Faculty & Research

AIG Global Real Estate Investment Corp.

AIG Global Real Estate comprises a group of international companies within AIG Investments that invest in and actively manage real estate for clients and AIG companies around the world.  AIG Global Real Estate has approximately US $18.4 billion in equity under management.  AIG Global Real Estate’s property portfolio includes over 54 million square feet of retail, residential, industrial, office and hospitality properties owned, managed, or under development in more than 50 countries.

Davis & Gilbert LLP

At Davis & Gilbert, their attorneys are committed to understanding the special business intricacies that affect all corporate and entrepreneurial matters for clients of all sizes.  From corporate and, employment, benefits and compensation issues to real estate, litigation and intellectual property matters, their unique collaboration among practice groups ensures unmatched expertise in serving diverse clients.

Known to companies in virtually every industry, their clients include prominent marketing communications agencies, real estate companies, package goods companies, publishers, entertainment conglomerates, food and beverage companies, financial institutions, computer, technology and telecommunications companies, cosmetics manufacturers, restaurants, consumer electronics companies, retail apparel stores and automotive companies.

Davis & Gilbert operates at the leading edge of their practice areas, addressing the newest issues in the most sophisticated ways.

Deloitte & Touche USA LLP

Deloitte refers to one or more of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, a Swiss Verein, its member firms, and their respective subsidiaries and affiliates. As a Swiss Verein (association), neither Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu nor any of its member firms has any liability for each other’s acts or omissions. Each of the member firms is a separate and independent legal entity operating under the names “Deloitte,” “Deloitte & Touche,” “Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu,” or other related names. Services are provided by the member firms or their subsidiaries or affiliates and not by the Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Verein.

Deloitte & Touche USA LLP is the U.S. member firm of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. In the United States, services are provided by the subsidiaries of Deloitte & Touche USA LLP (Deloitte & Touche LLP, Deloitte Consulting LLP, Deloitte Financial Advisory Services LLP, Deloitte Tax LLP, and their subsidiaries), and not by Deloitte & Touche USA LLP.

Denihan Hospitality Group (DHG)

The Denihan Hospitality Group (DHG) is a privately-held, full service hotel management and development company built upon a successful foundation in real estate, guest service, and profitable asset management. DHG has been an industry leader for nearly 50 years, and is led by Co-CEOs Brooke Barrett and Patrick Denihan, as well as an executive team comprised of some of hospitality’s most coveted strategists in the industry today.

The company owns and operates three nationally acclaimed hotel brands. Affinia Hotels is a stylish collection of properties located in NYC, Chicago, and Washington DC, with each hotel offering a distinctive array of amenities and services tailored to a particular style of life…from fitness to tranquility and everything in between. The James Hotel in Chicago (with other locations coming soon) offers its guests the experience of “luxury liberated,” with exceptional service, design and amenities free from pretension or white-glove formality. The Benjamin in NYC provides an experience of true luxury with the highest level of service in an intimate, boutique-style setting. Headquartered in NYC, DHG also manages several independent hotels in Manhattan.

DHG grows its national portfolio through management contracts, joint ventures, investment partnerships, and acquisitions. By the year 2015, the company expects to have a presence in the top 10 urban markets in the country.

eCornell & Executive Education

A wholly-owned subsidiary of Cornell University, eCornell delivers practical, essential, online professional development programs as a component of comprehensive corporate learning solutions and targeted learning applications. eCornell programs are targeted to mid- and senior-level leaders, emerging managers, HR staff and other high-potential employees in the following learning areas: financial management, hospitality management, human resources, leadership and strategic management, management essentials, and project leadership.

The Office of Executive Education (OEE) at Cornell's School of Hotel Administration facilitates interactive learning opportunities where global hospitality professionals and world-class Cornell faculty explore, develop and apply ideas to advance business and personal success.  In partnership with eCornell the OEE offers a wide range of online courses.  In addition, OEE offers classroom-based programs that target specific hospitality management topics.   All programs are developed to address the ever-changing needs of hospitality professionals and organizations.

Expedia, Inc.

Expedia, Inc. is parent company to some of the world's leading travel companies, providing travel products and services to leisure and corporate travelers in the US and around the world. We own and operate a diversified portfolio of well-recognized brands - including Expedia.com, Hotels.com, Hotwire.com, TripAdvisor, Expedia Corporate Travel, Classic Vacations®, and a range of other US-based and international businesses. Together, these popular brands and innovative businesses make Expedia, Inc. the largest online travel agency in the world, the third largest travel company in the US, and the fourth largest travel company in the world. And we are on a mission to become the largest and most profitable seller of travel in the world, by helping everyone everywhere plan and purchase everything in travel.

Forbes Travel Guide

Forbes Travel Guide is the new name for Mobil Travel Guide, the originator of the prestigious Five Star ratings and certifications. The company has provided the most comprehensive star ratings and reviews of hotels, restaurants and spas since 1958. Forbes Travel Guide's team of anonymous, expert inspectors evaluates properties against rigorous and objective proprietary standards. Through its print and online products, Forbes Travel Guide gives consumers insight to make better-informed travel and leisure decisions. Forbes Travel Guide, under license from Forbes Media LLC, is headquartered in Chicago, IL.

Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts

Fox Rothschild LLP

Fox Rothschild is a full-service law firm built to serve business leaders. Over the past 100 years, we have grown to more than 400 lawyers in 14 offices coast to coast. Our clients come to us because we understand their issues, their priorities, and the way they
think. We help clients manage risk and make better decisions by offering practical, innovative advice.

Fox has been nationally recognized as one of the top 200 law firms in the United States, and we’re one of the top four fastest-growing firms in the National Law Journal 250. We’re capable of reaching a broad national audience, with offices in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Exton, Lansdale, and Warrington, Pennsylvania; Atlantic City, Princeton, and Roseland, New Jersey; New York City, New York; Wilmington, Delaware; Las Vegas, Nevada; Los Angeles and San Francisco, California; and West Palm Beach,
Florida.

French Quarter Holdings, Inc.

French Quarter Holdings, Inc. is a privately held hotel development company founded in 1993 by Ra'anan (Ronnie) Ben-Zur. Since its inception, French Quarter Holdings has focused on the acquisition and redevelopment of undervalued hotels, renovating, repositioning and preparing them for sale. These acquisitions include:

• French Quarter Suites, Atlanta: Acquired in 1993 and sold in 1997
• Sheraton Key Largo: Sold in 1997 following a comprehensive renovation after less than 12 months ownership
• The DoubleTree JFK Hotel: Sold in 2006 after a complete renovation and re-branding as a DoubleTree.

The company's latest project, La Torretta Del Lago Resort & Spa is located in Houston, Texas and opened in January 2009. This $130-million dollar redevelopment project includes 445 luxury accommodations, golf, tennis, a destination spa, a 3.5-acre aqua park and 70,000 square feet of premium meeting and event space. Both the resort and its marquis French restaurant, Chez Roux, created by internationally renowned chef Albert Roux, recently earned the AAA 4-diamond designation on first inspection. La Torretta Del Lago is the result of a vision to create the ultimate European, lakeside retreat. Sophisticated yet approachable, discerning yet all-encompassing, luxurious yet family friendly, this 4-diamond getaway strikes the perfect balance between international finery and relaxed ease.

French Quarter Holdings combines years of experience in large-scale, complex hotel and resort redevelopment projects with the personal care and attention of a boutique company focused on delivering superior value to its guests, investors and partners.

FX Real Estate and Entertainment, Inc.

FX Real Estate and Entertainment, Inc. owns 17.72 contiguous acres of land located at the southeast corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Harmon Avenue in Las Vegas, Nevada, known as the Park Central site. FXRE intends to pursue a hotel, casino, entertainment, retail, commercial and residential development project on the Park Central site. FXRE has license agreements with Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc., an 85%-owned subsidiary of CKX, Inc. (NASDAQ: CKXE), and Muhammad Ali Enterprises LLC, an 80%- owned subsidiary of CKX, which allows it to use the intellectual property and certain other assets associated with Elvis Presley and Muhammad Ali in the development of its real estate and other entertainment attraction-based projects. FXRE currently anticipates that the development of the Park Central site will involve multiple elements that incorporate the Elvis Presley assets and theming. In addition, the license agreement with Elvis Presley Enterprises grants FXRE the right to develop, and it currently intends to pursue the development of, one or more hotels as part of the master plan of Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc. to redevelop the Graceland property and surrounding areas in Memphis, Tennessee.

In addition to its interest in the Park Central Property, its plans with respect to a Graceland-based hotel, and its intention to pursue additional real estate and entertainment-based developments using the Elvis Presley and Muhammad Ali intellectual property, FXRE, through direct and indirect wholly owned subsidiaries, owns 1,410,363 shares of common stock of Riviera Holdings Corporation (AMEX:RIV), a company that owns and operates the Riviera Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada and the Blackhawk Casino in Blackhawk, Colorado.

HVS

HVS Global Hospitality Services was established in 1980 by Steven Rushmore.  HVS is a consulting and services organization focused on the hotel, restaurant, shared-ownership, gaming, and leisure activities.  The firm has provided financial and valuation consulting services for over 8,000 hotels in all 50 states and more than 60 foreign countries.  With more than 20 offices and 200 consultants worldwide, HVS performs more than 1,500 assignments per year for virtually every major industry participant.

InterContinental Hotels Group

InterContinental Hotels Group PLC (IHG) of the United Kingdom [LON:IHG, NYSE:IHG (ADRs)] is one of the world's largest hotel groups by number of rooms. IHG owns, manages, leases or franchises, through various subsidiaries, over 3,800 hotels and more than 571,000 guest rooms in nearly 100 countries and territories around the world. IHG owns a portfolio of well recognised and respected hotel brands including InterContinental® Hotels & Resorts, Crowne Plaza® Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn® Hotels and Resorts, Holiday Inn Express®, Staybridge Suites®, Candlewood Suites® and Hotel Indigo®, and also manages the world's largest hotel loyalty programme, Priority Club® Rewards with over 37 million members worldwide.

The company pioneered the travel industry’s first collaborative response to environmental issues as founder of the International Hotels and Environment Initiative (IHEI). The IHEI formed the foundations of the Tourism Partnership launched by the International Business Leaders Forum in 2004, of which IHG is still a member today. The environment and local communities remain at the heart of IHG’s global corporate responsibility focus.

IHG offers information and online reservations for all its hotel brands at www.ihg.com and information for the Priority Club Rewards programme at www.priorityclub.com.  For the latest news from IHG, visit our online Press Office at http://www.ihgplc.com/index.asp?pageid=5

Jumeirah Group

Jumeirah properties are regarded as among the most luxurious and innovative in the world and have won numerous international travel and tourism awards. The fast growing Dubai based luxury international hospitality management group encompasses the world renowned Burj Al Arab, the world’s most luxurious hotel, the multi-award winning Jumeirah Beach Hotel, Jumeirah Emirates Towers, Madinat Jumeirah and Jumeirah Bab Al Shams Desert Resort & Spa in Dubai, the Jumeirah Carlton Tower and Jumeirah Lowndes Hotel in London and the Jumeirah Essex House on Central Park South in New York.

The group’s activities are however, not restricted to hotel and resort management. The Jumeirah Group portfolio also includes Wild Wadi, regarded as one of the premier water parks outside of North America and The Emirates Academy, the region’s only third level academic institution specializing in the hospitality and tourism sectors.  Building on this success, Jumeirah Group became a member of Dubai Holding in 2004, a collection of leading Dubai based businesses and projects, in a step that aims to initiate a new phase of growth and development for the group.

Jumeirah’s ambitious expansion plans to grow its portfolio of luxury hotels and resorts worldwide to 60 by 2012 are well underway with projects currently under development in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Aqaba, Doha, Phuket, Shanghai, Bermuda, Mallorca and London.

LRP Publications

Founded in 1977 by Kenneth Kahn, a practicing employment law attorney, Labor Relations Press first published case reporters for the legal profession. As the company grew, it became known as LRP Publications. For 30 years, LRP's fast-paced, results-oriented environment has helped it to expand – both internally and externally. LRP publishes the industry-leading Human Resource Executive® magazine and Risk and Insurance® magazine, along with more than 120 newsletters in the fields of human resources, workers compensation, education administration, disability law and higher education. Major web sites include HREOnline.com, Workindex.com, cyberFEDS.com, Specialedconnection.com and Educationdaily.com.

In addition to print and online resources, LRP Publications also provides more than 50 top-quality training and educational development seminars, conferences, trade shows and symposiums including the National HR in Hospitality Conference & Expo™ — the nation’s premier event specifically for HR management, law and labor relations in the hospitality industry. For more information on the National HR in Hospitality Conference & Expo™, please visit www.hrinhospitality.com

Marriott International, Inc.

Marriott International, Inc. (NYSE:MAR) is a leading lodging company with more than 3,100 lodging properties in the United States and 66 other countries and territories. Marriott International operates and franchises hotels under the Marriott, JW Marriott, The Ritz-Carlton, Renaissance, Residence Inn, Courtyard, TownePlace Suites, Fairfield Inn, SpringHill Suites and Bulgari brand names; develops and operates vacation ownership resorts under the Marriott Vacation Club, Horizons by Marriott Vacation Club, The Ritz-Carlton Club and Grand Residences by Marriott brands; operates Marriott Executive Apartments; provides furnished corporate housing through its Marriott ExecuStay division; and operates conference centers. The company is headquartered in Bethesda, Md., and had approximately 151,000 employees at 2007 year-end. It is ranked as the lodging industry’s most admired company and one of the best companies to work for by FORTUNE®, and has been recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with the 2007 Sustained Excellence Award and Partner of the Year since 2004. In fiscal year 2007, Marriott International reported sales from continuing operations of $13 billion. For more information or reservations, please visit our web site at www.marriott.com.

Marsh, Inc.

Marsh, Inc. is the world's leading risk and insurance services firm. Our mission is "To create and deliver risk solutions and services that make our clients more successful." Since our formation in 1871, we have grown into an enterprise with 410 owned-and-operated offices and 38,000 colleagues, who serve clients in more than 100 countries. Marsh's annual revenues are $5.9 billion.

Marsh Inc. is a subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (MMC), a global professional-services firm with approximately 60,000 employees and annual revenues exceeding $10 billion.

PricewaterhouseCoopers

Hospitality & Leisure
Hospitality industry business sector are highly sensitive to economic and competitive market conditions and are capital, management, marketing, personnel, energy, maintenance and technology intensive.

Our professionals offer vast experience with the following hospitality sectors: lodging, gaming, food service, convention centers, timeshare/vacation ownership, cruise, tourism, sports arenas, theme parks and other public assembly and leisure real estate entities.

With more specialists dedicated to the hospitality and leisure industry than any other firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers teams provide advice and expertise to hospitality and leisure owners, franchisors, management, lenders, investors, creditors, government entities, and product and service providers. Our professionals offer in-depth market and financial analysis, economic and statistical research and analysis, performance improvement, due diligence, valuation, litigation and dispute services, and technology advisory services.

Proskauer Rose

Proskauer Rose, one of the nation’s largest and oldest law firms, has long been recognized in legal and business circles as a significant and influential firm in the hospitality industry. Our commitment to the hospitality industry is unparalleled among major national firms. We offer extensive experience advising hospitality clients includes mergers & acquisition; joint ventures; finance; management agreements; mixed-use development and branding; real estate; labor and employment; litigation and dispute resolution; environmental; tax; bankruptcy; and intellectual property.

Our Lodging & Gaming Practice has a renowned track record for legal innovation representing the world’s leaders in lodging and gaming. We have also developed enduring client relationships with first-class, luxury and super-luxury hotel chains.

Our Lodging & Gaming attorneys are actively involved in the hospitality and tourism industry, serving on committees and advisory boards of the industry’s leading organizations. Our practice co-chairs, Jeffrey Horwitz and Michael Feldman, also founded The New York Hospitality Council, a not-for-profit corporation co-founded by Proskauer and supported by both Cornell University School of Hotel Administration and New York University’s Preston Robert Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism and Sports Administration. The Council is a forum for hospitality industry leaders to discuss the key issues facing the hotel, travel and tourism industry.

SAS

SAS is the leader in business analytics www.sas.com software and services, and the largest independent vendor in the business intelligence market. Through innovative solutions delivered within an integrated framework, SAS helps customers at more than 45,000 sites improve performance and deliver value by making better decisions faster. Since 1976 SAS has been giving customers around the world THE POWER TO KNOW(r). SAS and all other SAS Institute Inc. product or service names are registered trademarks or trademarks of SAS Institute Inc. in the USA and other countries. (r) indicates USA registration. Other brand and product names are trademarks of their respective companies. Copyright (c) 2009 SAS Institute Inc. All rights reserved.

About IDeaS Revenue Optimization
IDeaS, a SAS COMPANY, is the premier provider of enterprise revenue optimization solutions and services. IDeaS can help make an immediate impact on company revenue and profitability with its forecasting, optimization and pricing solutions. Headquartered in Minneapolis, IDeaS has technology, support, sales and distribution offices in North and South America, the United Kingdom, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Australia and Asia. For more information, visit www.ideas.com.

Smith Travel Research

STR is the recognized leader in providing hotel performance data. STR offers a complete suite of benchmarking reports to tens of thousands of hotel clients worldwide as well as profitability, pipeline and census data covering all aspects of the industry. Call us at +1 615 824 8664 ext. 3504 or visit our website, www.strglobal.com, to find out more.

Sabre Holdings

Sabre Holdings connects people with the world’s greatest travel possibilities by retailing travel products and providing distribution and technology solutions for the travel industry. More information is available at http://www.sabre-holdings.com.

SynXis, a Sabre Holdings company, provides complete distribution and Internet marketing services and technology for hotels around the world. SynXis connects hotels with their guests through increased exposure via all channels including GDS, third party travel sites and the hotel’s own website. SynXis operates full-service global call centers offering private label reservation services. SynXis is the technology source for thousands of hotels, resorts, and destinations, including: Harrah's, Interstate Hotels & Resorts, The Peninsula Hotels & Resorts, Millennium Copthorne, Destination Hotels & Resorts, Shangri-la Hotels & Resorts and Jumeirah Hotels. SynXis' corporate headquarters is in Southlake, Texas, with offices in Denver, Boston, Amsterdam, Singapore and Montevideo. For more information on SynXis and its products visit our Web site at www.synxis.com.

Sabre Travel Network, a Sabre Holdings company, provides access to the world's leading global distribution system (GDS). The Sabre GDS is a ready-built efficient marketplace that connects suppliers, including hundreds of airlines and thousands of hotels, with more than 50,000 travel agency locations. Suppliers get access through one single connection; travel agents get real time access to thousands of travel products from multiple suppliers through one source; consumers get access to a global supermarket of the world's greatest travel possibilities.

Travelocity, a Sabre Holdings brand, is committed to being the traveler's champion. This customer-driven focus, backed by live 24/7 phone support, great prices and powerful shopping technology has made Travelocity the fifth largest travel agency in the U.S. - booking $4.9 billion in travel in 2004. Based in Southlake, Texas, Travelocity also owns and operates Travelocity Business(SM), Travelocity Europe and lastminute.com, making it the leader in online travel in Europe.

Thayer Lodging Group

Thayer Lodging Group, formed in 1991, is a real estate venture capital firm that sponsors private equity funds focused on the hospitality industry. Clients include Fortune 50 companies, public and private pension funds, endowments, and family offices. The company has delivered returns in excess of 30% since inception. Currently active funds own in excess of $2 Billion of hotel real estate and hold approximately $800 million in available investment capacity. Thayer Lodging Group is headquartered in Annapolis Maryland.

Thompson Hotels

Thompson Hotels is owned collectively by Stephen Brandman along with Larry, Michael and Jason Pomeranc. Thompson Hotels currently manages eleven properties either open or currently in development. In New York, they are 60 Thompson—a favorite among celebrities since its inception in 2001, 6 Columbus, Gild Hall, Thompson Lower East Side and Smyth Tribeca; in Los Angeles, Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel—a famed celebrity sighting spot since the times of Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable—and Thompson Beverly Hills. Additional properties include Donovan House, Washington D.C.; Thompson Toronto, Toronto; and Thompson Seoul, Korea.

Thompson Hotels set out to create a group of hotels that are effectively sophisticated and classically cool but small enough to provide personal service. They wanted to build a brand that was all about design and service. Thompson Hotels are contemporary and elegant with an element of edge and surprise. Thompson Hotels cater to the celebrity and those who want to feel like a rock star. With Thompson’s chic design, just being in their hotels makes you one of the hipsters. Thompson Hotels welcome the fashionable and the celebrated.

Thompson caters to the wanderer, the nomad—no doubt the stylish one. They describe their guest as a traveler, a businessman, an artist, a restless soul: where the Thompson hotels are his haven.

Travelport

Travelport is one of the world's largest travel conglomerates offering broad based business services to companies operating in the global travel industry. The company is comprised of Travelport GDS, a global distribution system business that includes the Worldspan and Galileo brands; GTA, a group travel and wholesale hotel business; Business Intelligence Services, a data analysis business; and IT Services and Software, which hosts mission critical applications and provides business solutions for major airlines. Travelport also owns approximately 48% of Orbitz Worldwide (NYSE: OWW), a leading global online travel company. With 2007 revenues of $2.6 billion, Travelport operates in 145 countries and has approximately 5,500 employees. Travelport is a private company owned by The Blackstone Group, One Equity Partners, Technology Crossover Ventures and Travelport management.

WATG

Since it's founding in 1945, WATG has specialized in hospitality, leisure, and entertainment design from its offices in Seattle, Honolulu, Irvine, Orlando, Singapore, and London.  The firm is best known for such internationally-acclaimed projects as The Venetian Resort-Hotel-Casino, Las Vegas; Atlantis Paradise Island, Paradise Island, the Bahamas; The Ritz-Carlton, Bali; The Four Seasons in Mexico City and Tokyo; Hyatt Regency Kauai Resort & Spa, Poipu Beach, Kauai; Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea, Maui; Hotel Bora Bora, French Polynesia; Disney's Grand Floridian Resort and Spa, Walt Disney World Resort, Lake Buena Vista; The Ritz-Carlton, Huntington Hotel & Spa, Pasadena; and Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach.  For more information, visit www.watg.com.

WhiteSand Consulting

WhiteSand Consulting is a professional services firm that provides strategy, operations and technology consulting services to a wide variety of clients, with an emphasis on gaming and hospitality.   Our consultants have many years of casino, hotel, technology, marketing, and financial experience that provide the foundation of our business solutions. 

WhiteSand Consulting is intimately familiar with the hospitality and gaming industries, and the intricacies that exist within resort operations.  WhiteSand Consulting team members are uniquely qualified to provide consulting services to resorts and casinos because our consultants possess a combination of direct operational experience, holding executive positions with various casinos, along with top tier consulting experience from firms such as PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte & Touche and KPMG Peat Marwick.  Our diversified and experienced consultants have delivered unique solutions and strategies to a wide spectrum of US and International clients including MGM Mirage, Wynn Las Vegas, Harrah’s, Boyd Gaming, Trump Entertainment Resorts, and Mohegan Sun.  Our core competencies of services are built upon a foundation of integrity, quality and independence.

WhiteSand Gaming, a wholly owned subsidiary of WhiteSand Consulting created specifically to acquire and operate major land based casino resort destinations, is a casino management organization composed of individuals with years of operational and consulting experience. The team has held executive positions with various casinos including Morongo Casino Resort, Showboat, Tropicana, Trump Taj Mahal, Harrah's and others. This hands-on experience is combined with top grade consulting skills developed over years of providing services to premier gaming corporations.