Who’s Who

• Founder, Chairman & CEO of Starwood Capital Group (~$100 billion in assets), founder of the 1 Hotels brand and the original Starwood Hotels. His firm, through the SOF-XI fund, owns the 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay, the Makai Course, and the Woods Course.
• His company concealed the anthrax. Starwood commissioned the 2020 Ka Paʻakai study that confirmed the anthrax on the Woods Course, then kept it from residents, the County, and the Department of Health — while pursuing development on that very land.
• Under financial pressure. In April 2026, Sternlicht's Starwood suspended and sharply limited redemptions at its ~$22 billion retail REIT (SREIT), cut its distribution (from 6.3% to 4.7%), and reported a 6% drop in share value — the backdrop to how hard the firm is fighting over Princeville.
• The Hawaiʻi pension connection. While Doug Chin was Attorney General (2015–2018), the State's public-employee pension fund (ERS — which covers teachers and public workers) committed roughly $50 million to Starwood's SOF-XI fund — the same fund whose SOF-XI entities own the 1 Hotel, the golf courses and associated parcels — and Chin's firm was later hired by the PHCA on the Starwood matter. (See the Doug Chin bubble.)
• A troubled hotel. In 2022 its own contractor, Layton Construction, sued Starwood’s SOF-XI for more than $58 million over the hotel’s renovation (The Garden Island, Sept. 2, 2022). The case went to arbitration; Layton reportedly prevailed, and the dispute is now on appeal. The morning after Hurricane Lowell, the hotel posted guards and turned non-guests away, according to a widely shared Everything Kauai post (Sept. 10, 2026).
• The high-powered lawyers. Starwood's appeal was publicly touted as handled by the elite Paul, Weiss firm and its star appellate partner, Kannon Shanmugam. He has since moved to Davis Polk & Wardwell, and he is still on the case. A $100-billion firm can hire the very best to fight a small community.
• The Elounda Hills model. The 1 Hotels brand he founded is building the massive Elounda Hills development in Greece — bulldozers, cranes, a carved-up coastline. That is the future being planned for our open space.

• Owned by Barry Sternlicht’s Starwood Capital through its SOF-XI fund — which also holds the Makai Course and the Woods Course it wants to develop.
• Its two-votes-per-door block of proxy votes put Rose Krebs and Ace Hodgin on our Board and has run Bernard Markowicz on the ballot.
• Managed by MJ Stancil; represented by attorney James Raved, who on an open Board call threatened all 27 holes.
• The morning after Hurricane Lowell, it posted guards and turned non-guests away, according to a widely shared Everything Kauai post (Sept. 10, 2026).

• Urges members to KEEP Rose and REMOVE Patti and Dale — exactly what Starwood wants.
• Written by Bernard with Ace. Bernard wrote publicly: “I made it clear to Bryan, the GM, that Ace and I worked together on the letter.”
• The members’ mailing list was requested by Ace Hodgin under a sworn Affidavit of Good Faith. Getting the list isn’t illegal, but the PHCA requires that signed affidavit to receive it, and members have asked whether Bernard ever signed one.
• Claims SOS Hui asked the PHCA to fund the lawsuit. It didn’t: neither SOS Hui nor the Mull and White families have asked the PHCA for funding.
• It runs on the 1 Hotel's people and votes.
• On the ‘Friends of Princeville’ list: Sam and Linda George, among the Starwood-aligned names behind the campaign.
• Leaves out the concealed anthrax, the lost trial, the $60,000 payout, and the 27-hole threat.

Patti Thiele and Dale Sands answered this letter. Read their response →

• Put on the board by Starwood. Of her roughly 1,491 votes in 2024, 1,008 came from the 1 Hotel's block.
• A $60,000 household payout from your dues. In June 2025 the PHCA agreed to pay $60,000 to Rose and her husband, Ace Hodgin, to settle their dispute with the Association.
• A family development company. Her daughter Jen Krebs co-owns Hawaii Project Development, a Princeville development-and-design firm. A director fighting to keep development alive has family in the business of developing Princeville.
• Threatened her fellow directors. On the PHCA community feed (Dec 20, 2024), two months after joining the Board, she wrote that she would fight to see directors “held personally liable.”
• Threatened the petition signers. On the Association's official channel (Aug 19, 2026) she told signers to 'reconsider' and warned the board 'has discretion to release the petition to any member.'
• Roughly $156,000 in cost to members. She steered work toward the Loo firm tied to her and Ace's own dispute, until the firm had to step aside.
• Conduct rules for directors. In May 2026 the Board adopted conduct rules for directors at Community Design Committee meetings, calling for professional behavior and no personal attacks. Members believe the rules were prompted by her conduct. She has also attacked members by name in public.
• Ties to Starwood's attorney. Members have raised concerns that private board information has reached James Raved; the relationship is a fair question. See Raved’s ties to Rose and Ace →
• Defends Starwood's positions against the members' own interests.
• Starwood is campaigning to keep her. The Starwood-aligned ‘Friends of Princeville’ effort urged members to KEEP Rose while removing then-President Patti Thiele and then–Vice President Dale Sands — the two leaders standing in Starwood's way.

• The mailing list. He requested the full membership mailing list under a sworn good-faith affidavit, and that list then powered the 'Friends of Princeville' campaign to remove President Thiele and Vice President Sands.
• A $60,000 payout. In June 2025 the PHCA agreed to pay his household $60,000 from Association dues to settle their dispute with the Association.
• Named in a major federal healthcare-fraud case. Ace Hodgin — a physician who worked in the Medicare Advantage / managed-care field — is named in the allegations of U.S. ex rel. Sewell v. Freedom Health, Inc. (No. 8:09-cv-1625, M.D. Fla.), a federal False Claims Act whistleblower case the companies settled in 2017 for $32.5 million — at the time the largest such settlement against a Medicare Advantage plan. The government alleged the plans submitted unsupported diagnosis codes and misrepresented their provider networks. The complaint (¶355) alleges Hodgin ‘limited the amount of time nurses could spend on each case to 4 hours over 3 months — a totally unrealistic workload.’ The companies settled with no admission of wrongdoing; the identity link to our Ace Hodgin was confirmed by attorney Tom Mull. These are allegations in a complaint, but the record is public and members are entitled to know a person at the center of PHCA’s affairs is named in it.
• Fought to deny the golf course historic protection. Ace Hodgin (husband of Director Rose Krebs) wrote the County opposing the petition to place the golf course on the State Historic Register — open space the 1 Hotel’s own Makai site calls a wildlife refuge — calling the petition ‘preposterous, ill-conceived’ and ‘insulting.’
• In his own words (aimed at a member): “A POSER AND A FRAUD! EMA'S POST AND PETITION ARE POPPYCOCK!”; “an angry deceitful person” who “lies and engages in defamation that is libelous”; the gendered “girlie”; and “Nextdoor Gremlins… you really must quit feeding them after midnight.”

• Friends of Princeville’s writer, by his own account. He signed and sent the glossy “Friends of Princeville” letter urging members to keep Rose Krebs and remove Patti Thiele and Dale Sands, and he wrote publicly: “I made it clear to Bryan, the GM, that Ace and I worked together on the letter.”
• Also a blogger. He writes a blog on the Times of Israel’s website, where he describes himself as a “consultant and writer exploring policy, society, and identity.”
• Ran on the 1 Hotel’s votes. He ran for the Board with the 1 Hotel’s votes behind him: by Ace Hodgin’s own public admission, all of Starwood’s proxy votes.
• Online attacks. He allegedly hid behind a fake “Kaleikoa Medeiros” persona to attack neighbors, and tried to impersonate the PHCA itself on Nextdoor.
• Fought to deny the golf course historic protection. He wrote the Kauaʻi Historic Preservation Review Commission (Oct 16, 2023) opposing the Makai Golf Course’s nomination to the State Historic Register, claiming it ‘does not meet any criteria’ and accusing the petitioners of ‘ulterior motives.’

• It started in 2025, under his own name on Nextdoor: “Perhaps you need to take a pill…”
• “Ema is herself a fictitious person.”
• “You and your cult have nothing productive to say. You spend your day badmouthing people.”
• “You are a cult.” — branding the community a “cult” and a “mob.”
• “Your insane lawsuit.”
• “This is the big lie you have tried to sell to the ʻĀina.”
• “When your argument fails, blame a person by name.”
• By July 2026, a poem from the “Kaleikoa Medeiros” account called Ema a “sexatary” who “takes her cult’s dirty orders with zest.” A neighbor called it “derogatory and misogynistic.”

Patti Thiele and Dale Sands answered his letter. Read their response →

• Testified FOR Starwood against the community — voluntarily. He took the stand as a defense (Starwood) witness at the Mull & White trial. On cross he admitted he came ‘voluntarily,’ that he ‘met with counsel for defendant’ before testifying, and that he was not there as an official PHCA representative.
• Pushed Starwood's core theory — the one the judge rejected. He testified the board's position was that ‘the golf course is not subject to our CC&Rs and we have no authority over it’ — exactly the argument Starwood needed to develop the open space. Judge Watanabe ruled the opposite: the CC&Rs and Dedication DO apply.
• Downplayed the anthrax under oath. Asked if he was aware of any reported anthrax infection at Princeville, he answered ‘No, none.’
• Hid behind ‘neutrality’ as President. He told the County Planning Commission (June 29, 2021) only that ‘some support, some oppose, some are indifferent’ — refusing to oppose the glamping for the Association — and filed a court declaration stating ‘it is possible the Board will support the Defendant's plans.’
• Appointed to the Board, not elected. On February 20, 2020, the directors appointed him to fill a resigning director’s unexpired term, on a motion by Treasurer Joseph Celona (PHCA minutes). By his own testimony, he became vice president in May 2020 and president in October 2020, serving until October 2022.
• His board hired Doug Chin on the Starwood matter (May 2021).
• Negotiated with Starwood. By Starwood lawyer James Raved’s own account, the “Original 2026 Committee led by Sam George” concluded “it was prudent to limit future development to the Woods-9 in exchange for a community benefits agreement.” In July 2021, while he was president, Starwood told the County it had offered a community benefits package that would keep Holes 4-9 of the Woods Course as golf or park land and put its glamping site on Holes 1-3. (Sources: Raved on Nextdoor, July 2, 2026; SOF-XI’s July 12, 2021 letter to the Kauaʻi Planning Commission, in the County Council record for Bill 2822.)
• Fought to deny the golf course historic protection. With his wife Linda George, he wrote the County (Oct 17, 2023) opposing the petition to place the Princeville golf course on the State Historic Register, calling it ‘ludicrous’ and insisting ‘the County General Plan, the North Shore Development Plan, and the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance all support the continued development of all of Princeville’ — open space the 1 Hotel’s own Makai Golf Club website calls a wildlife refuge for five protected Hawaiian birds.

• All 27 holes. “The Mull/White litigation strategy foolishly jeopardizes risk of development on all 27 holes” (Nextdoor, July 2, 2026). He also says he “never threatened” to develop all 27.
• Warned by the judge. At the 2025 trial, Judge Watanabe admonished him on the record for making comments to the plaintiffs, and said he would be removed from the courtroom if it happened again.
• What he told the state. He wrote to the Department of Health that Starwood did “thorough testing with an experienced lab to verify that our development site is not contaminated with anthrax.” At trial, Starwood’s own experts testified that “you can’t say it isn’t there.” The court found their report “not credible” and found “there are anthrax burial sites on the Woods Course.”
• The hotel’s votes. He and Roy Shanholtz speak for Starwood on PHCA Board calls and at the annual meeting. Members believe it is Raved who directs how the 1 Hotel’s block of votes is cast.
• The names he uses. On Nextdoor he has called Ema “a demagogue” and “unhinged,” told her he thinks she is “full of sh*t,” and called the plaintiffs “the Mull/White mob.”
• Received leaked internal Board emails (see Isaiah Francis).

• Who he is. His LinkedIn profile lists him as Managing Director, Hotel Asset Management, and Head of Procurement at Starwood Capital Group.
• Warned our then-President. At the June 25, 2026 PHCA Board meeting, right after James Raved spoke, he said he wanted to “echo” what “Jamie” had said, and told then-President Patti Thiele: “should we prevail, I do think you personally have opened yourself up to liability by … members of this community. So I’m just gonna let that stay out there. You know what I’m talking about.” (our transcription)

• Elected to our PHCA Board on Oct. 24, 2026, on a Starwood corporate designation — even as Starwood appeals the Mull & White decision that protects our Master Plan and open space and guards against exposing the anthrax.
• Now the Board’s President. After the election, the Board chose her as its President. The manager of Starwood’s hotel now leads our homeowners association.
• She lives at the hotel she manages. At the Oct. 24, 2026 annual meeting, as members in the room heard it, she confirmed that she lives at the 1 Hotel, in a room the hotel provides. Her conflicts as President →
• She manages the hotel that, according to a widely shared Everything Kauai post (Sept. 10, 2026), posted guards and turned away non-guests the morning after Hurricane Lowell. The writer says a manager told him he would be arrested for trespassing if he did not leave, while the Westin Princeville took neighbors in with free coffee and a place to charge phones.

“At the same time, I believe Princeville should continue to evolve rather than simply maintain the status quo. I would remain open to thoughtful improvements, new ideas, and responsible change that enhance the community while respecting the character, beauty, and qualities that make Princeville such a special place to live, work, and visit.”

“Princeville must also continue to evolve, and thoughtful development can support the community’s long-term needs.”

• Doesn’t this sound like someone who is willing to usher in development?
• She grew up on Kauaʻi, raised in Kōloa, and we honor that. But she did not run as a Princeville homeowner: she was on the ballot through a Starwood corporate designation, and we could not find a Princeville property record in her name.
• Does she own property here, and pay property taxes and Association dues herself, like the owners she now represents?
• Whose interests will she represent: the owners she serves, or the company that employs her?
• Or is she just another Starwood shill placed on the ballot by the 1 Hotel?

• He leaked internal Board emails to Starwood. On October 16, 2023, from his Starwood address ([email protected]), Isaiah Francis forwarded a private PHCA Board email chain to Starwood executive Jason Cruce and Starwood attorney James Raved — with his own words: “Keeping you both up to speed.”
• The emails were sensitive. The chain was an election-time Board discussion of two live resolutions — filling a vacant Board seat (a nominee) and the 2026 Committee — with Board candidates copied, and it referenced confidential discussions with Association Counsel. Internal governance and election deliberations, handed straight to the developer — the same Starwood now appealing the Mull & White decision that protects our Master Plan and open space.
• Sam George offered him original documents too. In a November 29, 2023 email, Sam George told Isaiah he had ‘turned the original North Shore Planning document over to Ace to send to Doug Chin’s firm to digitize it… you guys will certainly have access to it, as well.’ On December 1, Isaiah forwarded that email to Starwood’s Jason Cruce.
• A corporate placement. Members told the Board in writing that his seat rested on a defective Starwood corporate designation and was voidable — the same question now hanging over MJ Stancil's candidacy.
• An off-island Starwood insider. Isaiah Francis has said on a PHCA call that he lives in New York, and by members' accounts voted in lock step with Director Rose Krebs.

• Backs the development side alongside Rose Krebs and the Starwood bloc, and often defends Ace Hodgin and Rose Krebs on HOA calls.
• A staunch activist against reopening the Hanalei Farmers Market — on the opposite side of the community on yet another local issue. (A public comment by “lexieabner” named him as “the person who complained.”)
• Owner of Crystals and Gems, Hanalei.

• Hired under Sam George. He signed his firm, Starn O’Toole Marcus & Fisher, on as the PHCA’s counsel on May 28, 2021, while Sam George was president.
• The Jeff Stone thread. His firm previously represented developer Jeff Stone ‘with respect to certain past transactions involving the Golf Course’ (engagement letter §9). Stone’s Resort Group is where Sean Combs, co-founder of Hawaii Project Development with Rose Krebs’s daughter Jen, was a VP, and Jen has designed for it.
• Hotel clients. His firm says it specializes “in large real estate and hotel industry transactions,” and in 2024 he registered as a Honolulu lobbyist for Hilton Grand Vacations and Park Hotels & Resorts.
• The Hawaiʻi pension connection. While Doug Chin was Attorney General (2015–2018), the State’s public-employee pension fund (ERS — which covers teachers and public workers) committed roughly $50 million to Starwood’s SOF-XI fund — the same fund whose SOF-XI entities own the 1 Hotel, the golf courses and associated parcels — and Chin’s firm was later hired by the PHCA on the Starwood matter.
• Framed as questions members are entitled to ask — not proven findings. The Doug Chin question →

• A Kauaʻi development-and-design firm co-founded by Jen Krebs — daughter of Director Rose Krebs and Ace Hodgin — and her husband Sean Combs. To be clear, they are accomplished professionals; this is about the business they are in, not their character.
• Deep inside the island’s development machine. By HPD’s own ‘About’ page, Sean Combs spent ~20+ years in Kauaʻi development — VP of Development at Brookfield Homes Hawaii and Kikiaola Land Company, and Asset & Land Manager and VP of Princeville Utility Company for The Resort Group’s Princeville Development (over 8,000 acres of North Shore land, including the North Shore Preserve), then led development for Timbers Resorts’ 450-acre Hokuala community. Jen Krebs designed for the North Shore Preserve, The Resort Group, and Princeville Development.
• The Resort Group is Jeff Stone’s operation — long behind Princeville and Ko Olina, and now (with East West Partners) planning a brand-new North Shore community near Princeville. This is a family in the business of large-scale development, working with the island’s biggest developers.
• No coincidence. It is fair to ask why both of Jen’s parents — Rose Krebs and Ace Hodgin — were elected onto our Board on the 1 Hotel’s block of votes, and why Director Krebs fights to keep development options alive while her own daughter and son-in-law are in the development business.
• Could the family profit? Sean and Jen both worked for The Resort Group’s Princeville Development, the master developer behind Princeville Resort. A member reports that Sean Combs was heard telling other Kauaʻi builders he was in line to be the Development Manager for the Woods Course and other Starwood projects (reported to us firsthand; presented as such). And both of Jen’s parents went onto our Board on the hotel’s votes. If Starwood builds, their family firm could possibly profit. Ace Hodgin has said publicly that the company does construction project management and has never had business with Starwood. Members should ask.
• The Doug Chin thread. Doug Chin’s firm previously represented Jeff Stone, whose Resort Group Sean Combs worked for, and Chin is now the PHCA’s lawyer — the counsel to Jen’s mother’s Board. The PHCA hired him in 2021, while Sam George was president.