When we think about HEC, we think about the Statler Hotel, Cornell, and Ithaca. But on March 10, four of the Board Members traveled to the Big Apple to bring HEC to NYC at a cocktail party held at Bouley’s Test Kitchen in Tribeca. This initiative, coined “HEC in NYC,” was the first of its kind and was developed from an idea from one of our industry advisors, Richy Petrina. The purpose of this cocktail was to help keep HEC in people’s minds by meeting with Hotelie Alumni and industry people in the NYC area to talk about HEC, build up excitement for HEC 83, and encourage them come to this HEC or a future HEC weekends.

The cocktail was a great success! The Board Members had a great time mingling with the guests, sharing some of the exciting program items for HEC 83, and eating delicious food cooked by Chef Bouley himself! Some of the guests included Albert Cleary (Managing Director of HEC 50 and Mr. Adie’s freshman year roomie), and Deniz Omurgonulsen ’00 (Managing Director of HEC 75). “HEC in NYC” is definitely something we want to do again in the future to help us build strong relationships with our alumni and industry people and spread the word about HEC.

So you are probably wondering what the exciting program items were for HEC 83 that the Board Members were sharing. Well that’s a great question!

This year, the Board has worked hard to have a program that is balanced with educational panels, fun leisure events, and student-guest interaction. The first panel of the weekend is “Setting the Scene- Industry Update” which discusses the state of the hospitality industry and issues that are affecting it. The panel consists of Mark Woodworth ’77 (Executive Vice President of PKF Consulting), Peter Yesawich ’72 (Chairman & CEO of Y Partnership), and Mark Lomanno (President of Smith Travel Research—you know, the company that does the STAR report we all learned about in HA 105!).

Keeping with the theme of hot issues in the industry, another panel on the program is Hospitality in Emerging Markets which discusses the hotel development in Latin America, South Africa, and the UAE. This panel features Vincent Joyner (CEO of ACCOR Southern Africa), Paul Sistare (CEO & President of Atlantica Hotels), and Adnan Shamim (Director of Development of Dubai Infinity Holdings).

When the guests aren’t in panels, they can enjoy leisure events like Yoga in the Park Atrium, a honey tasting with Merrimack Valley Apiaries, or a wine tasting of hip new tastes with Courtney Cochran (Author of Hip Tastes: The Fresh Guide to Wine). Visit Courtney’s web site at www.courtneycochran.com.

The Board has also planned a student-guest casual networking event called Cordial Coffee Connections. Students will get to meet with guests in the Regent Lounge on Saturday afternoon, have some coffee, and talk about the college, careers, and life in general.

And what’s a Hotelie weekend without food and drinks! The weekend features events with menus planned by our own classmates of cuisines from Italy, Louisiana, and South East Asia. We also have an off-site cocktail across the street at Sage Atrium, and our closing cocktail is held in a dressed up Park Atrium where the weekend volunteers and guests can celebrate a successful weekend!

…..All that sounds exciting right? Well you can still join in on the excitement too! It’s not too late to sign up to volunteer during the weekend. Volunteering during the weekend is a great opportunity to get the behind the scenes look at what it takes to run a big conference like HEC, get face time with alumni and industry people, and get a chance to interact more with fellow Hotelies! Some events you can still volunteer for include front of house servers for The Closing Cocktail, The Power Lunch, and The Gala Dinner. Be sure to contact the HR Director, Kira Gailey, at kcg23@cornell.edu to get more information and sign up for a shift!

Enjoy the rest of your break and get excited for HEC 83!