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Hospitality executives plan learning “sabbaticals” at Cornell’s Professional Development Program

With the pandemic hindering in-person convening over the last several years, the Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration is excited to be re-opening its doors to hospitality executives from around the globe for its annual Professional Development Program (PDP) this summer in Ithaca, New York.

For more than 90 years, PDP has provided professionals with a respite from their daily work lives and immersed them in an educational experience like no other—providing a personal recharge and a strategic refocus. This year, the program is offered June 13-16 and participants select one of five focused tracks, including:

· Hospitality Management Essentials
· Hospitality Strategic Marketing and Brand Innovation
· Hotel Real Estate Investment Management
· Hotel Revenue Management and Pricing Optimization
· Strategic Hospitality Leadership

“The hospitality industry is facing an unprecedented era of innovation, especially post-pandemic,” said Kate Walsh, dean of the Cornell Nolan School. “This program will equip today’s leaders with the skills, context and research-driven concepts to leverage the opportunity inherent in transformational change. The PDP program is an amazing opportunity to come together with other industry colleagues and engage in meaningful learning by our world-class faculty.”

The program is designed to serve a variety of hospitality professionals, from front line-level managers to senior executives. Attendees have the opportunity to engage with over 100 peers in formal and informal networking sessions to build relationships and exchange ideas. The program is entirely taught by Cornell Nolan School’s faculty, leading research-based experts who hold deep hospitality industry knowledge and are award-winning instructors.

“It’s all about sharing and networking,” said Florent Avella, founder and managing director of Silveroaks Asset Management and a two-time attendee of the program. “While there are many things that participants would not share with competitors, when we are at Cornell, we are on neutral ground and it’s the time to share with others.”
While some professionals attend the program nearly every year to refresh their points of view, others return to the program to sharpen their skills as their careers advance and their responsibilities evolve.

“Being here is almost like a sabbatical; you are able to completely immerse yourself in learning,” shared Gary Hoffert, regional vice president at Canalta Hotels in Canada who has attended the program multiple times. “You can assess the thought process of your business—it allows you to tear it down and rebuild it with some new ideas; and networking with professionals from all around the world gives me the opportunity to see what is happening in the industry and what others are doing.”

For more information, visit the PDP program Frequently Asked Questions.

At the Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration, we’ve been pioneering, reimagining, and perfecting hospitality education for a century. We push boundaries in the pursuit of excellence and define the future of our industry. The Cornell Nolan School experience combines world-class classroom instruction with hands-on experiential learning and is the only Ivy League program of its kind.

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