The Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI) will present the Vanguard Award for Lifetime Achievement in Revenue Management to Dr. Sheryl Kimes and honor three hospitality revenue management leaders as Revenue Management Professionals of the Year at its upcoming Revenue Optimization Conference (ROC) Americas on Wednesday, June 28 in Toronto, Canada.
Yira Segarra, CRME, director of group and function space revenue management, Loews Hotels is the 2017 Corporate Revenue Management Professional of the Year. Two individuals have been named Single/Multi-unit Revenue Management Professionals of the Year—Tim Kayser, CRME, area director of revenue management, Grand Geneva Resort and Spa and Jennifer Mooney, CRME, senior regional revenue manager, CSM Lodging. The awards are co-presented by Rainmaker.
“Yira, Tim, and Jennifer have set themselves apart as bold, decisive leaders in a field that is constantly evolving. We can look to these Revenue Management Professionals of the Year for inspiration as we explore novel approaches to optimizing revenue,” said Bob Gilbert, CHME, CHBA, president and CEO of HSMAI.
HSMAI will honor Dr. Sheryl Kimes, professor at and former dean of the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration, with the Vanguard Award for Lifetime Achievement in Revenue Management, for her achievements and contributions to the hospitality industry and revenue management discipline.
“Sherri is a passionate advocate who has helped executives recognize the tremendous value of revenue management—even when the discipline was still in its very early stages” said Bob Gilbert, CHME, CHBA, president and CEO of HSMAI. “We are thrilled to honor her with this award celebrating her far-reaching contributions to our profession.” The Vanguard Award honors revenue management professionals who have been true innovators in the field of pricing and revenue optimization in the hospitality industry. It recognizes individuals who have dedicated a significant portion of their careers to this facet of the industry and have made substantive, enduring contribution to the betterment of the revenue management profession, over the course of their careers.
Dr. Kimes has published over 50 articles on revenue management in leading journals, and consulted with many hospitality enterprises around the world, but most notably, her research has defined and established the business practice of hotel revenue management. In 1989 she came out with the first definition of the strategic levers of revenue management (price and duration), defining the field and helping the industry identify strategies for driving revenue. In the 1990s she championed the process of implementing revenue management programs in “non-traditional” outlets with her work in restaurant revenue management, continuing through function space, golf, and spa.
A Menschel Distinguished Teaching Fellow with nearly 30 years at Cornell’s School of Hotel Administration to her credit, Dr. Kimes has been also been a visiting professor of decision sciences at the National University of Singapore School of Business. She was the first to offer a class in yield management, which is now taught at many of the leading hotel programs around the world. Dr. Kimes’s consulting work has helped major global organizations build revenue management programs, cultivate revenue management leaders, and grow revenue.
Nominations for Vanguard Award for Lifetime Achievement in Revenue Management and the Revenue Management Professional of the Year Awards come from HSMAI chapters and the industry at large, and nominees represent the very best in revenue management. Nominees are judged by a panel of revenue management leaders on a variety of criteria.
These awards will be presented at the HSMAI Revenue Optimization Conference (ROC) Americas, an annual event where hotel revenue leaders convene for education, collaboration, and innovation.
For more information about ROC visit the conference webpage. To interview an HSMAI spokesperson about the event and the award honorees, please contact Andrea Bomar at abomar@hsmai.org.
