Bill Fortier named 74th Conti Professor at The Penn State School of Hospitality Management in University Park
The Penn State School of Hospitality Management named Bill Fortier, senior vice president of development at Hilton Worldwide, and Plato Ghinos, president at Shaner Hotel Group, as the 74th and 75th Conti Professors. Conti Professors visit the School of Hospitality Management to interact with students and faculty members, to present guest lectures in hospitality and foodservice management, and to speak at graduate and undergraduate colloquia. Fortier and Ghinos both visited the School of Hospitality Management during the fall 2011 to lead a program and classroom discussion with over 200 students about hospitality real estate and development from both the franchisor and franchisee perspectives. Fortier later hosted 40 students for a day at the Hilton Worldwide headquarters in McLean, Virginia. There, Hilton executives joined Fortier in presenting real estate case studies, giving tours of their concept rooms and reviewing sustainability practices at the nearby Hilton McLean. Ghinos and executives from Shaner Hotel Group are working with the School of Hospitality Management to create an international internship for their new property, Renaissance Il Ciocco Tuscany Resort and Spa in the Tuscany region of Italy. This will be the first international addition to internships already offered to many students at Shaner properties in the local region.
