Kennesaw State University Hospitality Administration Student Selected
ATLANTA, GA – August 10, 2021 – Hospitality Upgrade Publisher and President Rich Siegel today announced the next recipient of the John Cahill student seat will be Alana Agcaoili, an undergraduate student of the Kennesaw State University School of Hospitality Administration. In its 19th year, the upcoming CIO Summit will be held Sept. 8-10, 2021, in Atlanta.
The John Cahill Honorary Seat is awarded to one distinguished student from a selected university or four-year college with a hotel program. This student is recommended by his or her professors as an individual with great potential in the hotel technology industry.
“Alana’s background, dedication and passion for the hospitality industry embodies the spirit of John Cahill. As such, it is with great pleasure that I recommend her for the John Cahill Honorary seat at the CIO Summit,” said Dr. Leonard Jackson, Program Director for the Hospitality Degree Program and Clinical Professor of Hospitality Management at Kennesaw State University. “Like Mr. Cahill, Alana has a strong interest in both technology and the hospitality industry. In fact, prior to joining the hospitality management program at Kennesaw State University, Alana was an engineering student at Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech).”
Alana has worked part-time at the Hotel Indigo, Atlanta where she rose to the level of front office manager. She recently joined IHG corporate supply chain department as a procurement specialist for food & beverage and hotel operations. Her goal is to continue to gain valuable experience in this area and become a leader in using technology to enhance the hospitality value chain.
The John Cahill Honorary Seat was created in memory of industry leader, technologist, mentor and friend John Cahill, a big supporter of the CIO Summit from its inception in 2001. Over the course of his career, Cahill was the CIO for three hotel companies – ITT Sheraton, InterContinental Hotels and The Denihan Hospitality Group. Cahill was an active leader in Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP), with his contributions including co-editing the inaugural Certified Hospitality Technology Professional (CHTP) exam in 1995.
Above all, Cahill was a mentor. Hospitality Upgrade’s Rich Siegel wished to see his memory live on by presenting one student each year with an exclusive opportunity to attend an otherwise closed-door, invitation-only CIO Summit, allowing the student to sit in John’s seat for the two-day event. “It’s something we know John would have loved,” Siegel said.
The previous recipients of this award include inaugural recipient Spencer Rung, a 2016 graduate of the Penn State School of Hospitality Management; the 2017 recipient, Andrew Trupia, a graduate of the University of Nevada – Las Vegas; the 2018 recipient Juan Jesus Trevino, a student of the Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management at the University of Houston; and the 2019 recipient, Smit Patel a graduate student of the Boston University School of Hospitality Administration program.
