Peter G. Dumon, President
Peter G. Dumon is president of The Harp Group, a Chicago-based real estate investment and development company specializing in hospitality and retail projects. He founded the company in 1997 to capitalize on value-creation opportunities in the United States real estate markets. Dumon leads The Harp Group's development efforts through creative approaches to land use, financial analysis, partnership structuring and overall development oversight. He is also founding partner of both Cenitare, a restaurant development and management company, and Portfolio Hotels & Resorts, a hotel management and consulting company specializing in boutique-style destination resorts and urban hotels in domestic and international markets.

At just 37, Dumon has become a major influence in the real estate development industry using his expertise to quickly turn ideas into profits across the country while building a $1 billion portfolio. In 2006 alone, he led The Harp Group in adding four hotels to its rapidly growing portfolio, broke ground on the $140 million, 560-room luxury-brand InterContinental Chicago O’Hare Hotel, and launched Cenitare, which will develop restaurants in partnership with nationally-acclaimed Executive Chef Rick Tramonto and Executive Pastry Chef Gale Gand of TRU in Chicago.

Since 1994, Dumon has been involved in the acquisition, construction and development of numerous hotel properties as well as office, retail, restaurant and multifamily projects. From planning, zoning, feasibility, and debt and equity financing to development and asset management, he has engaged in all aspects of real estate projects winning awards and accolades along the way. Moving quickly on profitable projects is one of Dumon’s strengths as he efficiently pre-qualifies the financial feasibility of deals based on his market knowledge, construction and financial proficiency. Dumon’s background as a former trader has allowed him to assemble a network of high-net-worth private investors to facilitate the equity capitalization of his projects.

Focusing on the relationship between a project’s architectural appeal and the people that are drawn to it, The Harp Group looks to the hospitality sector - from small boutique hotels, restaurants and spas to large commercial spaces – to develop unique and inspired projects. An expert at repositioning, Dumon is also known for transforming under-branded assets into outstanding properties.

Active in both the business and local community, Dumon serves on the Starwood Hotels and Resorts Development Board of Advisors as well as volunteers with the Hinsdale Community House and Hinsdale Little League, and is chairman of the Buoniconti Fund’s Chicago Chapter which raises funds for the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis. A parishioner at St. Isaac Jogues Catholic Church, Dumon serves on the parish’s Administration and Planning committee, and is president, with his wife, of the SIJ Parent School Association.
A graduate of the University of Notre Dame with degrees in both economics and philosophy, Dumon resides in Hinsdale, Ill. with his wife, Julie, and their four children.

Timothy G. Franzen, Executive Vice President
Mr. Franzen has been with The Harp Group since April of 2004. Mr. Franzen is Executive Vice President of Acquisitions & Development for The Harp Group. In that role he is responsible for managing all aspects of The Harp Group’s hotel and resort property acquisitions, as well as its new construction hotel developments from initial concepting through completion and opening. Mr. Franzen managed The Harp Group’s acquisition of 6 hotel properties over a recent 18 month period and is currently overseeing Harp’s $300,000,000 development pipeline.

Prior to joining The Harp Group, Mr. Franzen co-founded, in January of 2000, GTC Investments, L.L.C., a real estate investment and development company specializing in retail and residential mixed-used, revitalization projects in suburban Chicago downtowns. Mr. Franzen’s efforts lead to the City of Wheaton awarding GTC Investments a redevelopment project involving two entire blocks in the City’s downtown business district.

Prior to co-founding GTC Investments, Mr. Franzen practiced law in the Real Estate Department of the law firm of Katten Muchin Rosenman (formerly Katten Muchin Zavis). During his tenure with Katten, he represented purchasers, sellers, pension fund advisors, and lenders in a national practice focused on the acquisition, disposition and financing of commercial real estate assets including office buildings, golf courses, apartment complexes, shopping centers, and manufactured home communities. Mr. Franzen’s represented such clients as TrizecHahn Office Properties, LinksCorp, LaSalle Bank, Blackacre Capital and Greenwich Capital. In all, he has been integrally involved in more than $1 billion in real estate transactions.

Mr. Franzen is a 1993 graduate of DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree and a 1997 graduate of DePaul University College of Law in Chicago. Mr. Franzen lives in Wheaton, Illinois with his wife, Wendy and their children, Will and Hannah. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Washington C. DePauw Society and is the Steering Committee Chairman for the DuPage Community Foundation’s Next Generation Initiative.

Eric Nolin, Senior Vice President
Mr. Nolin joined The Harp Group in 2004. He managed the development of the 412 room Westin Chicago North Shore in Wheeling, Illinois which opened in October 2006, and the 500 room Westin Lombard Yorktown Center project which opened in September 2007. Prior to that, he was Managing Director of the Project Management Services Group at CB Richard Ellis. There, he coordinated over $200 million worth of office, retail, and research laboratory projects for clients including Big Idea Productions, Unum Insurance, Duo Fast Corporation, McWhorter Technologies, and Toms Price Home Furnishings. Before CB Richard Ellis, Mr. Nolin served as Vice President of Developmentat Draper and Kramer, and was a development project manager at Stein & Company where he managed corporate and regional headquarters projects for Ernst & Young, GATX, and AT&T, and sports projects such as The United Center in Chicago, Illinois.

Eric is responsible for providing the full scope of development management services including: strategic plan development; project budgeting and scheduling; project team assembly; design review and management; coordination of all project consultants, contractors and vendors; contract administration and field observation.

Mr. Nolin has a Master of Architecture degree in Architectural Design and a Bachelor of Sciences degree in Architectural Studies from the University of Illinois. He received his Illinois architect’s license in 1987.