David Hamamoto is the chairman and chief executive officer of Northstar Realty Finance Corp., a NYSE-listed real estate investment trust (REIT) with $18.5 billion in assets under management. He is also the chairman and chief executive of Northstar Realtys external manager, NorthStar Asset Management Group Inc. The latter firm is also listed on the NYSE. In July 1997, Hamamoto co-founded NorthStar Capital Investment Corp., the predecessor to NorthStar Realty, and served as its co-chief executive officer until October 2004, when he launched Northstar Realty Finance Corp. From 1983 to 1997, Hamamoto worked for Goldman Sachs as co-head of the Real Estate Principal Investment Area. He was a general partner at the firm between 1994 and 1997. Hamamoto co-managed Whitehall Funds, real estate investment arm of the bank. Since December 2013, Hamamoto has served on the advisory committee of RXR Realty, LLC, a real estate operating and investment management company. From March 2011 to November 2012, Hamamoto served as executive chairman of the board of directors of Morgans Hotel Group and from February 2006 to March 2011, he had served as chairman of the board. Hamamoto received a BS from Stanford University and a MBA from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. He and his wife, Martha, have two childre