I-CHRIE President Susan M. Fournier

Having been elected Vice-President of the Executive Board of I-CHRIE, the International Council of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Education in 2010, Susan M. Fournier, “Cesar Ritz” Colleges’ Leadership Program Director was installed as President of this prestigious association of hospitality educators at the Annual Conference in Denver on 27th July 2011. Around 500 delegates attended this year’s conference. Deans and Directors, professors from major universities such as Cornell, Michigan State University, Purdue, Universtiy Nevada Las Vegas, Hong Kong Polytechnic, Oxford and Brookes, University of Surrey and many more presented their research and attended key note lectures and workshops. The industry was present with HR recruiters from the large groups Marriott, Hyatt, Sodexo, Aramar, Darden, STR, Whiteodging,etc.
Founded in 1946 as a non-profit organization for schools, colleges and universities offering programs of study in hospitality and tourism, International CHRIE has since expanded its scope to include the enhancement of professionalism at all levels of the hospitality and tourism industry, monitoring ongoing developments and keeping its members at the forefront of trends. With around 1,500 members world-wide located in close to 50 countries, I-CHRIE works to enhance professionalism in the hospitality and tourism industry- and ultimately service quality and competitiveness - through education and training.
Prior to joining the I-CHRIE board, Susan M. Fournier had been an active board member of EuroCHRIE, the European federation. She did oversee the bidding process and the attribution of the annual European conference sites, including the past conferences in Dubai, Helsinki and Amsterdam as well as the upcoming ones in Dubrovnik (19-22 October. 2011) andat EHL in Lausanne, Switzerland in October 2012.
During her term in office, she will chair the Executive Board meetings taking place at the American Hotel and Lodging Association trade show in New York and at the National Restaurant Association trade show in Chicago. She will attend the conferences taking place in Dubrovnik, Croatia and Manilla, Philippines and preside next year’s I-CHRIE conference in Providence, Rhode Island.
For the last 15 years at “Cesar Ritz” Colleges, she has been teaching EFL and hospitality management courses as well as implementing a new Leadership Program. During her tenure as I-CHRIE Executive Board Member, she will work to develop each federation and strengthen the I-CHRIE brand to fulfill the vision that “I-CHRIE will become the recognized global leader in hospitality and tourism education and research.”
http://www.chrie.org/
http://www.eurochrie.org/ http://www.ritz.edu/

With Robert Wetterauer, EuroCHRIE President, Jouni Ahonen, EuroCHRIE Past President and Bill Samenfink, I-CHRIE former Past President