November 25, 2014, East Lansing, Michigan – The School of Hospitality Business Alumni Association hosted the annual Celebration of Leadership on Saturday evening, November 8, at The Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City.

The elegant event was held to celebrate achievement in hospitality. The honor of Industry Leader of the Year was awarded to Kirk Kinsell of InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG). Mr. Kinsell serves as the Americas President and as a Member of the Board and Executive Committee for IHG, which is one of the world’s leading hotel companies with a global portfolio of more than 4,700 hotels in nearly 100 countries.

In addition, four past presidents of the Alumni Association were inducted in The School’s Hall of Fame for 2014, the Class of Alumni Leaders. The Inductees were:

  • Dan E. Burdakin (BA ’81), president of Positive Management Group III
  • Billy Downs (BA ’88), founder of B.D. Mongolian Grill and special events director for Team World Vision
  • John F. Theuer (BA ’83, MBA ’83), retired CFO of Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf and Panda Express
  • Ken Weber (BA ’77), president of Weber’s Restaurant & Boutique Hotel

An exemplary industry icon with 30 years of experience in hospitality, Mr. Kinsell first joined IHG in 1988 as the senior vice president of franchising. After holding senior leadership roles with Micell Technologies, ITT Sheraton and Avado Brands, Inc., he returned to the company in 2002 as the Americas Chief Development Officer. He was appointed President of IHG’s Americas region in 2011, giving him responsibility for the management, growth, and profitability of the company’s largest operating region, spanning the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Latin America and the Caribbean. Mr. Kinsell has the privilege of oversight for iconic global brands like Holiday Inn® hotels and InterContinental® Hotels & Resorts. He leads the 3,500 employees in IHG’s five corporate offices and four call centers in the Americas region and works to inspire the nearly 190,000 colleagues across 23 countries who bring IHG’s brands to life for guests at thousands of hotels each day.

Vice President of the Alumni Association Chuck Day (BA ’91), lead portfolio revenue manager at IHG, introduced Mr. Kinsell and noted his many accomplishments, including the launch of several industry-leading hotel brands, including IHG’s Holiday Inn Express®, Hotel Indigo® and EVEN® Hotels brands, and the acquisition and growth of some of the country’s best-loved restaurants.

Day described Mr. Kinsell’s exceptional leadership philosophy, noting that he is guided by the belief that strong relationships – personal, colleague-to-colleague, and company to client or guest – are at the heart of effective leadership. “He has been highly supportive in the careers and personal lives of countless colleagues, developing talent for the future of the industry,” said Day.

Mr. Kinsell addressed the students in the audience, explaining that in his experience as a leader, “what I have discovered is that people don’t want jobs; they truly want missions. They want their purpose to count.”

He told the students that “it is our job as leaders to help unlock that potential – to help align people’s personal purpose with the business purpose in order to achieve success.” This, he said, is the key to great leadership, “I am inspired every day to link the love of life with the love of work.”

Over 250 guests attended Celebration of Leadership and included alumni, faculty and staff, family, friends, and colleagues of the honorees. A record 73 School students came to New York for the event, as well as to participate in a dozen professional development programs throughout the city, including attendance at the International Hotel, Motel & Restaurant Show at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. Each student applied for and won scholarship funds to travel to New York, and eight of them were there to attend the Club Managers Association of America (CMAA) Student Leadership Conference. All the scholarship funds came from generous sponsors for Celebration of Leadership and endowments in The School designated for student travel.

“Honoring an industry leader the caliber of Kirk Kinsell is an important celebration in the life of our School,” said Dr. Bonnie Knutson, acting director and professor in The School. “Kirk leads one of the most successful organizations in the world, inspires his colleagues, and develops new talent – including so many of our alumni who have had the privilege to work with him.”

Jim Anhut (MBA ’85), senior vice president of Design and Quality at IHG, is one of those alumni, and a close colleague of Mr. Kinsell. He said, “Kirk’s leadership draws good people to him and to our company. I am proud that our School has acknowledged his influence on the hospitality industry and on fellow Spartan alumni.”

It is a measure of the regard with which Mr. Kinsell is held in the industry that hundreds of IHG franchisees, suppliers, and clients sponsored Celebration of Leadership in his honor, setting a record for funds raised to support School programming throughout the year.

WE ARE THE SCHOOL™

“WE” represents the tens of thousands of relationships among students, faculty, alumni, and industry partners. “THE” reflects our 87-year foundation of preparing the hospitality industry’s managers and operators. Today The School also emphasizes real estate and thinking like the owner throughout the curriculum, for all our students.