CHS Global President, Richy Petrina '01: A Hotelie Journey 2024
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My dear Hotelie community, I am so very excited to write you as this year’s CHS president. For the past few weeks, I’ve been on a listening tour of sorts, engaging with several hundred Hotelies in all of our chapters on the east coast between Ithaca and Miami. It has given me a chance to reconnect with many of my classmates, to share a glass of wine with alumni younger and older than myself, to meet wonderful new friends, and to laugh with remarkably-hospitable children – some of whom may experience Statler Hall someday and write their own Hotelie story. It has been an absolutely invigorating adventure, reminding me of both the delicate fragility and the indelible strength of what it really means to be ‘a hotelie for life’. I welcome you to view some of the highlights here. And I sincerely thank everyone who contributed to the journey, especially those who opened up their homes and hosted an event. Our own journey as CHS began on May 12th, 1928. And during the past almost 96 years, we have accomplished a lot – not least of all the extraordinary $7.3 million in endowed scholarships that each year – and in perpetuity – fund 21 scholarships that support 24 students with awards averaging over $24,000. Read more about our last 95 years here. Although we exist because of and for the school, CHS receives zero funding from the university. Our entire funding comes from the Hotelie community – folks reading this letter, folks just like you and me. We endure thanks to annual dues and occasional fundraising events and auctions that drive 100% of our tiny operating budget. And yet, in spite of – and arguably because of this model – we manage to continue to thrive and make an impact on a global level in the most authentic way possible: we do it simply because we believe that life is service. The virtuous cycle that this inspires, of course, is to help differentiate The Nolan Hotel School in ways that would otherwise be impossible to replicate if one actually had to finance it. On six continents and in over fifty chapters around the world, Hotelie volunteer leaders rise up to the challenge of doing what I call the hardest and easiest thing in the world: to engage with each other. It takes effort to execute over 100 annual events. It takes planning, organization, and time. This engagement is fully self-funded and self-motivated. And yet, it is the oxygen to our Hotelie way of life, this simple act of thoughtfully welcoming one another to events large and small with grace and warmth. Throughout the year, CHS does this – at small casual get togethers at home – to the larger regional events that incorporate tourism boards, external partners, and high-profile keynote speakers. As we look to the next century of the CHS, I am confident that all the hard work done thus far has well-positioned us to continue to lead – there is no other school, certainly not at Cornell, that has a network like the CHS. I thank the amazing work done by previous global presidents, boards, and chapter & regional volunteers – many of whom are individuals I admire as my mentors. And just like they have, I hope to be a good shepherd in this upcoming year and leave the CHS in a slightly better place than how I found it. Specifically, I am going to focus on three things: broadening our engagement activities through creative endeavors, collaborating with external corporate partners, and increasing the visibility and relevancy of the CHS on campus thanks to the fact that Ithaca is my forever home. Speaking of my hometown: My Hotelie story started when I was thirteen years old and working as an apprentice to a remarkable Italian storyteller in the humble Terrace dining room of the Statler Hotel. My compensation was dinner plus a daily front row seat in the masterclass of what it meant to be a Hotelie for Life. If any of you who graduated between 1994 and 1997 remember a kid in a lab coat working with Giuseppe and sitting in all the TCAB demos… that was me! It was there that I first heard – and later learned – the meaning of phrases such as mise en place, soigné, and tableside service. And it was there that I realized the immense value of our global network. I look forward to learning YOUR Hotelie story. And should your travels ever bring you back to Ithaca, please write me. It would be a sincere pleasure to welcome you into our home. With the warmest regards, |
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Richy Petrina '01 |
