Sunstone Hotel Investors Inc

Our Company

We were incorporated in Maryland on June 28, 2004. We are a real estate investment trust (“REIT”), under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”). As of December 31, 2023, we owned 14 hotels, comprised of 6,675 rooms, located in 6 states and in Washington, DC. Our portfolio consists of upper upscale and luxury hotels located in major convention, resort destination and urban markets. All of our hotels are operated under nationally recognized brands, except the Oceans Edge Resort & Marina, which has established itself in a resort destination market.

We own hotels in major convention, urban and resort destinations that benefit from significant barriers to entry by competitors and diverse economic drivers. Our mission is to be the premier stewards of capital in the lodging industry, providing superior returns to our stockholders by investing in hotels where we can add value through capital investment, hotel repositioning and asset management. In addition, we seek to capitalize on our portfolio’s embedded value and balance sheet strength to actively recycle past investments into new growth and value creation opportunities in order to deliver strong stockholder returns and superior per share net asset value growth.

Our hotels are operated by third-party managers under long-term management agreements with the TRS Lessee or its subsidiaries. As of December 31, 2023, our third-party managers included: subsidiaries of Marriott International, Inc. or Marriott Hotel Services, Inc. (collectively, “Marriott”), managers of six of our hotels; Hyatt Hotels Corporation (“Hyatt”), manager of two of our hotels; and Four Seasons Hotels Limited (“Four Seasons”), Hilton Worldwide (“Hilton”), Interstate Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (“IHR”) (aka Aimbridge Hospitality), Montage North America, LLC (“Montage”), Sage Hospitality Group (“Sage”) and Singh Hospitality, LLC (“Singh”) (aka EOS Hospitality), each a manager of one of the Company’s hotels.

Competitive Strengths

We believe the following competitive strengths distinguish us from other owners of lodging properties:

Focus on Owning Well-Located Hotel and Resort Real Estate*.* We believe that we will create lasting stockholder value through the active ownership of well-located real estate with a balance of convention, resort and urban assets that we believe possess unique attributes that are difficult to replicate, and most of all, whose locations are highly desirable and are relevant today and whose relevance will stand the test of time for generations to come. We believe that our portfolio provides superior long-term economics and reduces the risk of waning demand that often happens to undercapitalized and poorly located hotels and resorts.

Presence in Key Markets*.* We believe that our hotels are located in many of the most desirable U.S. markets with enduring demand generators and significant barriers to entry for new supply. Our hotels are located in key urban

gateway and convention markets and unique resort destination locations such as Boston, Key West, Maui, Miami, the Northern California counties of Napa and Sonoma, New Orleans, Orlando, Portland, San Diego, San Francisco and Washington DC. Over time, we expect the revenues of hotels located in key urban gateway and convention markets and unique resort destination locations to generate superior long-term growth rates as compared to the average for U.S. hotels, as a result of stronger and more diverse economic drivers.

Nationally Recognized Brands and Established Independents*.* As noted above, all but one of our hotels are operated under nationally recognized brands. We believe that affiliations with strong brands and established independents improve the appeal of our hotels to a broad set of travelers and help to drive business to our hotels.

Well Maintained Portfolio*.* A primary component of our business is the renovation or repositioning of our hotels. We believe that our capital renovations and repositionings have improved the competitiveness of our hotels and have helped to position our portfolio for future growth.

Asset Management. Our asset management team is responsible for maximizing the long-term value of our real estate investments by achieving above average revenue and profit performance through proactive oversight of hotel operations. Our asset management team works with our third-party managers to drive property-level innovation, benchmark best practices and aggressively oversee hotel management teams and property plans. We work with our operators to develop hotel-level business plans, which include positioning and capital investment plans. We believe that a proactive asset management program can help grow the revenues of our hotel portfolio and maximize operational and environmental efficiency by leveraging best practices and innovations across our hotels, and by initiating well-timed and focused capital improvements aimed at improving the appeal of our hotels.

Acquisitions. Our acquisitions team is responsible for enhancing our portfolio quality and scale by executing well-timed acquisitions and dispositions that generate attractive risk-adjusted returns on our investments. We believe that our significant acquisition and disposition experience will allow us to continue to execute our strategy to recycle and redeploy capital from slower growth assets to hotels and resorts with higher long-term growth rates. We also focus on disciplined capital recycling and may selectively sell hotels that we believe have reached the end of their

investment lifecycle, no longer fit our stated strategy, are unlikely to offer long-term returns in excess of our cost of capital, will achieve a sale price in excess of our internal valuation, or that have high risk relative to their anticipated returns.

Finance. We have a highly experienced finance team focused on minimizing our cost of capital and maximizing our financial flexibility by proactively managing our capital structure and opportunistically sourcing appropriate capital for growth, while maintaining a robust investor relations program.

Legal. Our legal team is responsible for overseeing and supporting all Company-wide legal matters, including all legal matters related to corporate oversight and governance, investment, asset management, design and construction, finance initiatives and litigation. We believe active and direct oversight of legal matters allows the Company the flexibility to pursue opportunities while minimizing legal exposure, protecting corporate assets and ultimately maximizing stockholder returns.

Business Strategy

As demand for lodging generally fluctuates with the overall economy, we seek to own well-located hotel and resort real estate that will maintain a high appeal with lodging travelers over long periods of time and will generate superior economic earnings materially in excess of recurring capital requirements. We take a lifecycle approach to hotel investment that maximizes our ability to create value during our period of ownership and opportunistically dispose of the hotel to harvest gains, realize that value, and then seek to redeploy the proceeds into new growth opportunities. Our goal is to maintain appropriate leverage and financial flexibility to position the Company to create value throughout all phases of the operating and financial cycles.

Competition

The hotel industry is highly competitive. Our hotels compete with other hotels and alternative lodging options for guests in each of their markets. Competitive advantage is based on a number of factors, including location, price, physical attributes, service levels and reputation. Competition is often specific to the individual markets in which our hotels are located and includes competition from existing and new hotels operated under brands in the luxury, upper upscale and upscale segments and competition from timeshare, vacation rentals or sharing services. Increased competition could harm our occupancy or revenues or may lead our operators to increase service or amenity levels, which may reduce the profitability of our hotels.

We believe that competition for the acquisition of hotels is widespread. We face competition from institutional pension funds, private equity investors, high net worth individuals, other REITs and numerous local, regional, national and international owners. Some of these entities may have substantially greater financial resources than we do and may be able and willing to accept more risk than we believe we can prudently manage. During times when we seek to acquire hotels, competition among potential buyers may increase the bargaining power of potential sellers, which may reduce the number of suitable investment opportunities available to us or increase pricing. Similarly, during times when we seek to sell hotels, competition from other sellers may increase the bargaining power of the potential property buyers.

Seasonality and Volatility

As is typical of the lodging industry, we experience seasonality in our business. Demand at certain of our hotels is affected by seasonal business patterns that can cause quarterly fluctuations in our revenues. Revenue distribution in 2023 generally returned to pre-pandemic seasonality patterns with revenue per quarter at the same 13 hotels we owned in both 2023 and 2022 (the “Existing Portfolio”) of 24.6%, 27.3%, 24.4% and 23.7% for the first, second, third and fourth quarters, respectively. Revenue in 2022 continued to be affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, with the Omicron variant impacting travel in the first quarter of 2022, resulting in hotel revenue per quarter at the Existing Portfolio of 19.8%, 27.9%, 26.2% and 26.1% for the first, second, third and fourth quarters, respectively.

Quarterly revenue also may be adversely affected by renovations and repositionings, our managers’ effectiveness in generating business and by events beyond our control, such as economic and business conditions, including a U.S. recession or increased inflation, trade conflicts and tariffs, changes impacting global travel, regional or global economic slowdowns, any flu or disease-related pandemic that impacts travel or the ability to travel, weather patterns, the adverse effects of climate change, the threat of terrorism, terrorist events, civil unrest, government shutdowns, events that reduce the capacity or availability of air travel, increased competition from other hotels in our markets, new hotel supply or alternative lodging options and unexpected changes in business, commercial travel, leisure travel and tourism.

Management Agreements

All of our hotels are managed by third parties under management agreements with the TRS Lessee or its subsidiaries. Descriptions of our third-party management agreements are included inItem 1. Businessin our 2022,2021 and 2020 Annual Reports on Form 10-K.

All of our management agreements require the manager to furnish chain services that are generally made available to other hotels managed by that operator. Costs for these chain services are reimbursed by us. Such services include: the development and operation of computer systems and reservation services; management and administrative services; marketing and sales services; human resources training services; and such additional services as may from time to time be more efficiently performed on a national, regional or group level.

Franchise Agreements

As of December 31, 2023, two of our hotels were operated subject to franchise agreements, The Bidwell Marriott Portland and the Hilton New Orleans St. Charles. Franchisors provide a variety of benefits to franchisees, including nationally recognized brands, centralized reservation systems, national advertising, marketing programs and publicity designed to increase brand awareness, training of personnel and maintenance of operational quality at hotels across the brand system. The franchise agreements for The Bidwell Marriott Portland and the Hilton New Orleans St. Charles expire in October 2024 and May 2028, respectively.

The franchise agreements generally specify management, operational, record-keeping, accounting, reporting and marketing standards and procedures with which our subsidiary, as the franchisee, must comply. The franchise agreements obligate the subsidiary to comply with the franchisors’ brand standards and requirements with respect to training of operational personnel, safety, insurance coverages, services and products ancillary to guest room services, display of signage and the type, quality and age of furniture, fixtures and equipment (“FF&E”) included in guest rooms, lobbies and other common areas.

The franchise agreements also provide for termination at the franchisor’s option upon the occurrence of certain events, including failure to pay royalties and fees, failure to perform other obligations under the franchise license, bankruptcy, abandonment of the franchise or a change in control. The subsidiary that is the franchisee is responsible for making all payments under the franchise agreements to the franchisors; however, the Company guaranties certain obligations under a majority of the franchise agreements.

Tax Status

We have elected to be taxed as a REIT under Sections 856 through 859 of the Code, commencing with our taxable year ended December 31, 2004. Under current federal income tax laws, we are required to distribute at least 90% of our REIT taxable income to our stockholders each year in order to satisfy the REIT distribution requirement. While REITs enjoy certain tax benefits relative to C corporations, as a REIT we may still be subject to certain federal, state and local taxes on our income and property. We may also be subject to federal income and excise tax on our undistributed income.

Taxable REIT Subsidiary

Subject to certain limitations, a REIT is permitted to own, directly or indirectly, up to 100% of the stock of a taxable REIT subsidiary, or TRS. A TRS is a fully taxable corporation that may earn income that would not be qualifying income if earned directly by us. A TRS may perform activities such as development, and other independent business activities that may be prohibited to a REIT. A hotel REIT is permitted to own a TRS that leases hotels from the REIT, rather than requiring the lessee to be an unaffiliated third party, provided certain conditions are satisfied. However, a hotel leased to a TRS still must be managed by an unaffiliated third party in the business of managing hotels because a TRS may not directly or indirectly operate or manage any hotels or provide rights to any brand name under which any hotel is operated. The TRS provisions are complex and impose certain conditions on the use of TRSs to assure that TRSs are subject to an appropriate level of federal corporate taxation.

We and the TRS Lessee have made a joint election with the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) for the TRS Lessee to be treated as a TRS. A corporation of which a qualifying TRS owns, directly or indirectly, more than 35% of the voting power or value of the corporation’s stock will automatically be treated as a TRS. Overall, no more than 20% of the value of our assets may consist of securities of one or more TRS, and no more than 25% of the value of our assets may consist of the securities of TRSs and other assets that are not qualifying assets for purposes of the 75% asset test. The 75% asset test generally requires that at least 75% of the value of our total assets be represented by real estate assets, cash or government securities.

The rent that we receive from a TRS attributable to leases of “qualified lodging facilities” qualifies as “rents from real property” as long as the property is operated on behalf of the TRS by a person who qualifies as an “independent contractor” and who is, or is

related to a person who is, actively engaged in the trade or business of operating “qualified lodging facilities” for any person unrelated to us and the TRS (an “eligible independent contractor”). A “qualified lodging facility” is a hotel, motel or other establishment in which more than one-half of the dwelling units are used on a transient basis. A “qualified lodging facility” does not include any facility where wagering activities are conducted. A “qualified lodging facility” includes customary amenities and facilities operated as part of, or associated with, the lodging facility as long as such amenities and facilities are customary for other properties of a comparable size and class owned by other unrelated owners.

We have formed the TRS Lessee as a wholly owned TRS. We lease each of our hotels to the TRS Lessee or one of its subsidiaries. These leases provide for a base rent plus variable rent based on occupied rooms and departmental gross revenues. These leases must contain economic terms which are similar to a lease between unrelated parties. If they do not, the IRS could impose a 100% excise tax on certain transactions between the TRS Lessee and us or our tenants that are not conducted on an arm’s-length basis. We believe that all transactions between us and the TRS Lessee are conducted on an arm’s-length basis.

The TRS Lessee has engaged eligible independent contractors to manage the hotels it leases from the Operating Partnership.

Ground, Building and Airspace Lease Agreements

At December 31, 2023, the Hilton San Diego Bayfront was subject to a ground lease with an unaffiliated party, and the JW Marriott New Orleans was subject to an airspace lease that applies only to certain balcony space that is not integral to the hotel’s operations. In addition, as of December 31, 2023, we were obligated under a building lease with an unaffiliated party for our former corporate headquarters in Irvine, California, which we sublease to an unaffiliated party. As of December 31, 2023, the remaining terms of these ground, building and airspace leases range from approximately 5 to 48 years. The leases generally require us to make rental payments and payments for all or portions of costs and expenses, including real and personal property taxes, insurance and utilities associated with the leased property.

Any proposed sale of a hotel that is subject to a ground or airspace lease or any proposed assignment of our leasehold interest as lessee under the ground or airspace lease may require the consent of the applicable lessor. As a result, in the future, we may not be able to sell, assign, transfer or convey our lessee’s interest in a hotel subject to our remaining ground or airspace leases absent consent of such third parties even if such transactions may be in the best interest of our stockholders.

Corporate Office

Our headquarters are located at 15 Enterprise, Suite 200, Aliso Viejo, California 92656 under a lease with an unaffiliated party that terminates on April 30, 2029.

Human Capital Resources

As of February 23, 2024, we had 40 employees. None of our employees are represented by a labor union or covered by a collective bargaining agreement. All persons employed in the day-to-day operations of the hotels are employees of the management companies engaged by the TRS Lessee or its subsidiaries to operate such hotels.

Our employees are vital to the success of our Company. We place a very high emphasis on maintaining positive relations with all of our employees and strive to create an inspiring and inclusive work environment where our employees feel motivated and empowered to produce exceptional results for the Company. Our human capital resource objectives include, as applicable, identifying, recruiting, retaining and incentivizing our employees. To attract and retain top talent, we have designed our compensation and benefits programs to provide a balanced and effective reward structure, including:

We believe that our compensation and employee benefits are competitive and allow us to attract and retain skilled employees throughout our Company. We frequently benchmark our compensation and benefits package against those in both our industry and in similar disciplines.

We are committed to maintaining a work culture that treats all employees fairly and with respect, promotes inclusivity and provides equal opportunities for advancement based on merit. As of December 31, 2023, females constituted approximately 40% of our workforce, and ethnic, racial minorities and other underrepresented communities constituted approximately 35% of our workforce. We intend to continue using a combination of targeted recruiting, talent development and internal promotion strategies to expand the diversity of our employee base across all roles and functions.

We strive to maintain an inclusive environment free from discrimination of any kind, including sexual or other discriminatory harassment. Our employees have multiple avenues available through which concerns or inappropriate behavior can be reported, including a confidential hotline. All concerns or reports of inappropriate behavior are promptly investigated with appropriate action taken to address such concerns or behavior.

Corporate Responsibility

We are committed to ensuring that our Corporate Responsibility program and initiatives, including the three core pillars of environmental sustainability, social responsibility and corporate governance (“ESG”), are integrated into our operating and investment strategies. We continuously seek opportunities to invest in initiatives intended to reduce energy, water and waste impacts; enhance the overall environment and health, safety and well-being of guests, hotel associates and our corporate employees; promote diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging; and improve the local communities in which we conduct business or own hotels. We take a comprehensive approach to our business and balance the best interests of all stakeholders, including the environment, our employees, our capital providers, the hotel associates and the communities in which we own hotels. As our board of directors recognizes the importance of an effective corporate responsibility strategy on our operations and returns, the board of directors has assigned the board’s Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee with overseeing the strategy, policies and implementation of our ESG program.

As an owner of real estate, we are subject to the risks associated with the physical effects of climate change, which can include more frequent or severe storms, hurricanes, flooding, droughts and wildfires, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our hotels. While we are not directly involved in the operation of our properties or other activities that could produce meaningful levels of greenhouse gas emissions, we do control the capital invested in our hotels and have invested in initiatives aimed at reducing the levels of greenhouse gas emissions at our properties, such as LED lighting retrofits, solar power installations, low-flow plumbing fixture installations and building system upgrades. We are continuing to install bulk amenity dispensers and water filtration systems in our hotels to reduce waste. Additionally, on an annual basis, we publish a Corporate Responsibility Report on our website, which includes disclosures on our environmental and social performance and information related to our carbon footprint and the emissions at our hotels. Our Corporate Responsibility Report also includes a comparison of our energy, carbon, water and waste performance to the targets we announced in our 2019 Sustainability Report. The Corporate Responsibility Report is prepared in accordance with relevant international standards and best practices, specifically the Sustainable Accounting Standards Board for the Real Estate Sector, the Task-Force for Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (“TCFD”) and the Global Reporting Initiative Index.

Environmental Reviews

Environmental reviews have been conducted on all of our hotels. From time to time, we have commissioned environmental consultants to conduct Phase I environmental site assessments on certain of our properties. In some instances, these Phase I assessments relied on information prepared as part of prior environmental assessments. Phase I assessments are designed to evaluate the potential for environmental contamination of properties based generally upon site inspections, facility personnel interviews, historical information and certain publicly available databases. Phase I assessments will not necessarily reveal the existence or extent of all environmental conditions, liabilities or compliance concerns at the properties. In addition, material environmental conditions, liabilities or compliance concerns may arise after the Phase I assessments are completed, or may arise in the future, and future laws, ordinances or regulations may impose material additional environmental liabilities.

Under various federal, state and local laws and regulations, an owner or operator of real estate may be liable for the costs of removal or remediation of certain hazardous or toxic substances on the property. These laws often impose such liability without regard to whether the owner knew of, or was responsible for, the presence of hazardous or toxic substances. Furthermore, a person that arranges for the disposal or transports for disposal or treatment of a hazardous substance at another property may be liable for the costs of removal or remediation of hazardous substances released into the environment at that property. The costs of remediation or removal of such substances may be substantial, and the presence of such substances, or the failure to promptly remediate such substances, may adversely affect the owner’s ability to sell such real estate or to borrow using such real estate as collateral. In connection with the

ownership and operation of our properties, we or the TRS Lessee, as the case may be, may be potentially liable for such costs. Although we have tried to mitigate environmental risk through insurance, this insurance may not cover all or any of the environmental risks we encounter.

We have provided customary unsecured indemnities to certain lenders and buyers of our properties, including in particular, environmental indemnities. We have performed due diligence on the potential environmental risks, including obtaining an independent environmental review from outside environmental consultants. These indemnities obligate us to reimburse the indemnified parties for damages related to environmental matters. There is generally no term or damage limitation on these indemnities; however, if an environmental matter arises, we could have recourse against other previous owners or a claim against its environmental insurance policies.

ADA Regulation

Our properties must comply with various laws and regulations, including Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) to the extent that such properties are “public accommodations” as defined by the ADA. The ADA may require removal of structural barriers to access by persons with disabilities in certain public areas of our properties where such removal is readily achievable. We believe that our properties are in substantial compliance with the ADA; however, noncompliance with the ADA could result in capital expenditures, the imposition of fines or an award of damages to private litigants. The obligation to make readily accessible accommodations is ongoing, and we will continue to assess our properties and to make alterations as appropriate in this respect.

Inflation

Inflation affects our expenses, including, without limitation, by increasing costs such as wages, employee-related benefits, food costs, commodity costs, including those used to renovate or reposition our hotels, property taxes, property and liability insurance, utilities and borrowing costs. We rely on our hotel operators to adjust room rates and pricing for hotel services to reflect the effects of inflation. However, previously contracted rates, competitive pressures or other factors may limit the ability of our operators to respond to inflation. As a result, our expenses may increase at higher rates than revenue.

Securities Exchange Act Reports

Our internet address is www.sunstonehotels.com. Periodic and current Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) reports and amendments to those reports, such as our annual proxy statement, our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K, are available, free of charge, through links displayed on our website as soon as reasonably practicable after we file such material with, or furnish it to, the SEC. In addition, the SEC maintains a website that contains these reports at www.sec.gov. We may also use our website as a distribution channel of material company information. Financial and other important information regarding the Company is routinely accessible through and posted on the “Investor Relations” page of our website. In addition, you may automatically receive email alerts and other information about the Company when you enroll your email address by visiting the “Investor Relations” page of our website. Our website and the SEC website and the information on our and the SEC’s website are not a part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Information about our Executive Officers

The following table sets forth certain information regarding the executive officers of the Company at February 23, 2024. All officers serve at the discretion of the board of directors subject to the terms of their respective employment agreements with the Company.

The following is additional information with respect to the above-named officers.

Bryan A. Giglia is our Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Giglia joined the Company in March 2004 as a financial analyst, serving in the capacity of Director of Finance from October 2005 through February 2007. In March 2007, he was appointed Vice President Corporate Finance, and in March 2010, he was appointed Senior Vice President Corporate Finance, a position he held until February

2013, where he oversaw capital market transactions, corporate financial planning and analysis, and investor relations. In February 2013, Mr. Giglia was appointed Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, and in February 2016 he was appointed Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, a position he held until March 2022 when he was appointed Chief Executive Officer. Prior to joining Sunstone, Mr. Giglia served in a variety of accounting positions for Hilton Hotels Corporation. Mr. Giglia attended the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California, where he earned an M.B.A. degree. Mr. Giglia earned his B.S. degree in Business Administration from the University of Arizona.

Robert C. Springer is our President and Chief Investment Officer. Mr. Springer joined the Company in May 2011 as Senior Vice President Acquisitions, and in February 2013, he was appointed Senior Vice President and Chief Investment Officer, a position he held until February 2016 when he was appointed Executive Vice President and Chief Investment Officer. In March 2022, Mr. Springer was appointed President and Chief Investment Officer. Prior to joining Sunstone, Mr. Springer served as a Vice President in the Merchant Banking Division of Goldman, Sachs & Co. ("Goldman") and in the firm's principal lodging investing activity, which investments were primarily placed through the Whitehall Street Real Estate series of private equity funds, as well as the Goldman Sachs Real Estate Mezzanine Partners fund. Mr. Springer's involvement with these funds included all aspects of hotel equity and debt investing, as well as asset management of numerous lodging portfolios. Mr. Springer joined Goldman in February 2006. Prior to joining Goldman, Mr. Springer worked in both the feasibility and acquisitions groups at Host Hotels & Resorts from 2004 to 2006 and was integral to the closing of several large lodging deals. Mr. Springer started his career with PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP in the Hospitality Consulting Group from 1999 to 2004. Mr. Springer holds a B.S. degree in Hotel Administration from Cornell University.

David M. Klein is our Executive Vice President and General Counsel. Mr. Klein joined the Company in July 2016 as Senior Vice President and General Counsel, a position he held until February 2019 when he was appointed Executive Vice President and General Counsel. Prior to joining Sunstone, Mr. Klein was a Partner in the Hospitality & Leisure group of Dentons, LLP, one of the world’s largest law firms, where his practice focused solely on the hospitality and leisure industry. Prior to joining Dentons, Mr. Klein held the position of co-founding Principal, Chief Administrative Officer and General Counsel of NYLO Hotels and Advaya Hospitality. At NYLO, Mr. Klein spearheaded the company’s joint venture capitalization with Lehman Brothers, as well as multiple debt facilities for all company-owned hotel properties. He also led the structuring of the joint venture capitalization of Advaya with Auromatrix, a large private Indian conglomerate based in Chennai, India. Additionally, he oversaw all corporate and legal matters related to both companies’ ongoing franchise, management, development, financing and corporate affairs. Prior to his roles with NYLO and Advaya, Mr. Klein was a partner in the Hospitality & Leisure group of Squire Sanders (Squire Patton Boggs). Mr. Klein received his J.D. degree from the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University and his B.A. degree from the University of California at Los Angeles.

Christopher G. Ostapovicz is our Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Ostapovicz joined the Company in March 2021 as Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, a position he held until February 2022 when he was appointed Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Prior to joining Sunstone, Mr. Ostapovicz was at Host Hotels & Resorts, a public lodging real estate investment trust, and served in numerous management roles, most recently as Senior Vice President of Asset Management. Mr. Ostapovicz joined Host Hotels & Resorts in 2007. Prior to joining Host Hotels & Resorts, Mr. Ostapovicz held various operating and finance positions at both The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company and Marriott International. Mr. Ostapovicz is an active member of the Hospitality Asset Managers Association, where he previously served as a board director and treasurer for five years, and he is one of three faculty to start Georgetown University’s masters in global hospitality in 2014. Mr. Ostapovicz holds an M.B.A. from Georgetown University and an M.S. in real estate from Johns Hopkins University.

Aaron R. Reyes is our Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Reyes joined the Company in April 2016 as Vice President Corporate Finance. In February 2021, he was appointed Senior Vice President Corporate Finance and Treasurer, a position he held until March 2022 when he was appointed Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. In February 2024, Mr. Reyes was appointed Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Prior to joining Sunstone, Mr. Reyes was in the real estate and lodging investment banking divisions at Morgan Stanley and Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Prior to his time in investment banking, he was a manager with Accenture, a global consulting firm. Mr. Reyes received an undergraduate degree in finance from Pepperdine University and an M.B.A. with an emphasis in real estate from the Anderson School at the University of California, Los Angeles.