Announcing the Hotelie Hall of Fame Inductees for 2024

Published on July 15, 2024

It gives us great pleasure to announce Cornell Hotel Society’s Hotelie Hall of Fame Class of 2024 inductees:

  • Hilda Watson Gifford ‘26
  • Richard E. Holtzman ‘41
  • James H. “Bud” Ward ‘52
  • Robert M. Chase ’59 Eng, MBA ‘61
  • Julie Flik ‘63
  • Sonnie T.W. Lien ‘68
  • Stephen P. Weisz ‘72
  • Peter Yesawich ’72, MS ’74, PhD ‘76
  • Richard A. Holtzman ‘76
  • Hans Pfister ‘95
  • Will Guidara ‘01

Dan Leyva ‘14 is also being recognized with this year's Rising Star Award for his early career successes.

These individuals were chosen for their contribution to the hospitality industry, the community, and the Cornell Nolan School of Hotel Administration. As a group, they represent multiple generations of leaders willing to push beyond boundaries. We will be sharing their inspiring stories over the coming months on our CHS Lobby.

To learn more about Hall of Fame, including our past inductees,

click on the link below.

Hotelie Hall of Fame Page



Save the Date! The 2024 Cornell Hotelie Hall of Fame event will be held in New York City on Sunday, November 10th. Venue and program TBD. Please note that the CHS NYC Chapter "You Need to Meet" Reception will be held on Monday, November 11th.

Marketplace Auction. Thanks to the generosity of hundreds of Hotelies who solicited and donated prizes or bid and won the prizes, we raised nearly $200,000 in the last two years. We will again run an auction along with the Hall of Fame program. If you would like us to feature your company products by donating a prize, please email Richy or Ted. We would be grateful for your kind contributions.

Registration will be available later in the year and we hope to see many of you there to celebrate these Cornell Hotelie Hall of Famers.