The Penn State School of Hospitality Management has named Javid Baig, senior vice president and chief client offer, North America at Aramark, as the 2019-20 Walter J. Conti Visiting Professor.
The Conti Professorship Program was established by alumni and friends of the Penn State School of Hospitality Management in 1987 to honor alumnus Walter J. Conti for his contributions to the school, Penn State and the hospitality profession. Industry leaders have served as Conti Visiting Professors each year since 1988.
As a Conti Visiting Professor, Baig will teach and advise students and faculty members in their fields of study or areas of expertise throughout the academic year.
Baig’s visits to Penn State’s University Park campus throughout the year will include lecturing, collaborating and advising students and faculty members, while also engaging in virtual seminars with undergraduate and graduate students when he is not on campus.
An executive with more than 20 years of operations, strategic management leadership and development experience, Baig recently joined the Philadelphia-based Aramark in an executive role serving North America.
Baig is responsible for leading a team that develops and implements sales strategy and tactics focused on proactively retaining and growing business with current North American clients. He has direct responsibility for driving retention and growth of the 250 largest clients.
“Javid’s thoughtful engagement with our students, both undergraduate and graduate, and his passion for hospitality demonstrated from his early hotel career with Oberoi Hotels to his leadership in the foodservice segment, translate to inspire our Penn Staters’ eager to following in a Conti Professor’s footsteps,” said Donna Quadri-Felitti, associate professor and Marvin Ashner Director of the School of Hospitality Management.
Quadri-Felitti formally introduced Baig as the newest Conti visiting professor during his first visit to campus in November.
During that visit he taught undergraduate courses in strategic management, organizational behavior and delivered a colloquium in hospitality management.
Baig also met with graduate students and faculty members to discuss research interests and future opportunities to collaborate. During the Spring semester 2020, Baig will return to campus, again engaging with undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty members.
Prior to joining Aramark, Baig worked at Sodexo for a decade in positions ranging from director of strategic planning, vice president of operations, vice president of sales, division vice president of international large accounts, senior vice president strategy and planning and senior vice president strategy and planning.
In his last role with Sodexo, Baig provided overall direction to the strategic planning functional area of the education market business focused on achievement of business growth in support of the enterprise strategic goals and as a dedicated resource to the Education Market specifically.
Javid is an active member of Strategic Planning Association, IFMA (International Facility Management Association), CoreNet (Global Corporate Real Estate), SAMA (Strategic Account Management Association), SFM (Society of Foodservice Management), Cornell Hotel School Alumni and Global Education Market Champions Team and serves on the Industry Advisory Board for the Penn State School of Hospitality Management.
Baig holds a master’s degree from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration, in Ithaca, New York & ESSEC Business School in France. He has attended executive education programs at Harvard Business School, University of Chicago Business School and University of Pennsylvania Wharton Business School.
Walter J. Conti, a Penn State trustee emeritus who passed away in 2016 at the age of 87, served on the Penn State Board of Trustees from 1974 to 1992. Conti earned his bachelor’s degree in home economics from Penn State in 1952, becoming a well-known restaurateur and industry leader.
