JOHN R. KAZANJIAN
Managing Member and
Chairman of the Board
LandMarkers Development Group LLC
Project Master Planning | Mixed-Use Developments |Resort Development | Brand Marketing | Marketing & Sales | Investor/ Lender Communications
As the Chairman of LandMarkers Development Group, Mr. Kazanjian brings 40+ years of experience in resort real estate property master planning, development, marketing/ sales and operations. John is particularly known for his vision and team leadership abilities. His combined sales and planning experience provides a unique perspective that ensures project continuity from program conceptualization stages through to successful marketing and sales campaigns.
John Kazanjian co-founded Gold Crown Travel Club in 2021 and serves as a Managing Partner.
Mr. Kazanjian created and co-founded The World’s Finest Resorts with Russell Bragg, Carl Berry and Chris Abbott which was sold to Cendant/RCI in 2005 and is operated as The Registry Collection. John Kazanjian co-founded Resort Development & Advisors with Mr. Berry in 1998, where Mr. Kazanjian served as COO and then CEO until 2004.
After the sale of The World’s Finest Resorts, Mr. Kazanjian and Mr. Berry joined forces with Star Resorts, LLC to form Star Resort Group, LLC. Mr. Kazanjian served as Executive Vice President of Star Resort Group from 2005 until 2007 when he became Managing Director for RTK Resort Group, the predecessor of the LandMarkers Development Group. During these tenures, Mr. Kazanjian provided advisory development services for numerous urban and resort project sites to determine their potential for mixed-use timeshare/ fractional ownership/ condo-hotel developments with beach, casino, golf and/or ski components.
John held sales management responsibilities generating multi-millions in resort sales at urban, beach, mountain and inland resorts. He has directed sales organizations with: The Cliff Club at Snowbird, which was awarded the Gold ARDY for Sales Team – Mid-Sized Project at the ARDA 2000 Convention; The Welk Resort Group at Lawrence Welk Resort Villas in Escondido, CA; Winners Circle Resorts International at Gaslamp Plaza Suites in San Diego, CA; and Harich-Tahoe Developments as General Sales Manager for The Ridge Tahoe in South Lake Tahoe/Stateline, NV.
Earlier as COO of Mega Coffield Kazanjian, Inc. Environmental Planners, John spent the first decade of his career focused in larger scale land use issues, many of which involved the negotiation and resolution of issues stemming from the complex inter-relationships and opposing forces between socio-economic, financial and physical design demands on public and private land.
In 1973-74, John Kazanjian played a key role as a consultant to Oregon’s Governor Tom McCall in his successful effort to establish legislation that led the nation as the first significant, environmentally oriented, statewide land use legislation. During that period from a project master planning platform, Mr. Kazanjian maintained a stellar track record for securing zone change approvals and entitlements for leading new community developers in Oregon and Washington.
John Kazanjian began his professional development career with Emil Hanslin and Associates, new community developers in Waquoit, MA where his contributions, cited by Time Magazine in 1971 as one of the best conservation ideas since cluster planning, assisted in winning national awards for the vacation community of Eastman in Grantham, N. H.
John earned his B.S. degree in landscape architecture from Rutgers University in 1969 and his MLA degree in land-use planning from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University in 1971. He is a member of the American Resort Development Association (ARDA) and is certified as a Registered Resort Professional (RRP). John is a frequent speaker on the subject of resort development and fractional interest resorts at the annual Ragatz Fractional Symposium and ARDA sponsored conventions.
John Kazanjian is an accomplished artist who creates experiential contemporary wall paintings that touch the heart and soul, much in the style of Joan Miro, Pablo Picasso, Sam Francis and Jackson Pollock. His work is shown in west coast galleries.