HSMAI Perspective: Problems With The Pipeline
By Robert A. Gilbert, CHME, CHBA, President and CEO, Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI)


I've written before about the severe underrepresentation of Black professionals across the executive level in the hospitality industry — including in senior sales, marketing, and revenue optimization positions. There are many different reasons for this, but new research by the HSMAI Foundation highlights a big one: We're not investing sufficiently in the talent pipeline.


Our research also found that sales, marketing, and revenue management are not a part of the core curriculum at most HBCU hospitality programs — and, except for marketing classes, aren't offered in any capacity at many of them:

Robert A. Gilbert
As President and CEO of the Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI), Bob Gilbert has been guiding HSMAI through a dynamic and exciting period of change as the 7,000+ member organization has been re- established globally to grow the revenue for hotels through sales, marketing, and revenue optimization.
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