PROVIDENCE, R.I. � March 4, 2004 � Knowing the
hospitality industry alone will not make you a success, according to Robert
Morse, chief operating officer for Interstate Hotels & Resorts, Inc.
The key, Morse told nearly 500 hospitality students at Johnson & Wales
University, is balance.
| During a recent lecture, where Morse
was honored by The Hospitality College at Johnson & Wales University
as a Distinguished Visiting Professor, he told students: �You need to understand
how to run a business.� This includes not only the day-to-day hotel operations,
but also sales and marketing, finance, human resources, and all other aspects
of the business.
�We have to think like owners. We have to act like owners,� Morse said.
�If you don�t spend every dollar like it�s your own, you are not going
to be successful.�
Morse, who previously served as president of hotel operations for Interstate,
is responsible for overseeing the company's portfolio of more than 300
managed properties, which are operated under some of the world's most prestigious
hotel brands, including Marriott, Radisson, Hilton and Starwood. Interstate
is the nation's largest independent hotel management company.
Dick Brush, dean of The Hospitality College, praised Morse as a great
inspiration to Johnson & Wales� students. �We�re a career university,�
Brush said. �And it�s really companies like Interstate that provide jobs
for our kids.�
While talking to the students, Morse also advised them to think strategically
about |
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Walter Isenberg Named to Corporate Board
at Johnson & Wales University
March 4, 2004 � Walter Isenberg, co-founder of Sage Hospitality
Resources LLC, has been named as a corporate board member at Johnson &
Wales University, furthering its position as �America�s Career University�.
�We are pleased to invite Walter Isenberg to join the
University as a member of the corporate board,� says Dr. John A. Yena,
university president. �His community relationships and proven commitment
to our Denver Campus, along with his vast experience in the hospitality
industry, will be of tremendous benefit to the institution as a whole.�
Isenberg serves as the company's president and chief executive
officer, directing all company operations, including hotel development,
asset management, and property management. The company's management history
includes the turnaround of dozens of distressed properties, asset management
of luxury hotels, program development as developer and manager, and the
restoration of historically significant buildings located in large urban
centers that were converted to hotel use.
Isenberg, chair of the Treat Hall restoration campaign
on J&W�s Denver Campus, he also serves as president of Marriott's Fairfield
Inn Franchise Advisory Council, and has served as a board member of the
HFS Management Company Advisory Board and Holiday Inns Franchise Council.
He also serves on the executive committees and boards of the Denver Metro
Convention & Visitors Bureau; University of Colorado Foundation; The
Downtown Denver Partnership; Colorado Concern; Historic Denver Inc. and
Mile High Child Care. He is a graduate of the Cornell University School
of Hotel Administration. |
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how they want to grow their careers. �Whether you want to work for a hotel,
a cruise line, a restaurant, you need to build a plan for yourself,� he
said.
Before joining Interstate in 2001, Morse was president, the Americas
and executive director of Millennium and Copthorne Hotels plc, where he
oversaw a $100 million renovation and rebranding program. Morse has also
served as executive vice president of operations for Interstate Hotels
& Resorts� predecessor company, MeriStar Hotels & Resorts; president
of the Homestead Guest Suites extended-stay brand; president of the franchise
division of ITT Sheraton Corp.; and president of Four Points Hotels by
Sheraton. He received a bachelor�s degree in hotel, restaurant and travel
administration from the University of Massachusetts. He is a Founding Fellow
of the American Hotel & Lodging Educational Foundation and an advisory
board member of the UMass Hotel, Restaurant and Travel Administration Department.
During Morse�s visit, Maria Cecilia Monti, a sophomore in the Hotel
Management program, was awarded a Distinguishing Visiting Professor scholarship
from Johnson & Wales. Monti, a native of Argentina, is the daughter
of Nelida Isabel Pettigrew.
The Distinguished Visiting Professor (DVP) program draws top executives
from both the hospitality and business fields to Johnson & Wales to
share their knowledge with students. The DVP Hall of Fame includes: Joseph
A. McInerney, president and chief executive officer of the American Hotel
& Lodging Association; Milt Gossett, former chairman of Saatchi &
Saatchi Worldwide; William Tiefel, chairman emeritus of The Ritz-Carlton
Hotel Company; Stephen M. Wynne, executive vice president of PFPC Inc.,
and Marilyn Carlson Nelson, vice chair and chief executive officer of Carlson
Holdings Co.
The Hospitality College at Johnson & Wales boasts the largest enrollment
nationally of students preparing for careers in international hotel and
tourism management, hotel management, food and beverage management, sports/entertainment/event
management and travel-tourism management. Students are currently enrolled
in undergraduate and graduate degree programs in hospitality.
Johnson & Wales � America�s Career University® � was founded
in 1914. It is a private, non-profit, accredited institution offering undergraduate
and graduate degree programs in business, food service, hospitality and
technology. With an enrollment of nearly 16,000 students, Johnson &
Wales maintains campuses in Providence, R.I., Charleston, S.C., Norfolk,
Va., North Miami, Fla., and Denver, Colo. A new Charlotte, N.C., campus
opens in September 2004. |
