David Loeb founded Dirigo Consulting LLC in 2017 to advise hotel and real estate businesses on strategy and capital markets execution. Engagements have included assessing balance sheet and capital markets strategy, evaluating investment strategy and asset value maximization opportunities, assisting in the planning and execution of capital raises, evaluating industry and capital markets trends, and providing advice on corporate communication to investors, including on topics related to adverse or complicated corporate developments. Clients have included hotel and specialty REITs, hotel brand companies, and private equity investors.

In April, 2018, David joined the Board of Directors of CorePoint Lodging (NYSE: CPLG), a hotel REIT that owns approximately 300 select service hotels. A Blackstone portfolio company, CorePoint was spun out of La Quinta following the sale of the La Quinta brand in 2018 and was sold to private equity investors in 2022. He served on the Audit and Capital Committees of the board and worked on the committee evaluating valuation and strategies as part of the review of strategic alternatives that resulted in the company’s sale.

David’s investment industry career spanned over 30 years, culminating in over 25 years in equity research for Wall Street firms, following work in equity investment management. From 2005 to early 2017, he was a Senior Research Analyst, Managing Director covering real estate for Robert W. Baird & Co. (Baird) where he specialized in lodging and office companies. His focus has been on real estate-related companies for over 20 years and he published research on the lodging industry beginning in 1994, including groundbreaking reports on hotel cycle timing, strategic debt defaults and operating leverage. David was ranked as the top earnings estimator among more than 60 real estate analysts by the Financial Times for 2016 and 2008 and has been ranked in the top three in the REIT and hotel/gaming industries six times in ten years.

Prior to joining Baird in 2006, David was a Managing Director in Real Estate Research at Friedman Billings Ramsey and was a senior research analyst with Credit Lyonnais Securities, Oppenheimer & Co., Inc., and Bank of America. He is a contributing columnist for HotelNewsNow.com, offering analytical views of financial and industry trends as well as thoughts on current events and risks to the industry. He is one of the most widely read columnists on that site. David holds an M.B.A. in finance and accounting from the Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis and a B.A. in psychology and sociology from Brandeis University.