David Fields brings diverse talents and experience to his hospitality consulting projects. He grew up in Philadelphia, PA and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. While at Penn he was the principal photo stringer for the Philadelphia bureau of the Associated Press, which led to a long career in photography. From 1985 to 1990 he was a photo editor at Sports Illustrated and from 1990 to 2002 he crafted portraits for a number of magazines and corporations, such as Time, Business Week, and Verizon. He is the photographer of three photography books including a classic cookbook, Le Bec–Fin Recipes. After nearly 20 years in the photography world, Fields followed his passion for great food and wine, first as restaurant critic for Philadelphia magazine and then with the launch of Salt restaurant in Philadelphia, which quickly became known as one of the city’s most modern, thoughtful, and quality–driven restaurants. Salt was named ‘One of the Ten Best New Restaurants in the World’ by Food and Wine magazine when it opened in 2003. Since 2007 he has spent the bulk of his work time consulting for AKA Hotels, a growing leader in the luxury extended–stay hotel niche, now with eight properties in prime locations in New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC. His ongoing work with AKA involves focusing a keen–eye and uncompromising standards on issues related to hospitality, food and beverage programs, and lobby and room design, as well as overseeing concept development and execution for a series of on–site cutting–edge espresso bars, breakfast cafés, lounges, and restaurants. In the Winter of 2009, Fields helped open a progressive 'Third Wave' espresso bar concept at the flagship AKA Central Park property, and now is working to open a 50–seat small plates restaurant at AKA Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia.Specialties: Concept, development, and opening cafes and restaurant.