Executive Team

Klaus Kretschmann, President of Westport Group, has extensive experience in principal investing (US and International), real estate finance and lending, development and investment management. Prior to Westport Group, he held positions as NY office head of the Govt. of Singapore’s Real Estate group, as a Founding Partner of Lazard Freres Real Estate Investors where he oversaw post-acquisition management for four real estate investment funds that controlled $10 billion of assets; at Hyperion Credit Services Corp., Collins Development Company, and as President of Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company’s development subsidiary where he oversaw construction, leasing, financing and sale of one million square feet of commercial and residential development in New York, Virginia, Maryland, Connecticut and Illinois.

He has built the headquarters operations for seven major Fortune 500 corporations including KLM Royal Dutch Airlines US Headquarters in Tarrytown, NY (170,000SF), Fuji Photo Films in Tarrytown, NY (60,000SF) and  Melville Corporation in Rye, New York (90,000 SF) and six regional headquarters including NYNEX, Travelers, Royal Globe Insurance and Commercial Union.

Klaus has a bachelor’s degree in architecture from Illinois Institute of Technology and a MBA from the University of Chicago. A registered architect in New York, he is a member of the Urban Land Institute, Urban Development/Mixed-Use Council. He currently serves or has served on numerous public and private Boards including American Apartment Communities, The Fortress Group (Nasdaq: FRTG), InTown Suites, Konover Property Trust (NYSE: KPT) and  Atlantica Real Estate Holdings in Brazil; and Advisory Committees including Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank Real Estate Funds.

Annemarie Kretschmann, Executive Vice President of Westport Group, has over 25 years of design and construction experience in commercial, health care and multifamily/condominium projects. She has overseen design and construction of new facilities, renovations to existing facilities currently in operation, and additions.  Her health care projects have ranged in size from 5,000 square feet to 250,000 square feet. Components within these facilities typically include patient's rooms; medical and administrative offices; dining, recreational, and multi-purpose rooms; physical therapy and day care centers.  Skilled nursing facilities recently completed by Annemarie encompass more than 1,800 beds and have a construction value in excess of $20 million.  Ms. Kretschmann has also designed more than 150,000 square feet of medical offices, and supervised construction and renovation of several recent commercial projects including a $19 million school renovation, and a $10 million library renovation.

She has worked with leading architectural firms including Cesar Pelli of New Haven, CT; the Eggers Group in New York City; Train, Olson & Youngren, in Chicago, and Jeter Cook & Jepson in Hartford, CT, where she completed a range of commercial and health-related interiors projects with a total construction value of more than $100 million.

Annemarie holds a Bachelor of Interior Architecture from The School of The Art Institute of Chicago. She is the author of "Design for Adult Day Care" and "Designing for Alzheimer Special Care Unit." She currently serves as President of the Fairfield County Chapter of Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

Westport Group, Inc.               Real Estate Investors and advisors