I traveled to America on Wednesday and am currently at the Cornell University just outside New York, together with – among others – Jarle Moen. He is here to participate in the university’s General Manager Program (GMP), as a result of HSMAI and partners naming him Norway’s Hotelier of the Year last year.
With us is yet another HSMAI member, CEO of the Norwegian hotel chain Festningshotellene, Tony Eide, also participating in said program (in below photograph).
Professor Kate Walsh, dean at School of Hotel Administration Cornell, Peter Rogoff, Director, Open Enrollment Programs, School of Hotel Administration, Cornell SC Johnson College of Business, Ingunn Hofseth, President & CEO of HSMAI Region Europe, Tony Eide, CEO of Festningshotellene, and Jarle Moen, Thief Operating Officer at The Thief in Oslo.
HSMAI Norway initiated its partnership with the Cornell University back in 2003, in connection with the Young Hotelier of the Year and the Young Leader of the Year awards, and has since sent up to two participants to the Cornell program every year. The partnership came as an initiative of former HSMAI board member and continued supporter Leif Evensen, also former Global President for CHS (the Cornell Hotel Society). In 2010 the Hotelier of the Year award was introduced for the more experienced General Managers, originally launched by the Cornell Hotel Society, but today awarded by HSMAI, in cooperation with CHS.
This is a very important investment for the industry to develop, which itself helps financing the initiative, included travel and lodging. We would very much like to thank the Hotel, Restaurant and Travel magazine and HSMAI members Nordic Choice Hotels, Thon Hotels, Scandic Hotels, Radisson Hotels and AS Pals, all gold partners. Best Western has been a minor partner all the time, too.
At Cornell we will be discussing how the partnership is to develop in Europe going forward, included Cornell’s academic contributions during the HSMAI Region Europe Summer Camp in Amsterdam this upcoming August. Please see this page.
Next week I will be working in New York, partaking in several internal planning meetings and several of HSMAI’s big annual activities in the city. I am looking forward to working with Bob Gilbert and the rest of his team here again.
Have a great weekend!
Warm regards from
Ingunn Hofseth
President & CEO
HSMAI Region Europe
Top photograph: Professor Kate Walsh, dean at School of Hotel Administration Cornell, Ingunn Hofseth, President & CEO of HSMAI Region Europe, and Jarle Moen, Thief Operating Officer at The Thief in Oslo.
