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Born in Holland in 1974, holding a Master in Business Administration from Maastricht Hotel Management University, Holland, Bernardo has 25 years of experience in the real estate, hospitality, financial and healthcare sectors. After 5 years in operational management in the luxury hotel industry in New York City and Spain at The St Regis New York, The New York Palace and the Hotel Alfonso XIII and Westin La Quinta Marbella, he moved into the real estate sector in 2003, working in consulting and brokerage globally.

 

From 2008 through 2011, Bernardo was responsible for real estate investment management for Qatar’s largest investment bank, QInvest. In that position he was involved in several high profile transactions with a total transaction value of over USD 10bn, among others advising one of Qatar’s major Banks in forming a joint venture with Al Futtaim Group from Dubai, with the objective to develop mixed use project Doha Festival City, financial advisory to Qatar Holding in relation to the acquisition of Harrod’s, London, United Kingdom, the acquisition of 25% of a touristic mixed use project in Doha, Qatar, the management and disposal of a large office portfolio in France, the management and disposal of the Shard of Glass in London, the tallest mixed-use project in Europe, the acquisition of an office and light industrial development in Paris, France, the financing of a residential project in Istanbul, Turkey, as well as the acquisition of two hotels in London.

 

In 2013 Bernardo conceived the Otium brand, and created concepts such as Otium Lifestyle Management, Otium Residences, Otium Gourmet, Otium Capital, Otium Health & Beauty and Otium Clinics.

 

Bernardo has a certificate in “Hotel Investments & Asset Management”from Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, is a member of the Urban Land Institute and speaks Dutch, English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, as well as moderate Portuguese, Arabic and Russian, and is a visiting professor at HEC Marbella, Les Roches, Marbella and MIUC.