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Everett Atwell, Jr.
Chief Operating Officer, Managing Partner
With a background that includes more than 15 years of project management experience within the electric utilities industry, Atwell is responsible for strategic planning and property development for all KeysCaribbean communities. Born and raised in Key West, Atwell capitalizes on his local knowledge to acquire the most attractive waterfront real estate then partners KeysCaribbean property with themes influenced by the unique history and geography of the Keys. He has led KeysCaribbean from a single property in 2001 (when the company was formerly known as Cortex Resort Living) to more than ten projects in various stages of development, representing close to one billion dollars in current and future sales.
Atwell leads the KeysCaribbean effort in all matters relating to site evaluation, property acquisition, negotiation of contracts and project structure. Along the way Atwell directs naming and visioning strategies, a process that gives character and personality to each development, such as Playa Cristal, where inspiration was drawn from the period of Hemingway’s Cuba.
Atwell’s responsibilities also include management of the operational divisions of KeysCaribbean, including design, architecture, construction and sales and marketing. He has been instrumental in forging strategic alliances with development partners and other entities vital to the company’s success.
After earning the Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from the University of Notre Dame, Atwell returned home as Director of Substation engineering for the City of Key West electric utility, where he was involved in the final, crucial stages of the historic tie-line connecting the lower Keys to Florida’s main electrical grid. In 1985, Atwell threw the switch that ushered in a new era of power for his native islands.
Atwell then broadened his experience by moving on to a larger municipal utility and the City of Lakeland. There, he managed a transmission engineering department with a staff of more than 20 engineers and technicians. Later he would head up the new capital projects group, interfacing with consultants, engineers, designers and contractors and managing annual budgets of more than $20 million.
This wealth of experience eventually led Atwell to the private sector, where he began a consulting service for new energy technology companies, which included the structuring of venture capital. By 2001, Atwell had structured capital for a development called Coral Hammock and KeysCaribbean as it is known today was born.
Derek Parker
Chief Financial Officer, Managing Partner
Harnessing more than two decades of experience in accounting, financial analysis, real estate development and capital acquisition, Derek Parker manages business activities for all companies under the umbrella of KeysCaribbean Development. With Parker’s leadership, KeysCaribbean has grown from a single property in 2001 into the Keys’ premier development company, representing close to one billion dollars in current and future sales.
Parker has uniquely positioned himself for success in the real estate arena. Immediately after earning degrees in accounting and finance from Florida State University, he returned to his native Key West and began a career as a Certified Public Accountant. At age 24, Parker teamed up with a fellow FSU alumnus and opened the accounting firm of Oropeza & Parker, with clientele that included developers, building contractors and subcontractors, realtors and service industry specialists, the vital components for creating and maintaining resort developments.
The accounting partners soon became development partners, purchasing a piece of prime real estate on Key West’s famed Duval Street, and building a 3,600 square foot commercial store front that today is called Shops Across Duval.
Parker also began developing a personal real estate portfolio, laying the foundation of his extensive knowledge of Keys’ property, both residential and commercial. In 1985 he set a goal of acquiring one new property each year, commencing to leverage equity appreciation in support of growth into larger real estate investments.
It was only natural that Parker would invest in his hometown. A fifth generation Conch, the birthright of native Key Westers, Parker’s roots reach all the way to the 1800’s, when great-grandfather Augustus Arnold reigned over one of the island’s largest cigar factories. Later, Arnold’s grand daughter and Parker’s mother, Josephine, served more than 30 years in the highest levels of Key West City government, most of those years as City Clerk.
The management of Oropeza & Parker was a true Key West success story. Hiring ahead of a growth curve, the company grew its billings several fold and in 1996 Parker sold his half of the practice and moved to Tampa for life in semi-retirement. It didn’t last long.
The next year Parker was tapped as Chief Financial Officer for nursing home operator Senior Care Group, Inc., and helped grow the company portfolio to seven properties worth more than $60 million. At SCG, Parker assembled capital components for increasingly larger investments, working directly with investment bankers and individual investors.
Yearning to return to his real estate roots in the Florida Keys, Parker in 2001 partnered with lifelong friend Everett Atwell, Jr. to start what is today known as KeysCaribean.
Craig Hunt, CHA
Chief Executive Officer
Utilizing more than 30 years experience in the hotel and resort industry with concentrations in marketing, operations and development, Craig H. Hunt provides strategic decision-making to fulfill the KeysCaribbean mission of developing the highest-quality, environmentally-sound resort communities.
Hunt relocated to Key West in 2002, trading in his business suit for Bermuda shorts and a more scenic work environment. Drawn by the allure of an island lifestyle, Hunt – an avid fisherman – left behind the globe-trotting ways of corporate America in order to enjoy the resort lifestyle he had spent so many years defining.
Hunt began his career with Six Continents PLC and evolved his position into a three-decade tenure with the company, culminating with the role of Vice-Chairman of Six Continents Hotels. (Six Continents PLC is currently named Inter-Continental Hotels Group PLC.) With world-famous brands such as Inter-Continentalâ Hotels and Resorts, Crowne Plazaâ Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Innâ, Holiday Inn Expressâ, and Staybridge Suitesâ by Holiday Innâ, the Group is one of the world’s leading global hotel groups. Today it owns, operates or franchises more than 3,500 hotels and hosts more than 150 million guests a year in nearly 100 countries.
Joining Holiday Corporation in 1971 as a management trainee, Hunt rose through the ranks to become President of Holiday Inn Hotels, maintaining full responsibility for operations, development and marketing of more than 150 owned and 3,000 franchised hotels world-wide. In 1999, Hunt was promoted to Vice-Chairman of Bass Hotels & Resorts and assumed global responsibilities for Corporate Development, Human Resources, Corporate Affairs, Performance Planning and Special Projects. Along with the Chief Information Officer, he was also appointed co-chair of the company’s Business Technology Board.
By 2003, though he carried a tackle box more often than a briefcase, Hunt maintained his passion for the travel industry and established eFisHunt LLC, a private real estate investment company. He soon met native Conchs and KeysCaribbean managing partners Everett Atwell, Derek Parker, Ralph Sanchez and Tim Koenig and invested in multiple projects throughout the Florida Keys. While initially drawn together by a mutual love for the Keys, the forged relationship quickly developed into one of mutual respect.
Hunt partnered with KeysCaribbean as a consultant followed by a role as Managing Director of the KeysCaribbean rental program (formerly known as Keys Luxury Resorts) and the 2006 appointment as KeysCaribbean Chief Executive Officer.
Hunt’s passion for promoting the resort lifestyle experience is embodied through his own way of life, with residence on exclusive Sunset Key and the receipt of his Captain’s license in 2004.
Fully immersing himself in Florida Keys fishing – some of the best in the world for tarpon and sailfish, and the reason he moved to Key West – Capt. Hunt logged more than 60 hours in the classroom and in his boat C-Hunt, marking the completion of a lifelong goal.
Born in Leicestershire, England, Hunt is a citizen of the United Kingdom and a United States resident. He graduated from Hinckley College as well as the North American School of Travel, and is also a Certified Hotel Administrator.
Ralph Sanchez
Director of Sales
A principal broker for one of the legendary real estate brokerage dynasties in the Florida Keys, Sanchez has directed all KeysCaribbean sales to date, accounting for more than $250 million in contacts. A Key West native and graduate of Key West high school, Sanchez has grown into a leadership role at Sanchez Century 21 All Keys, Inc. with an understanding of the subtle and complex requirements of the luxury lifestyle market.
Sanchez has extensive experience in commercial and residential real estate sales as well as hotel development consulting. He earned a degree in Hotel/Restaurant Management at St. Leo College.
Tim Koenig
Director of Legal Affairs
Recognized as one of the premier real estate attorneys in the Florida Keys, Koenig is responsible for all legal issues relating to KeysCaribbean Resorts. Koenig chaired the committee that developed Monroe County’s original comprehensive plan in the late 1980’s, and over a 20-plus year legal career has served as legal counsel for numerous real estate developments in Florida and the most high profile transactions in the Florida Keys. A partner in the Key West firm Feldman, Koenig & Highsmith, he has served as chairman of the Key West Planning Board and attorney for the Key West Bight Board.
Koenig is a member of numerous professional associations and community organizations, having served as district chairman for Boy Scouts of America.
Koenig attended Florida State University, where he graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science in Finance and earned his Juris Doctor
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