Bio

After years in the international hospitality and events industries, I started my career in academia. I teach subjects related to events and hospitality, in contexts such as event design and theming, impacts of food and beverage on culture, event impacts, hotel and hospitality operations, consumer behaviour and experiences as well as leadership challenges within the world of hospitality.

I am fascinated by people and their behaviour – particularly the choices they make and how these connect with their personal values and experiences. While this interest is mostly explored in the context of hospitality and events, for example, understanding event attendee behaviour I believe it is also important to challenge business to make decisions based on these values.

I like to teach in a way that helps students to challenge their own assumptions and to be more critical of what they read, hear and say in their everyday lives. It is important that students learn alongside me, rather than passively listening to lectures. I have worked extensively in the hospitality and events industries in a variety of places and this work has involved working for international chains, mega sporting events, independent businesses and exclusive events.

I am also the track chair for Teaching, Learning and Assessment for the scientific committee for the Council for Hospitality Management Education (CHME) as well as working with a number of hospitality businesses as a consultant working on various projects to improve business performance and the retention of people within this industry. I am the co-founder of Hospitality and Universities United (HUU), an initiative with the goal of bringing together universities, students and the hospitality industry to ‘bridge the gap’ between what the students learn in an academic environment, their ambitions and the needs and future aspirations of the students and the industry. Universities are teaching and developing the future leaders of our industry!