Gavan James, C.C.H.P
President and Chief Executive Officer
Gavan James, the founder, president, and CEO of Nomad Temporary Housing is truly a pioneer of the temporary housing industry.
Gavan's vision for a new type of temporary housing company came to life in 2010 when he formed Nomad. He has developed Nomad into one of the world's largest industry providers along with his fellow partners, Karl Thuge and Heather James. After a very successful 30 year period at Oakwood Worldwide where he oversaw all worldwide operations as Senior VP and GM, he launched Nomad to be the only unbiased worldwide housing solution available.
One of the most well known and respected figures in the temporary living field, Gavan has been an integral part of the industry’s growth via the formation of the Corporate Housing Provider’s Association (CHPA) in 1996. He was one of seven founding board members of CHPA, and is a current board member. He has served as CHPA’s President and Vice President over the years, and was the organization’s “Person of the Year” in 2003. He holds the designation CCHP, Certified Corporate Housing Professional.
Gavan is married to wife Heather, with three daughters - Ashley, Hannah, and Amelia Rose. They reside in Rancho Santa Fe, California.
Karl Thuge, C.R.P.
Executive Vice President, Business Development
Karl Thuge is a seasoned relocation professional with over twenty years of relocation industry experience. Karl is one of the most respected and recognized people in relocation, after previously leading business development for two Fortune 100 firms.
Karl leads all of Nomad Temporary Housing’s business development, account management, and marketing programs. Before joining Nomad, Karl most recently was senior vice president of Bank of America’s mortgage division. Prior to his career at Bank of America, Karl was senior vice president of GMAC Mortgage of Troy, Michigan, where he managed GMAC’s national relocation business programs. Preceding his role at GMAC, Karl was chief operating officer of Corcoran.com, working with Barbara Corcoran of New York City.
Karl holds the designation of certified relocation professional from the Worldwide Employee Relocation Council (WERC). Karl works in Nomad’s satellite office in New York City. Karl resides in both Manhattan, and Long Island, New York.
Heather James, C.R.P., G.M.S.
Executive Vice President, Business Development
Heather James is an integral part of the development and growth of Nomad Temporary Housing. Her acute focus on the client and guest experience reflect Nomad's vision to "offer the best choices for our customers, putting their needs above all else".
As a longtime veteran in the world of global mobility, Heather's relocation career began in the early 90's and spans the furniture industry, corporate housing, lending, mobility management and global banking services arenas. Heather's passion for the business and for building quality relationships with clients and colleagues is the cornerstone of her success. Prior to formally joining Nomad, she served as vice president with Citibank, offering strategic global banking solutions to multi-national organizations and their employees.
Heather highly values her association with Worldwide ERC, and has earned both the Certified Relocation Professional and Global Mobility Specialist designations. She is an active participant at a national level, as well as with several regional groups.
A native Floridian, Heather relocated to Southern California in September of 2004. She lives in Rancho Santa Fe, California with her husband, Gavan, and daughters Amelia Rose, Hannah and Ashley.
Frank Peralta
Vice President of Operations
Frank Peralta is a 20 year seasoned professional of the hospitality industry where operations management was his key responsibility.
Frank’s career has been built on his passion for exceeding guest’s expectations, building a team that is empowered to make decisions and always finding ways to improve operations, that at the end of the day, benefit the guest experience.
Before joining Nomad, Frank worked for the Hyatt Hotel San Diego as part of the operations team managing the nightclub and restaurant operations. Prior to the Hyatt, Frank was the director of beverage for the Hard Rock Hotel San Diego managing events, outlets, and guest service. Preceding his role at the Hard Rock Hotel, Frank was the director of operations for House of Blues San Diego managing the events and operations for this venue and previously for the Las Vegas and New Orleans venues. Before his time with the House of Blues, Frank was on the opening team for the Hard Rock Hotel Las Vegas working for the guest service & box office operations team. He is also a UNLV alumni with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Hotel Management.
Kevin Kembel, G.M.S
Director Client Relations
Kevin Kembel brings a wealth of client management and relationship development experience to his director role at Nomad. His focus on building and improving Nomad’s current client base as well as developing and growing new relationships is acute. Kevin also manages several major accounts and creates raving fans on a daily basis.
Kevin comes to Nomad from the Patrick Lilly Team at the prestigious Corcoran Group Real Estate firm in New York City, where he was a Senior Associate. His team was consistently recognized as one of the top-producing teams in the U.S. by the Wall Street Journal. Working with high-profile and high-net worth individuals, and attending to their unique demands, was the hallmark of how he managed his business and developed strong client relationships.
Prior to his nearly ten-year career in the highly competitive New York real estate business, Kevin served as Director of Advertising at AT&T, where he oversaw all advertising activity for the DSL High-Speed Internet Service product. Additionally, he has held positions with major global companies JPMorgan Chase, Ogilvy & Mather and Wunderman/Y&R New York.
Graduating with a BBA in Finance from Abilene Christian University, Kevin’s varied experience in the fields of corporate finance, advertising and real estate bring a unique skill set to Nomad, and to the temporary living industry. His sense of humor, stellar business ethics and innate ability to address client needs quickly and effectively, earns him the trust and respect of both peer and client. Kevin resides in La Jolla, and enjoys all the great things about living in Southern California, including spending time on the beach with his black Lab, Izzy.
Patti Whittle
Director of EMEA Operations
Patti Whittle manages the EMEA office as the Director of EMEA Operation based in London. Having been transferred to London in the autumn of 2000, Patti brings to Nomad her personal knowledge of relocation both within the US and internationally. She overseas supply chain management for the EMEA region, reservations, guest services, and account management.
Patti joins the Nomad team with over 14 years of serviced apartment and management experience. She is the former District & General Manager of Oakwood United Kingdom in London. In that position, she played an integral role in the growth of the fledgling office. She was also the District Manager for Oakwood's operations in both Atlanta and Chicago earlier in her career.
Although Patti was born in Georgia, she has been relocated no less than 13 times throughout the US, Germany and the UK. She currently resides in a London suburb with her husband Jon and their daughter, Annabelle.
Aaron Bixel
Director of Shared Services
Aaron Bixel oversees the Accounting Department of Nomad Temporary Housing. Aaron came to Nomad from AT&T, where he was also an award winning producer and leader. He was a recognized top performer with a penchant for exceeding expectations to ensure an exceptional customer experience. Aaron came to Nomad managing the guest services department and elevated the service level in every environment due to his ability to invigorate his teams with his passion for excellence and an empathetic client approach. This ability, to inspire his team to emulate his philosophy of service delivery, is crucial to his success. With his attention to detail, and passion for numbers, alongside his degree in accounting, he has since moved into managing Nomad’s finances, payroll and accounting staff. Aaron earned his Bachelor of Science in Accountancy from San Diego State University. He currently resides in Rancho San Diego with his wife, Ingrid, and their three children: Jakob, Valerie and Preston.
Dawn Brandenburg
Director, Asia Pacific Region
Dawn has spent 22 years exceeding client expectations and building relationships throughout Asia in her prior positions, and will bring that same combination of professionalism and passion to Nomad’s client base. With her work history encompassing high level roles with BGRS (Brookfield Global Relocation Services), Savills, JLL and Cushman & Wakefield, she has the perfect mix of global understanding of both real estate and relocation.
Previously Dawn held a position within the WERC APAC committee for several years, was a speaker at Terrapin Serviced Apartment Conference group, a guest Judge for Shanghai City Weekend Home & Office awards and a contributing member of the WERC China Think Tank. In addition she was a part of TheMIGroup global advisory committee and on the global appeals committee for BGRS. During her time at Savills, her China team boasted the largest market share for long term corporate housing and received a combination of 44 awards.
Matt McBride
Director of Global Supply Chain
Matt McBride manages the supply chain of worldwide Nomad Certified Partners. In his previous role as Guest Service Manager, he dedicated his efforts in building professional relationship with our partners on a daily basis. His candidness and ability to foster quick rapport with guests has made it a seamless transition into the supply chain role.
Matt came to Nomad with 12 years of hospitality experience in the bar & restaurant industry. He exceled quickly and made a name for himself in the industry as a leader and motivator. In his years managing multiple locations, he built a reputation of developing strong teams that were highly engaged and that provided outstanding service delivery. Matt’s enthusiasm and passion for serving, and inspiring others to do so, is the cornerstone of his success.
Matt earned his Bachelor of Science in Psychology from National University. He currently resides in Rancho San Diego with his wife, Marisol, and their three children: Madden, Mathison and Mace.
