Born in London and raised in Milan, Barnabas moved to the U.S. as a teenager to pursue tennis, training at the Evert Tennis Academy before earning a scholarship to the University of Miami, where he competed for four years and graduated in Sports Management. Early roles at Evert and later with IMG during the Wembley Stadium redevelopment immersed him in premium hospitality, strategic partnerships, and global events—revealing a market gap: luxury experiences were being sold, but not truly curated. He founded GR8 Experiences to change that, and under his leadership GR8 has generated over $40M in sales and become a relationship-driven access platform delivering discreet, non-public experiences across sport, culture, entertainment, and lifestyle. Blending European sophistication with American entrepreneurial drive, Barnabas is an architect of environments—pairing meticulous detail with bold commercial vision to turn privileged access into defining moments.

Luca Pavanelli was born and raised in Milan, Italy. Luca accepted a scholarship to attend Lynn University in Boca Raton (FL) where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in International Business and earned corporate experience from his time working at top business consulting institutions and collaborating with Fortune 1000 and 500 companies. Luca is responsible for the development of Miami experiences, promoting business development and exploring new lucrative sectors to market the GR8 brand and to increase global expansion.

Venanzio Ciampa started his in marketing and communications at the Swatch Group, the world’s largest watch company, and LVMH, the world’s largest luxury group. After working as a journalist for Italian TV Rai, Venanzio started his agency The Promotion Factory, strategizing marketing, events and media buy for luxury brands such as Hublot, Gucci, TAG Heuer, Girard-Perregaux and many more. Described by The New York Post as “the New York marketing maestro," Venanzo heads GR8's Marketing team.

Maverick Carter is chief executive officer (CEO) of SpringHill Entertainment, an entertainment and content company that he and LeBron James launched in 2008 and that develops creative content across a variety of platforms including digital, documentary, and feature films and television; and he is also CEO of its athlete empowerment company, Uninterrupted. In addition to his expanding entertainment endeavors, Carter has an extensive background in marketing and business development.

Mr. Ravi Thakran founded L Capital Asia in 2008 and led it as Chairman and Managing Partner from its inception. Mr. Thakran led the development of L Capital Asia which went on to become one of the largest consumer-focused growth investors in Asia. With L Capital Asia, Ravi invested in over 35 companies across Asia Pacific. Five of these companies crossed $1 billion in annual revenues.