APRIL 22-23, 2026 | ITHACA, NY
ABOUT PILLSBURY INSTITUTE FOR HOSPITALITY
ENTREPRENEURSHIP ROUNDTABLES
The Pillsbury Institute for Hospitality Entrepreneurship
Roundtables afford a unique opportunity for a select group of approximately 25 distinguished senior-level executives, esteemed educators, Cornell faculty members, and accomplished scholars to convene, facilitating the exchange of experiences and ideas. Additionally, a limited number of discerningly chosen students may actively participate in these intellectually stimulating conversations.
Structured into multiple focused sessions, each segment of the roundtable commences with a concise presentation or thoughtprovoking question presented by the moderator. Following the initial remarks, the forum opens for dynamic and engaging discussions. The intimate size of the gathering ensures that all participants have ample opportunities to pose questions and articulate their perspectives. SC Johnson College of Business faculty members and students often observe the roundtable discussions and interact with the invited attendees during session breaks.
WELCOME
Welcome to the Pillsbury Institutes for Hospitality Entrepreneurship’s Hospitality Entrepreneurship in the Age of AI: Technology, People, and the Future of Restaurants Roundtable
On behalf of the Pillsbury Institute for Hospitality Entrepreneurship (PIHE) at the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business, it is my pleasure to welcome you to this special gathering of innovators across the hospitality industry.
This year is especially meaningful as PIHE celebrates its 20th Anniversary. For two decades, PIHE has served as Cornell’s hub for hospitality entrepreneurship—advancing thought leadership, fostering experiential learning, and connecting students and industry partners around entrepreneurial pathways in hospitality.
This event reflects that mission in action, creating space for dialogue, connection, and collaboration among people shaping the future of hospitality and entrepreneurship.
Thank you for being part of this milestone moment. As we celebrate how far we’ve come, we look ahead with excitement to the next 20 years of innovation – Empowering the Next Generation of Hospitality Entrepreneurs!
Christina McDowell Director, Leland C. and Mary M. Pillsbury Institute for Hospitality Entrepreneurship
AGENDA
Wednesday, April 22
Park Atrium, Statler Hotel
5:30 p.m. Welcome Reception
Thursday, April 23
Silver Birch Suite, 5th Floor Tower
Nolan School of Hotel Administration
8:30 a.m. Breakfast
9:00 a.m. Welcome Remarks
9:30 a.m. Session I
10:30 a.m. Session II
11:30 a.m. Group Photo & Lunch
Rowe Room, Taverna Banfi, Statler Hotel
1:00 p.m. Session III
2:00 p.m. Session IV
3:00 p.m. Closing Commentary
SESSION DESCRIPTIONS
9:30 a.m. Session I: Where AI Is Actually Working in Restaurants
10:30 a.m. Session II: The New Restaurant Job
1:00 p.m. Session III: The Digital Guest
2:00 p.m. Session IV: The P&L Test
This conversation explores where AI and automation are already producing measurable improvements in restaurant operations, and why narrowly focused tools are outperforming broader “transformational” technology promises. As automation takes over more administrative tasks, restaurant leaders are redefining what management and frontline roles look like. This session explores how technology is reshaping the day-to-day reality of running restaurants while preserving the human side of hospitality. Ordering platforms, personalization tools, loyalty systems, and AI-driven marketing are transforming the guest journey. This session examines where guest-facing technology improves convenience and relationships with guests, and where it creates unnecessary friction. Restaurants operate on thin margins in an environment shaped by rising labor costs, supply chain disruption, and changing guest expectations. This discussion explores how operators evaluate technology investments under real economic pressure, focusing on where tools are improving labor efficiency, food cost management, forecasting, and operational visibility. The conversation will also examine how technology can help restaurants adapt, make better decisions, and build more resilient businesses in a rapidly changing industry.
PARTICIPANTS
EMMA BLECKER
Founder & Principle
Make it Make Sense Consulting
Emma Blecker is the founder of Make It Make Sense Consulting, where she helps multi-unit restaurant brands solve operational challenges at the intersection of data, systems, and technology.
Emma’s 20-year restaurant career spans NYC and London, including work with Michelin-starred Chef
Adam Byatt and James Beard Award-winner Gabrielle Hamilton. She later spent seven years as Director of Business Systems at Boqueria, leading technology implementation as the group expanded nationally.
She has been featured in Nation’s Restaurant News, Hospitality Tech, and was named one of FSR’s 40
Under 40 Rising Stars in Hospitality in 2024. Emma frequently speaks at industry events, including the National Restaurant Show, FAB, NYSRA, and James Beard workshops. She also serves as Vice Chair of the NYC Chapter of the NYS Restaurant Association.
PARTICIPANTS
DAVID CAVALLIN
Director FP&A
Mellow Mushroom
With three decades of applied experience in restaurant and hospitality finance, David bridges the gap between financial theory and operational realities. His work spans financial planning and analysis, menu economics, marketing ROI, and strategic operations support systems with a consistent focus on translating quantitative insight into strategic action.
David has contributed to real-world challenges, including private equity M&A, supply chain finance, real estate site selection, and voice of the customer analytics. His applied research into workflow automation, AI-assisted large dataset analysis, and KPI dashboard development reflects a broader interest in how emerging tools are reshaping operations and decision support in the food and hospitality sector.
A practitioner with board-level communication experience, David brings both analytical depth and industry context to every research and industry collaboration.
PARTICIPANTS
STEVE CHASEN ’91
Founder & Managing Partner
Deep Channel Partners, LLC
Steve Chasen (ILR 91) is a beverage industry veteran with over 25 years of experience building awardwinning teams and brands across some of the world’s leading Beverage Alcohol companies. He is the Managing Partner of Deep Channel Partners LLC, a consultancy and advisory firm for the beverage alcohol and adjacent industries. Deep Channel works with companies of all sizes and categories to craft commercial strategies and drive conversion in the world’s largest market.
From 2006 through 2016 he worked for Pernod Ricard, the 2nd largest wine and spirits company in the world. There he specialized in Commercial Strategy, Trade Engagement and led an award-winning team of over 100 professionals in the on-premises arena.
From there, he was tapped to build the Trade Marketing function in the US for Campari Group, the 6th largest spirits company in the world. Over 8 years as VicePresident of Channel & Commercial Marketing he built world-class teams across channels as well as creating the industry gold-standard in trade engagement, education and advocacy capabilities. Steve’s teams were twice recognized by IWSR as the best in the United States. He was then named Global Vice President – Trade Advocacy, where he built the International Trade Advocacy function for the Group, overseeing trade activity in 24 countries.
He is a founding member of the Cornell Institute of Food and Beverage Management and works closely with the Nolan School where he frequently lectures and advises on a wide variety of initiatives. His son Jack is a Hotelie (Nolan class of 2028).
Steve lives with his family in NYC, where he was born and raised. He enjoys travel, cooking & entertaining and is a diehard Yankees and Knicks fan.
PARTICIPANTS
ELAINE CHONBAKER
Managing Director
Mokja Ventures
Elaine Chon-Baker is Founder and Managing Director of Mokja Ventures, a Washington DCbased boutique venture fund that invests in restaurants and hospitality tech. Mokja, meaning “let’s eat” in Korean, is a nod to her heritage and her close relationship with her parents and six sisters. Coming from the global telecom and tech worlds, she immersed herself in learning everything about restaurants in the back office of her first investment. Elaine loves great startups and advises entrepreneurs in all sectors with launching and growing their businesses. She is a guest lecturer at Cornell and an advisor to Dine Diaspora/Black Women in Food, and previously served as an advisor to the James Beard Foundation's Women's Leadership Programs and Regarding Her. Her favorite projects include working with the White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (WHIAANHPI), teambuilding with a large marketing/PR/advertising agency, co-authoring a book with a client, and assisting the artist Kimchi Juice on murals.
PARTICIPANTS
ADAM FALCHECK, MPS '14
Vice President
DLJ Real Estate
Capital Partners
Adam Falcheck, Vice President at DLJ Real Estate Capital Partners, LLC, is a real estate investment and development professional with extensive experience in hospitality and mixed-use properties. He focuses on design-forward real estate, value creation, and long-term asset and community stewardship. At DLJ RECP, Adam is principally involved in all functions of the firm’s platform, including acquisition, development, capital structuring, and asset management, as well as management and operation of the company’s real estate funds and portfolios.
In 2022, together with his partners, Adam co-founded and developed the award-winning Nine Orchard Hotel in New York City’s Lower East Side, a critically acclaimed, independent luxury hotel recognized for its design, service, and cultural impact and a 2024 and 2025 recipient of Two Michelin Keys from the Michelin Guide. Adam was responsible for successfully leading Nine Orchard’s enterprise management, including concept formation and execution, operational performance, leadership and talent development, and brand positioning.
Prior to DLJ RECP, Adam worked for the National Association of Real Estate Investment Managers (NAREIM) and Senator Charles E. Schumer in the United States Senate.
Adam holds a BA in Politics and Economics from SUNY Potsdam, a JD from Vermont Law School with a concentration in Environmental Real Estate Law, and an MPS-RE with concentrations in Real Estate Finance and Real Estate Investment from Cornell University’s Baker Program in Real Estate. He is a licensed attorney in the State of New York (non-practicing) and member of the New York State and New York City Bar Associations.
PARTICIPANTS
CHRISTOPHER GAULKE
Senior Lecturer
Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan
School of Hotel Administration
Christopher Gaulke is a lecturer in food and beverage management at the Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration. He teaches courses in restaurant management, purchasing and supply chain management, and new product development. Gaulke realized his affinity for restaurants and food service at a young age and has since gained more than 20 years of practical experience working in a variety of food-service operations, including quick-service, casual, and upscale restaurants, as well as retail and institutional food service. In that time, he gained significant knowledge of both front- and back-ofhouse operations and held several top managerial positions including general manager, executive chef, and food-service manager.
While earning his MBA, Gaulke realized his passion for education while teaching courses in food production, sanitation, beverage management, and global hospitality. Consequently, he began his PhD studies at Purdue University. There he focused his studies and research on food-service operations, local food supply chains, regional food hubs, and food safety in farmer's markets. During this time he also taught courses in sanitation, quantity food production, and advanced restaurant management.
Gaulke is a member of the National Restaurant Association, a Certified Chef de Cuisine, a Certified ServSafe Instructor, and Registered ServSafe Examination Proctor for the National Restaurant Association.
PARTICIPANTS
JASON GREENBERG
Associate Professor
Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan
School of Hotel Administration
Jason Greenberg (PhD, MIT; MPP, University of Chicago) is an Associate Professor at the Nolan School, Cornell University. He conducts awardwinning research across several key domains, including entrepreneurship, crowdfunding, innovation, and digital technology. His work also explores social networks, labor markets (including the "gig" economy), diversity and inequality, organizational theory, social evaluation, categorization, and market dynamics, particularly in the restaurant industry.
Jason’s published and forthcoming research utilizes restricted-access "big data" and novel experimental methodologies he developed, alongside foundational theoretical work. Prior to joining the Cornell faculty, he served as the Head Economist at Homebase, a Series D VC-backed startup, and held teaching positions at Columbia Business School, Wharton, and NYU Stern.
PARTICIPANTS
HEATHER KOLAKOWSKI
Senior Lecturer
Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration
Heather Kolakowski is a senior lecturer in food and beverage management at the Nolan School of Hotel Administration (NSHA) and Executive Director for the Cornell Institute for Healthy Futures. She teaches several food and beverage courses, including Restaurant Management and Nonprofit Social Enterprise and Food Justice. She is the faculty advisor for Crème de Cornell, the student run culinary magazine and Cornell Hunger Relief, the student led hunger relief organization as Cornell. She is also the faculty advisor for Hotel Ezra Cornell (HEC), the student-run hospitality showcase conference which allows students the opportunity to put theory into practice while taking on leadership responsibilities each spring. She is the recipient of the 2022 Ted Teng Teaching Award and the 2017 Kaplan Family Distinguished Faculty Fellowship for her dedication to service learning.
A 2000 graduate of NSHA and a 2002 graduate of the CIA, Kolakowski returned to her culinary alma mater in 2008 after serving as food and beverage manager for the Four Seasons Hotel Company in Washington, D.C. and Jackson Hole, WY. Her additional professional experience includes assistant manager for the Peninsula Grille in Warrington, PA, and teaching assistant at both the CIA and Cornell University.
Awarded an MBA at SUNY Empire State College in December 2013, Kolakowski is also a member of the Women’s Foodservice Forum, Women Chefs and Restaurateurs, the United States Bartender’s Guild Association, and the Cornell Hotel Society. Kolakowski is a Certified Hospitality Educator (CHE) and certified TIPS responsible alcohol service instructor. She serves as President for the Board of Directors for Loaves & Fishes of Tompkins County, a Christian ministry providing a place for free meals, hospitality, companionship, and advocacy for those in need, regardless of their faith, beliefs, or circumstances.
PARTICIPANTS
CHRISTINE KONDRA
Co-Founder, CoOwner & CEO
The Bee Foundation for Brain Aneurysm Prevention, Cornerstone, & Barque Hospitality Group
Christine Kondra is a hospitality executive, entrepreneur, and policy advocate redefining what modern restaurant leadership looks like.
Originally from Washington, DC, Christine began her career in the biopharmaceutical industry, working across Manhattan, Boston, and London as a strategic consultant focused on growth strategy, sales optimization, and operational performance. She later returned to hospitality, bringing a disciplined, data-driven leadership approach rarely seen in independent restaurants.
In 2010, Christine transitioned into the culinary world as a private chef on Nantucket before co-founding one of the Main Line of Philadelphia’s most respected dining destinations. Today, she serves as CEO of Barque Hospitality Group and Co-Owner, General Manager, and Wine Director of Cornerstone, a French-American restaurant featuring an award-winning wine program with more than 1,200 labels and a nationally recognized Women in Wine initiative.
Under Christine’s leadership, Cornerstone evolved from a 14seat BYOB into a full-scale restaurant and wine shop known for operational excellence, sustainable growth, and strong community engagement. Her leadership philosophy blends strategic rigor with genuine hospitality, proving profitability and purpose can coexist.
Beyond operations, Christine is a national advocate for independent restaurants and public health policy. She cofounded The Bee Foundation for Brain Aneurysm Prevention in 2014 and serves as its Strategic Director of Policy & Research. She meets monthly with Congress and federal agencies including HHS, CDC, and NIH/NINDS, alongside bipartisan lawmakers and their lobby firm, Arnold & Porter, to advance dedicated research funding and improve healthcare access. She also advocates annually on Capitol Hill with the National Restaurant Association and collaborates with the Independent Restaurant Coalition to support small business policy.
As a female founder, Christine champions sustainable leadership, strategic scaling, and community-centered entrepreneurship. Her work demonstrates that hospitality is not simply about serving guests, but about building institutions, influencing policy, and leading with intention.
PARTICIPANTS
BAILEY LANGHAM
Product Sales
Enablement Manager
FreedomPay
Bailey Langham is a Product Sales Enablement Manager at FreedomPay, where they lead go-tomarket strategy and sales enablement for new products and platform enhancements. Bailey partners closely with Product, Marketing, and Sales to translate complex payment technology into clear, compelling narratives that support seller confidence and drive commercial impact. With experience across payments and commerce technology, Bailey focuses on aligning product capabilities to real buyer needs through strong positioning, launch readiness, and sales-facing tools. Their work helps revenue teams clearly articulate value, adapt to evolving buyer expectations, and bring innovative commerce solutions to market at scale.
PARTICIPANTS
SAM LIPP '04
President
Tortazo
Sam Lipp is a seasoned, passionate hospitalitarian with over 20 years of experience building teams and leading organizations in the restaurant world. He grew up in Madison, WI, and has always loved food. His spirit for providing hospitality blossomed while attending Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration. Upon graduation he met Will Guidara and Danny Meyer, joining the opening team at the Museum of Modern Art as Dining Room Manager and Beverage Director.
Over the next 13 years, Sam honed operational leadership skills within the organization’s various restaurants, including Eleven Madison Park (Bar and Assistant General Manager), Maialino (opening Assistant General Manager), and ultimately Union Square Cafe, the flagship of the company, serving as General Manager and Director of Operations. He also helped conceive of and open Daily Provisions, now a thriving growth brand for Union Square Hospitality Group. Prior to his departure in 2017, Sam counted five successful restaurant openings, several three and four-star reviews from the New York Times and numerous James Beard Foundation Awards amongst his accolades.
In Fall 2017, Sam rejoined Will Guidara, now at Make it Nice Hospitality as the Director of Operations, where he oversaw Eleven Madison Park, NoMad NY, Made Nice and daily operations at Corporate Headquarters. He also spearheaded development, including two pop-up restaurants: the EMP Summer House (East Hampton, NY) and EMP Winter House (Aspen, CO).
Since April of 2021, Sam has served as the President of Tortazo, a growing fast casual Mexican restaurant company founded by the acclaimed chef and author, Rick Bayless. Currently with 9 locations throughout the Chicagoland area, Orlando and Las Vegas, Tortazo looks to spread joy through the discovery of authentic Mexican flavors, and is a partnership between Chef Rick Bayless, Dom Capital / Dom Food Group, and the Jollibee Foods Corporation.
PARTICIPANTS
JOANNE LIU COO
Richard Sandoval Hospitality
Joanne Liu is a dynamic hospitality leader currently serving as COO of Richard Sandoval Hospitality, a restaurant company with over 60 locations globally focused on Mexican and Latin culture and cuisine across casual, premium and luxury tiers. Prior to RSH, Joanne was Vice President of Restaurants and Bars at Marriott International, where she oversaw global strategy and operations across 32+ brands. With deep expertise in high-volume, multiconcept restaurant and bar operations, Joanne brings a unique blend of creativity, operational excellence, and brand development experience to her projects and prioritizes the development of people. Her passion for hospitality was sparked early, growing up in her family’s Chinese restaurant and later building her own successful multiunit restaurant company. Prior to re-entering the F&B world, she spent a decade as a CPA at PwC, specializing in corporate fraud investigations and M&A due diligence grounding her in results-driven, analytical thinking. Joanne is thrilled to help shape the next generation of growth and innovation in our industry.
PARTICIPANTS
MICHAELLUKIANO FF, MMH ’00
CEO Signal Flare AI Inc
Mike is an entrepreneur and data science pioneer with decades of experience serving the restaurant industry. He was a partner and founder of the industry’s most influential analytics companies; his solutions have been used by more than 60% of the top 200 restaurant chains in the U.S. Mike has created sophisticated analytical methodologies for price, promotion, marketing optimization and site selection. His latest venture, SignalFlare.ai, is the leading Decision Intelligence company helping restaurants make high impact decisions on pricing, promotions & targeted marketing.
PARTICIPANTS
Christina McDowell, Ph.D. is a senior lecturer of management communication at the Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration, part of the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business, and director of Cornell’s Pillsbury Institute for Hospitality Entrepreneurship (PIHE). An award-winning educator, her academic experience includes teaching communication-related courses for 20 years and serving in academic administration roles and as a faculty advisor for community-engaged learning projects.
CHRISTINA MCDOWELL, PH.D.
Senior Lecturer
Director, Pillsbury Institute for Hospitality Entrepreneurship
Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration
As director of PIHE, McDowell leads collaboration between faculty and industry through events, competitions, industry roundtable discussions, mentoring, and guest speaking engagements designed to educate students, alumni, and others who operate, or are interested in operating, an enterprise in the hospitality industry.
McDowell's research interests start with communicative engagement and emphasize actively investigating social, civic, economic, and moral problems in corporate communication, communication ethics, and communication illustrated by religious leaders McDowell is the co-author of Corporate Communication and Integrated Marketing Communication: Audience beyond Stakeholders in a Technological Age (2023), co-editor and contributing author of The Civically Engaged Woman: The Rhetoric and Activism of the Silenced Voice, and co-editor and contributing author of Integrated Marketing Communication: Creating Spaces for Engagement (2016).
McDowell serves on the Association of Business Communication Board as a director at-large. She holds a PhD in rhetoric, concentrating in interpersonal and organizational communication and communication ethics, an MA in corporate communication, and a BA in communication with an emphasis in advertising and public relations from Duquesne University.
PARTICIPANTS
DOUG
MILLER Senior Lecturer
Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration
Douglass Miller is a senior lecturer in food and beverage management at the Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University. Before Cornell University, he was a hospitality and service management professor at The Culinary Institute of America. In addition, Mr. Miller is a Certified Specialist of Spirits (CSS), Society of Wine Educators; Certified Beer Server; Cicerone, Certified Sake Advisor, Sake School of America, and has taken the Introductory Sommelier Course, The Court of Master Sommeliers.
Douglass Miller has over 30 years of industry experience in restaurants, hotels, resorts, and education. He has worked around the country, including Las Vegas, San Francisco, New York City, Hawaii, Santa Barbara, Philadelphia, and Washington DC for Four Seasons Resorts and Hotels, Wyndham Hotels, Marriott, and several independent companies. He is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, SUNY Empire State College, and University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where he holds a Master’s of Hospitality Administration.
He has also been interviewed by the Associated Press, The New York Post, The Wall Street Journal, Nation's Restaurant News, and has had cocktails published in Liquor.com, USA Today Magazine, and AOL. Miller was a content provider and consultant on the CIA's book, Remarkable Service: A Guide to Winning and Keeping Customers for Servers, Managers, and Restaurant Owners.
PARTICIPANTS
ANDREA ORAN
Director of Finance & Business Planning
Corner Table
Restaurants
Andrea Oran is the Director of Finance and Business Planning at Corner Table Restaurants, where she leads financial planning and business development, overseeing performance analysis to drive profitability and informed decision-making. Since joining the company in 2019, she has focused on identifying and executing growth opportunities while maintaining strong financial controls and supporting sustainable, long-term expansion. With over a decade of experience across premier restaurant groups in New York City, Andrea brings deep expertise in hospitality finance and operational strategy. She holds a Bachelor of Science from the Cornell School of Hotel Administration, an MBA from Columbia University, and is a graduate of the Accelerated Culinary Arts Program at the Culinary Institute of America. A New York City–based finance leader, Andrea brings both the business acumen and operational perspective that define modern restaurant leadership. .
PARTICIPANTS
ROBERT PETERSON
Area Vice President
North AmericaOracle Restaurants
Robert Peterson is an enterprise solutions evangelist with Oracle Restaurants and a long-time restaurant technology leader focused on interoperability, open APIs, and unlocking value across the end-to-end restaurant data journey. He’s recognized for influencing cross-functional teams and partners, shaping integration-first strategies, and helping restaurant brands and technology providers modernize off-prem ordering and in-store operations. Over his career, Robert has worked closely with leading restaurant brands and the vendors that support them, bringing a practical, operator-minded approach to scalable adoption and change. Robert’s industry leadership is centered on advancing standards and simplifying integration across the restaurant tech ecosystem. He serves on the Restaurant Technology Network (RTN) Vendor Advisory Council—helping guide strategic priorities, recruit participation for workgroups, and evangelize RTN’s mission and he is also a Council Member with ORCA (Open Restaurant Connectivity Architecture), the neutral connectivity layer designed to replace fragmented, one-off integrations with a shared foundation for more reliable collaboration. He was recognized as a 2024 RTN Industry Champion for contributions to industry-defining restaurant data standards.
PARTICIPANTS
VINCE SLAUGH
Assistant Professor
Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan
School of Hotel Administration
Vince Slaugh is an assistant professor at the Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration. He received his PhD in operations management from the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University and joined the Nolan School faculty in July 2016. In his research, he focuses on the design of service systems, especially workforce management for laborintensive, frontline service operations. Methodologically, he develops and analyzes stochastic models to generate managerial insights and inform operational decisionmaking. His research develops novel, practice-driven models grounded in collaborations with industry and nonprofit partners across several application domains, including hotel housekeeping, child welfare systems, dialysis clinics, nursing homes, Native American tribal resorts, and solar energy sites.
PARTICIPANTS
BRUCE TRACEY
Professor
Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan
School of Hotel Administration
Bruce Tracey is the Kenneth and Marjorie Blanchard Professor of Human Resource Management at Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan School for Hotel Administration. He teaches courses in human resources and organizational management for undergraduate, graduate, and professional audiences throughout North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.
Tracey's research considers a wide range of strategic and operational-level topics that examine the effectiveness of HR policies, practices, and systems, and his work has been published in many of the top-tier discipline and applied outlets, including the Journal of Applied Psychology, Personnel Psychology, Journal of Management, Organizational Research Methods, Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, and the University of Pennsylvania Journal of Labor and Employment Law.
Tracey's sponsors for research and consulting include Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, Hilton Worldwide, and Marriott International, and he has been cited in the New York Times, Bloomberg, Forbes, USA Today, and Fast Company, among other popular press outlets.
PARTICIPANTS
RYAN VOLBERG Founder & CEO
True Loyalty
Ryan Volberg is a three-time founder and CEO of enterprise SaaS companies, each built from scratch and scaled to category leadership. Two, Vivonet and Autoprise, were successfully acquired. The third, Instant Financial, continues to grow and scale today. In January 2026, Ryan launched his newest venture, True Loyalty, returning to his roots in restaurant and hospitality technology, an industry he has spent much of his career serving and cares deeply about. Between founding companies, Ryan has led largescale transformations inside public and private technology businesses. At PAR Technology (NYSE: PAR), he helped drive one of the most dramatic turnarounds in restaurant tech, contributing to a market capitalization increase from approximately $280 million to over $1.8 billion in under two years. Across startups and public companies, Ryan is consistent: clarity of strategy, disciplined execution, product-led growth, and building high-performance cultures that scale.
PARTICIPANTS
AMBER YERKES, EMMH ‘27
Founder & CEO
Hospitality Systems Platform
Amber Yerkes is the Founder & CEO of a hospitality infrastructure platform composed of Chez, CulinaryHR, and TableDraft. Her work focuses on developing the foundational infrastructure historically absent in hospitality integrating workforce, operations, and demand into a unified, AI-enabled operating model.
Drawing on a background in luxury hospitality, culinary operations, and organizational leadership, she examines the structural drivers of burnout and workforce instability in service-based industries. Her approach centers on redesigning workforce and organizational systems to improve retention, leadership alignment, and long-term performance.
She takes a human-centered approach to AI, using technology to support human performance rather than replace it. Amber is currently completing her Executive Master of Management in Hospitality at Cornell.