Academics

Hotel Business Magazine names SHM director as industry leader to watch

Donna Quadri-Felitti is director of the Penn State School of Hospitality Management.  Credit: Paul Hazi. All Rights Reserved.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Hotel Business magazine has named Penn State School of Hospitality Management Director Donna Quadri-Felitti as one of 10 leaders to watch in the hotel industry.

"It is an honor to be associated with these other nine leaders and to highlight the great work happening in the Penn State School of Hospitality Management,” said Quadri-Felitti.

Penn State named Quadri-Felitti hospitality director in July. Prior to joining Penn State, Quadri-Felitti served on the faculty of the Preston Robert Tisch Center for Hospitality and Tourism in New York University’s School of Professional Studies where her most recent post was as academic chair of the Center.

The annual, end of year list, traditionally highlights hotel executives. However, for 2015, the magazine decided to broaden its list to include areas such as education, technology, and government affairs.

Read the full Hotel Business report.

“These all impact the hotel business, and we thought we’d spotlight the folks who could give us insight into where we, as an industry, stand and are heading,” said James Schultz, senior vice president, Hotel Business, in a Dec. 15 editorial about the list.

Quadri-Felitti’s main research studies involve improving consumer experiences within a wide range of tourism products from destinations to hotels. One of her research streams centers on the comprehensive tourist experience delivered in rural wine tourism by multiple hospitality and community stakeholders.

Her research has appeared in various professional outlets, including the International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, International Journal of Social Ecology and Sustainable Development, and Tourism Hospitality Research. A portion of Quadri-Felitti’s research on rural wine tourism was supported by a USDA-funded Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education grant.

Additionally, she authors a column for HOTELSmag.com and is a frequent speaker at hospitality and travel conferences on changing consumer preferences and expectations.

In 2012, Quadri-Felitti was recognized as one of the Top 25 Most Extraordinary Minds in Sales & Marketing by the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International and received the President’s Award from the Food and Beverage Association of America.

An Erie, Pennsylvania, native, Quadri-Felitti previously served as president of the Greater New York chapter of Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International and co-chair of the International Council on Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Education’s Annual Conference Career Teaching Academy.

Last Updated December 21, 2015

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