short gained her experience while serving in a range of hospitality positions: General Manager of The Snowmass Lodge & Club, Snowmass, Colo.; Director of Sales and Marketing for The Yarrow, Park City, Utah, Meadowood, The Inn at Southbridge, Napa Valley, Calif., and The Little Nell Hotel, Aspen, Colo.; Vice President of Sales for The Aspen Skiing Company; and Food and Beverage Director with Omni Hotels.

Ben Addoms

Board Member, Founder and Executive Vice President, Membership Development
Ben Addoms has 20 years of executive management and investment experience with private and public companies involved in online and offline marketing, direct response, database marketing, advertising and publishing. He served as President of Excite@Home’s media and marketing services, as well as managed their subsidiary MatchLogic. Addoms was also Vice President of Polk Company, one of the nation’s largest database marketing businesses. Addoms later diversified his investment strategy away from technology and aggressively pursued the development of real estate opportunities both inside and outside the U.S.

Ken Mesikapp

Chief Financial Officer, Club Holdings
Kenneth Mesikapp is responsible for all financial operations of Club Holdings and Quintess, LRW. Mesikapp is the former Senior Vice President of Finance and Accounting and Treasurer of Raindance Communications, Inc. When he joined Raindance in December 1997, Mesikapp was the 15th employee and an instrumental member of the team that took the company public in July 2000. At Raindance Mesikapp participated in several mergers and acquisitions both on the buying side and on the selling side culminating when Raindance was sold to West Corporation for approximately $155 million in April 2006. During his tenure with Raindance, Mesikapp experienced the start-up entrepreneurial phase that exhibited significant growth including multiple venture capital financing rounds, an initial public offering, and a corporate restructuring that coincided with the stock market adjustment of late 2000 and 2001. Mesikapp worked in public accounting for 11 years prior to joining Raindance performing consulting, tax and auditing services for closely held businesses. With over 20-years experience, Mesikapp has significant technical accounting, audit and tax experience. Mesikapp holds a BS in Accounting from the University of Illinois at Chicago and is a CPA.

Len Allsup

Board Member, Founder and Senior Vice President, Business Development
Len Allsup is responsible for all strategic partnerships, alliances, channel development and corporate venturing activities. With 25 years of business and leadership experience, he has created and operated eight companies in the cable media and telecommunications industries that today have annual revenues in excess of $375 million. Among them, Allsup was CEO for Jato Communications and A.G.I. Management. Jato was a national DSL Service Provider offering broadband services in 50 states with more than 1,000 central offices. A.G.I. Management was under contract with Lucent Technologies providing turnaround expertise and statistics to telecommunication companies.

Don Kerchof

Founder and Senior Vice President, Member Services and Product Development
Don Kerchof has more than 24 years of experience in the luxury hotel business, bringing extensive experience to the development, sales, marketing and services of Quintess, LRW. A graduate of the University of Denver’s School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management, Kerchof began his career with Westin Hotels and Resorts in 1981 at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco, Calif. where he held key management positions over a period of 10 years. He held Director of Sales and Marketing positions with The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company in Rancho Mirage and in Pasadena, Calif.; as well as at the Four Season Hotel Company in Austin, Tex. Kerchof was instrumental in helping the Four Seasons Hotel Austin and Ritz-Carlton, Huntington Hotel & Spa to achieve the prestigious AAA Five Diamond award.

Alex Preiser

President, Quintess, LRW Real Estate
Alex Preiser has overall responsibility for managing all aspects of real estate acquisitions, dispositions, and asset management. Preiser has a significant background in real estate, having worked on numerous development projects in the United States and several locations abroad. Prior to joining Quintess, LRW Preiser practiced law at the law firm of Johnson & Repucci LLP, where he focused his practice in the areas of real estate transactions, including acquisitions, dispositions, commercial leasing and lending; and general corporate and transactional matters. Preiser has also successfully worked to develop two prior companies: Preiser was the Vice President of SignalSoft Corporation (later acquired by Openwave Systems, Inc.) and served as Corporate Counsel and Chief Operating Officer for Contact One Communications. He also served as an attorney at the Federal Communications Commission. Preiser received a BA in Economics from Hobart College in 1990 and a JD from Albany Law School of Union University in 1993. Preiser later received an MBA in Finance from the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado.

Trent Sutton

Founder and Senior Vice President, Corporate Development
Trent Sutton is responsible for directing major business development activities, including supporting the closing of new business concepts. As the former CFO of Quintess, Sutton is a well-established entrepreneur and CPA. In his 24-year career, he has served as a CPA with Price Waterhouse and held senior financial positions with CommNet Cellular, Inc. and Spectrum Holobyte. Later, he co-founded Cactus Strategies, Inc. a database research and data mining company and served as its CFO until late 2000. From late 2000 until 2004, Sutton was the founder and President of Purelink.net, Inc., a high-speed Internet access provider in New Mexico, which merged with Gateway Access Solutions, Inc.

Bryan Schwartz

General Counsel
Bryan Schwartz is responsible for managing all legal matters and the legal department, including the preparation and carrying out of real estate contracts, corporate and securities matters, and Club operations. Prior to joining Quintess, LRW, he practiced law at the Denver firm of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, P.C., where he focused primarily on real estate transactions, including real estate finance, development, purchase, and sale and leasing. Prior to that, Schwartz practiced at the Denver firm of and Rothgerber Johnson and Lyons, LLP, where he focused on real estate transactions and corporate and securities compliance. Schwartz received his JD from the University of Denver, Sturm College of Law in 1999 and his BA in Philosophy from Lewis and Clark College in 1987. Prior to attending law school, he was a high school teacher and athletics coach.