Faculty & Research
Leaders Guest Series
The Industry Research Leaders Guest Series is a key element of the center’s mission of bringing together the foremost industry leaders and knowledge creators at the School of Hotel Administration. Center Research Fellows and other faculty members interact and converse with these industry leaders, with a goal of focusing research studies.
2006-2007 Industry Research Leaders Guest Series
April 19, 2007
Peter Bullard, PhD, founded American Tescor LLC in 1979. American Tescor electronically pre-screens hundreds of thousands of job applicants annually. Dr. Bullard is a licensed psychologist and adjunct professor of industrial/organizational psychology at Portland State University (PSU). He has led several research teams at PSU investigating pre-employment screening methods.
Prior to founding American Tescor, Dr. Bullard was a consulting psychologist with Rohrer, Hibler & Replogle, and later an independent management psychologist serving public and private organizations nationally.
Dr. Bullard is an innovative leader in the test publishing field. He has published articles in professional journals concerning leadership, pre-employment screening, and other topics. His book, Coping with Stress: A Psychological Survival Manual, received critical acclaim and strong worldwide sales.
February 12, 2007
Robert Mandelbaum, director of research information services for PKF Hospitality Research, is based in the firm’s Atlanta office, where he is in charge of Research Information Services. Research Information Services produces the annual and quarterly "Trends in the Hotel Industry" statistical reports, along with customized financial and operational analyses for client projects.
Mr. Mandelbaum began his hospitality industry career with Holiday Inns, Inc. in Memphis, Tennessee. He started his career with the firm in 1983 in the Memphis office of Pannell Kerr Forster, where he conducted market and financial feasibility studies and operational analyses for hotel, restaurant, club, and conference center clients. Prior to moving to Atlanta in November 1997, he also worked in PKF’s San Francisco office.
September 14, 2006
Brian D. Howard '00, CEO, Phantom Shoppers, LLC, spent his post-Cornell graduation years as a restaurant manager in South Florida, but found his true calling in the mystery shopping industry. By capitalizing on the power of the Internet, he worked with the best in the business to create an online mystery shopping product worthy of Cornellian clients such as Joes Stone Crab in Miami Beach. Along with his partner, Grant Portier, also a Cornell Hotel School graduate, he has accumulated more than 20 clients including restaurants, banks, foodservice operations, and nightclubs.
2005-2006 Industry Research Leaders Guest Series
April 27, 2006
Duff Anderson, V.P. Research and Development for iPerceptions Inc., is a leader in designing and implementing online research methodologies as well as analyzing and reporting on their results. From 1995 to 2000, he held the position of director of development at Capability Snapshot Inc., where he was responsible for leading the company's transition from hard copy and telephone-based surveying to an online survey methodology reducing costs and increasing profitability. Duff is responsible for core product development, research design, data modeling, and analysis at iPerceptions. He was instrumental in the original development of the webValidator and its strategic focus implications.
April 19, 2006
Eric Clemons, a professor of operations and information management at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, has been a pioneer in the systematic study of the transformational impacts of information on the strategy and practice of business. His research and teaching interests include strategic uses of information systems, the changes that information technology enables in the competitive balance between new entrants and established industry participants, transformation of distribution channels, the structure and governance of the IT functional area, and the impact of information technology on the risks and benefits of outsourcing and strategic alliances.
His education includes a SB in Physics from MIT and MS and PhD degrees in operations research from Cornell University. Dr. Clemons has 30 years experience on the faculties of Wharton, Cornell, and Harvard, and consulting experience in the private and public sectors both domestically and abroad.
April 4, 2006
Malini Rajendran is a Fulbright Scholar under the Indo-American Environmental leadership (IAELP) program. An alum of the Gargi College of Delhi University, where she received a BS in botany (1974) and a masters in psychology and education (1991-92). In 2000, she qualified as a certified ISO 14000 auditor and got her diploma in environmental law from the prestigious Indian Law Institute in New Delhi. She is a life member of the National Science Congress, whose career spans diverse fields from hotels to education, aviation, event management, and the environment.
She has spent the last 15 years in researching and developing decentralized waste management systems and has developed "Waste into Wealth" an integrated solid-waste management program that uses ROC technology for which she holds the patent. This program has been selected by UN_HABITAT (United Nations Human Settlements Program) as a good practice. She has developed and organised multidisciplinary integrated environmental projects at prestigious educational intuitions in India.