Announcing the Hotelie Hall of Fame Inductees for 2025
It give us great pleasure to announce the Cornell Hotelie Hall of Fame, Class of 2025 Inductees and Rising Star recipients.
In celebration of HEC100, the Nomination/Selection Committee has selected our honorees this year from Hotelies who served on their respective HEC Boards. The selection criteria of contributions to industry, community, and Cornell remained the same.
The honorees for the Class of 2025 are:
- Joseph Binns ’28, Assistant Manager HEC 3
- Mary R. Wright ’45, Auditor-Comptroller HEC 19, Publicity Director HEC 20
- Richard W. Brown ‘49, Assistant Manager HEC 23
- Richard Ferris '62, Maitre D’hotel HEC 36, Managing Director HEC 37
- John Sharpe ’65, Personnel Director HEC 40
- Ed Evans ’74, Engineering Director HEC 49
- Richard D. Adie ’75, Director of Front Office Operations HEC 49, External Marketing Director HEC 50
- Bill Minnock ’79, Controller HEC 54
- Walter L. Isenberg, '80, Food and Beverage Director HEC 55
- Keith Barr ’92, Executive Chef HEC 66
- Abigail (Spencer) Charpentier ’95, Human Resources Director HEC 69, Managing Director HEC 70
- Deniz Omurgonulsen ’00, Human Resources Director HEC 74, Managing Director HEC 75
Rising Star
- Rani Bernstein ’19, Human Resource Director HEC 94
Congratulations to all the honorees. A recognition well earned.
Cornell Hotel Society launched the Cornell Hotelie Hall of Fame in conjunction with the 100th Anniversary of the Cornell Hotel School in 2022. This is an annual event to be held in November in New York City. Each year, we will induct 10-12 Hotelies into the Hall of Fame, along with a Rising Star award to recognize early successes. This year, the tentative date is Sunday, November 9. Venue to be determined. I hope you will save the date and join us in celebrating these extraordinary Hotelies.
The purpose of the Cornell Hotelie Hall of Fame is to:
- Recognize Cornell Hotelie successes
- Create an inspirational stories library for applicants, students, faculty, and alumni
- Create an Annual Reunion of Hotelies to share the fellowship of Hotelie for Life
- Fortify the Cornell brand in the industry by featuring Hotelie successes
The Nomination/Selection Committee selects the inductees each year and the Committee is comprised of members from different generations, geographic regions and segment of the industry. The Committee is chaired by Deniz Omurgonulsen ’00.
The committee members are:
- Deniz Omurgonulsen, ‘00 (Chair)
- Rocco Angelo, ‘58
- Jan DeRoos, ‘78
- Court Williams ’78
- Ted Teng ‘79
- Christopher Hunsberger ‘81
- Ginny Mariani-Kitt, ‘82
- Elizabeth Schafer ‘84
- Catalina Ganis ‘85
- Regan Taikitsadaporn, ‘93
- Vernetta Kinchen ‘95
- Kristin Sander Urhammer, ‘99
- Rohan Gopaldas, ‘02
- Sarah Perkins Latimer ’05
Our sincere gratitude to the committee members for their hard work in research, advocacy and selection of the honorees.
We will be sharing their inspiring stories in batches during the summer months. The stories will be announced by email and posted on the CHS Lobby. Here is the link to prior year stories. https://cornellhotelsociety.com/hotelie-hall-of-fame
Again, congratulations to all the Honorees.