The NENA CHRIE Federation held its spring regional conference this year at West Virginia University’s John Chambers College of Business and Economics Hospitality Management Program in Morgantown, West Virginia from March 31-April 2, 2023. The Conference was a great success! We were thrilled to have a robust schedule of research papers and poster presentations along with keynote speakers and panelists from industry and academia, as well as interactive workshops all focused on the conference theme of “Innovate Everywhere”. Attendance was much higher than anticipated and we continue to have a growing cohort of grad students attend and present their work at this regional conference. It is wonderful to see their excitement and passion for higher education and our industry early in their career.

We opened the conference Friday evening with some hands-on interactive fun in the Hospitality Innovation Lab (HIT) at WVU. Several of our attendees tried to “walk the plank”, a program developed by students in the HIT Lab as they put on Virtual Reality Headsets. We ended the evening with an engaging presentation from industry experts who discussed what innovation looks like in their companies. The Friday Keynote lineup featured Lara Hernandez, Hilton, Shaun Shankel, Fresh Technology, Michael Blake, AHLA-HTNG, and Ben Seidal, Real Hospitality. The Conference started on Saturday morning with a powerful panel consisting of Trey Matheu and Anthony Iannone from Nemacolin Resort, Ennis Smith from the WV Dept. of Tourism, and Alicia Plemmons from the WVU Chambers College of Business and Economics who talked about using innovative ways to create better work-life balance in both industry and academia. Our Industry Partner Presenter, Duane Vinson, Vice President at STR and Assistant Director of the CoStar SHARE Center discussed all the new and innovative things going on in the CoStar SHARE Center. Our Academic Partner Presenter, Dr. Srikanth Beldona, Professor & Department Chairperson of Hospitality & Sport Business talked about graduate program opportunities at the University of Delaware.

We are indeed fortunate to have generous support from sponsors, including West Virginia University, University of Delaware, Visit Mountaineer Country, Penn State University School of Hospitality Management, Virginia Tech Pamplin College of Business Department of Hospitality & Tourism Management, West Virginia Hospitality Education and Training (HEAT), James Madison University’s Hart School; Isenberg School of Management at UMass Amherst; STR Share Center; AHLAEI; Connecticut CMAA; National Capital Chapter CMAA; Slippery Rock University; Sodexo; Students Fare; Stockton University; Widener University; and West Virginia Hospitality and Travel Association. Without our sponsors, this conference would not be possible!

NENA would like to congratulate Yidan Huang, Heyao Yu, and Amit Sharma, from the Pennsylvania State University for receiving the Best Paper Award for their work on A multilevel investigation of the impact of error management culture on restaurant employee voice, and also to Simone Bianco from Virginia Tech University for the Best Poster Award for his work on Knowledge-seeking market entry strategies. We also want to congratulate Simone Bianco, Manisha Singal, and Florian Zach from Virginia Tech for their paper on Hotels’ Co-location entry decisions in the 21st Century as Best Paper, Runner-up.

We hosted our 5th Legacy Lecture with Dr. Reg Foucar-Szocki, Professor and Chair of Hospitality Management at James Madison University, Hart School who served on the ICHRIE Board and devoted his career to hospitality education where many students, faculty and industry associations and partners benefitted along the way. Reg shared his inspiration and memorable moments in his career, along with some words of wisdom for our attendees.

Thanks to all the attendees and volunteers at NENA who make everything happen. We are fortunate to have great people who have boundless energy and enthusiasm. Thank you to the NENA Board Members, the Conference Committee Members, our research judges, and the presenters who made this a great experience for all. Most importantly, we want to thank our conference host, Dr. Ajay Aluri and Frank DeMarco at West Virginia University, and their amazing team of students!

Please visit our website at nenachrie.com for more information about the Annual Regional Conference and other NENA Information.

Thank you all!

NENA Director of Conference and Events                          President, NENA

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