Principals

Christopher S. Merson
   Principal / Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Merson, director of Meridian Development Group, has been active in the real-estate development, investment business in Latin America for over thirty-seven years. He has been involved in all phases of development projects from residential, commercial, destination resort hotels and resort condominium development in several countries.

Mr. Merson was instrumental in forming one of the first real estate trusts in Mexico with Banco Nacional de Mexico (Banamex) as a presidential decree in 1970. In turn a thirty year trust was used in 1971 with one of the first resort projects sold through this vehicle to foreigners. During the 1970’s, Mr. Merson developed numerous resort properties in Mexico financed through the Group's strong international marketing organization and its offshore financial operation in Bermuda. In the early 70’s he was appointed as a principal part of the presidential commission CODIBAC to study and master plan the Baja California Peninsula for future marina and resort development.

Mr. Merson has represented large corporate and institutional financing groups for Mexico’s investment workouts in the 80’s such as Transamerica Corporation and Bank of America. In addition, he was instrumental in the formation as a major stockholder and board member of FMC Agroquimica de Mexico S.R.L. de C.V., one of the top three international agro chemical companies in the world.

Besides owning and managing his own companies, he has actively participated on the board of many international holding companies as well as industrial and financial institutions in Mexico. Mr. Merson was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina as an Anglo/ Argentine, educated in the United States and has lived in South American countries, Mexico, and Spain during the last 45 years.

Mr. Merson is presently resides in Rosarito Beach, Baja California, Mexico.

Miguel Angel Sanchez, Architect
   Principal / Chief Operations Officer – Mexico

Mr. Sanchez has built his career around the fast growing construction industry in Mexico with an emphasis on Resort Hotel and Housing construction management. He received his architectural degree from the UNAM, University of Mexico in 1969, and studied for two years in Japan from 1972 to 1974, receiving a Post Graduate Degree in Urban Design from the University of Kyushu.

In the late seventies, and during the hotel and resort boom in Mexico, he was the General Director of the largest project management Group in Mexico, integrated by Rual, S.A. de C.V. and Planteo, S.A. de C.V. and dedicated to professional management of the development and construction of hotels and resort projects.

His Group has been contracted by some of the largest development companies in Mexico for such projects as; Master Plan of Ecological Rescue of Xochimilco, Urban Design of Barrio 18 in Xochimilco, Hotel President Intercontinental in México, Los Cabos; Ixtapa, Cancún; Club Mediterranee, Cancun, Ixtapa; Hotels Fiesta Americana; Hotels of Archeological sites, Quintana Roo, Yucatan; Western Regina, Cancun, Los Cabos; Hotel Clarion Playacar, Hoteles Mision in Oaxaca, Palenque, and the Rescue Ecological Master Plan of Xochimilco; Housing Los Agaves with 1,200 home units; prestige museums in Mexico such as Museo Amparo in Puebla, associated with Arq. Pedro Ramirez Vazquez, to mention a few.

Mr. Sanchez is an architect by trade and has managed or directed every category of construction including housing projects, industrial, petrochemical, conservation, water and drainage projects, as well as urban apartment and housing developments.

His claim to fame came when the Mexican government asked him to design and direct the construction of the Mayan Archeological Hotel chain in the Yucatan peninsula for the tourist trade in that area. He was head of the Ecological Rescue Plan of Xochimilco, Mexico Cities central park and waterways, dating back to the Aztec period in Mexican history, re-planning and redirecting the water used from 196 deep wells in that area.

As a principal of Meridian Development Group , Mr. Sanchez is the lead project manager in any development plans the company may have. His ability to understand the political, socio economic, financial, and the construction industry of Mexico, makes his role paramount to a successful project.

Mr. Sanchez resides in Mexico City and Rosarito Beach, Baja California, Mexico.

Charles W. Dunn
   Principal / Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Dunn has over 30 years experience as an international management consultant, investment fund manager and investment-banking principal. He often serves as CFO and/or Board member of client companies, including a recent experience in these positions with a NASDAQ-traded company. He was a senior consultant on financial strategy with McKinsey & Company in New York City and Paris and later became the Managing Director of a substantial private investment fund based in London. Formerly, he was the Managing Director, Financial & Operations Officer, and Compliance Officer, of Sutter Securities, Inc., a San Francisco-based broker/dealer firm with offices in New York City.

During more than 20 years of living in Europe, Mr. Dunn established an investment banking consulting practice in Lisbon, Portugal. He served as advisor to Banco Totta e Acores, Companhia Uniao Fabril, Sociedade Nacional de Cervejas, ALPORT, and others. He founded a real estate development activity with a partner (apartment projects in the Lisbon area, and tourist projects in the Algave, on the southern Portuguese coast); the partnership also created a fiberglass yacht manufacturing business, and purchased 100 berths in the only yacht marina in the Algarve at the time.

After returning to the U.S. in 1986, he became Managing Director of a San Francisco-based private investment fund and, later, founded First San Francisco Equities (a specialty NASD-registered investment banking firm). He was associated with Merchants Group International in San Francisco, and has acted as CFO of its broker/dealer firm, Parthenon, LP, and its indirectly-related hedge fund, Pericles, LP.

Mr. Dunn holds a bachelors degree from Oregon State University, an MBA from the University of California at Berkeley and a Doctorate in Economics from the University of Paris (Sorbonne). He is registered with the NASD as a General Securities Principal and a Financial and Operations Principal. He is a member of the National Association of Business Economists, and of the Licensing Executives Society.

Mr. Dunn resides in Rutherford, Napa County, California and offices in San Francisco, California.

Brian Chiswell Bradbury
   Principal / CFO Mexico

Mr Chiswell has over twelve years banking and financial experience in London, Buenos Aires and Mexico City. After completing his honours degree in Financial Economics at University of London, Mr Chiswell joined Bankers Trust in London where he worked in structuring and distributing fixed income & derivative products to European pension and investment funds.

Mr Chiswell later joined ABN Amro Bank in Buenos Aires where he was in charge of managing the financial requirements of several leading corporations including the Coca-Cola group and McDonalds. ABN Amro went on to become the Coca Cola Group’s number one bank in Argentina. He went on to direct private equity deals with HSBC in Argentina and Brazil which included equity investments in several technology and agro-industrial companies.

Mr Chiswell more recently was in charge of setting up and managing the investment funds division of one of Mexico’s leading currency exchange companies, Casa de Cambio Tiber.

He is an associate chief financial officer for the MDG group’s projects in Mexico and resides in Mexico City.

Brian Dennard
   Principal / International Finance Officer

Mr. Dennard has over 25 years experience in international business development and real estate/resort project management in such diverse regions as the Pacific Rim, Central America, South America and Eastern Europe.

In the early 1980s he was Director of Business Development for Petro Safety, Inc., a Toronto based company that invented, developed and marketed proprietary oil field technology internationally. From 1984 until 1991 he was Director of Business Development for South Pacific Duty Free Shoppers/Knuebuhl Shipping with offices in Pago Pago, American Samoa; Nuku' Alofa, Tonga; Apia, Western Samoa; Suva, Fiji; Noumea and Vanuatu. During that time he was on-site Project Manager for two Polynesian ocean front resorts. Subsequently he was Project Manager for the $48 MM luxury resort Te Tiara Beach Resort, Huahine, French Polynesia; The $13M renovation of Monkey Tree Resort, Liberia, Guanacaste, Costa Rica; Ebony Breeze, Le Cieba, Honduras; and most recently he conceived, designed and wrote the business plan "Le Satellites De Pierre Cardin Resort" Sittee Point, Belize, for the legendary designer Pierre Cardin.

Mr. Dennard resides in San Diego, California.

Thomas Ashley
   Principal / Director of Planning

Thomas J. Ashley, founder of Ashley Economics Services, Inc. and president of The Ashley Company, has been centrally involved in the development and programming of more than 15,000 houses, more than 5,000,000 square feet of retail space, over 11,000,000 sq. feet of office space, some 30 hotels, 40 restaurants, two medical plazas and more than 1,000,000 sq ft of industrial space. In addition, Mr. Ashley has been a principal in the development of three entertainment parks, cinemas, two auto malls, marinas, and communities built around golf and tennis amenities. Selected by Walt Disney, Ashley played a pivotal role in the market research, economic planning and development programming for Walt Disney’s Epcot Center in Florida.

An urban economist by training and a developer by trade, Ashley has been an executive in the real estate development industry for over 30 years. He has served as president of the Kapalua Land Company where he conceived and launched the famed Kapalua Resort on Maui. He personally did the market research; defined and programmed the products to be built; guided the design and managed the development. Mr. Ashley has also been in charge of residential development for the Warmington Company performing the market research, defining product development, and directing design, budgeting, promotions, sales that ranged from 650 to 850 houses yearly with annual sales exceeding $100 million. He has been the head of commercial and mixed-use development for The Writer Corporation in Colorado, building the Riverfront Festival Center and Willow Creek Village Center. He was also in charge of development strategy and planning for The Irvine Company where he was centrally involved in planning and programming the development of all products built on the 90,000 acre Irvine Ranch from 1968-1972.

Ashley has performed consulting assignments in Europe, North Africa, Middle East, the Far East, and Oceania, Mexico and across the United States. He has worked with such noted entities as Arnel Development Company, Donald L Bren Company, Broadmoor Homes, Bullocks, Chevron Land & Development Company, Costa Smeralda (Sardinia), Ernest Hahn Organization, The Irvine Company, The Lusk Company, Marbella Club (Spain), Marriott Hotels, National Commercial Bank of Saudi Arabia, Regent International Hotels, Melvin Simon Associates, Sun Valley Company, and William Zeckendorf to name a few. Ashley holds a PhD in Government (Urban Affairs) from the Claremont University College. For six years he was a full time professor at California State University, Fullerton and then at UCLA.

Mr. Ashley presently resides in Irvine, California.

Douglas W. Bowers
   Principal / Marketing Director

Mr. Bowers has more than 17 years of experience in the development and execution of international sales, marketing and business development strategies. He has extensive experience in the development and management of multi-national marketing campaigns for Latin American resort and real estate development.

Mr. Bowers has served as the Director of Business Development for the international consulting firm Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC, #276 on Forbes Fortune 500 list).

Mr. Bowers has successfully developed and implemented marketing strategy for firms throughout Latin America (Mexico & Brazil) and Europe (Netherlands and United Kingdom).

As the Marketing Director of Meridian Development Group, LLC, Mr Bowers is responsible for the direction and oversight of the company's marketing and sales initiatives, including: Sales Management, Tracking and Reporting; Domestic (US) and International Public Relations; Graphic Design and Branding; Print and Outdoor Media; and Online and Electronic Multi-Media.

Mr. Bowers holds a Bachelor of Arts from University of the Pacific.

Mr. Bowers resides in San Diego, California.

Robert L. Anderson
   Principal / Legal Counsel

Robert L. Anderson represents clients in general corporate and corporate finance matters. His expertise includes public and private securities offerings, mergers and acquisitions, shareholder and financial relationships, as well as real estate acquisition, syndication and development.

Mr. Anderson received his Juris Doctor Degree from the UCLA School of Law, where he graduated second in his class, was Order of the Coif and Editor-in-Chief of The Law Review. Mr. Anderson started his legal career at Cravath, Swaine & Moore in New York City where he practiced for eight years. Thereafter, he represented a prominent Middle Eastern investor for several years. Mr. Anderson joined Lanahan & Reilley to lead the business group in 1998.

Mr. Anderson is a member of the California and New York State Bars. He was an officer in the United States Marine Corps.

Mr. Anderson has been involved in a number of early stage, start-up corporate financing transactions. He was also involved in one of the largest corporate transactions in Sonoma County history: the $300 million acquisition of Alantro Communications by Texas Instruments.

Additionally, he headed up the legal team for the second highest bidder in one of the most expensive vineyard acquisitions in Napa County History.