Category: Shila Bowron Lecture

Hospitality students learn from industry Leaders

2/25/2019

Bill Bennett, general manager of The Lodge at Gulf State Park, will speak at the Shila Bowron Leadership Lecture on Thursday, February 28 at The University of Alabama’s Child Development Research Center. The hospitality management program in The College of Human Environmental Sciences hosts the event which is sponsored by Bill Bowron, CEO of Red Diamond.

The lecture series, named in honor of Bowron’s mother, began in 2002 to introduce students to a variety of hospitality leaders and their perspectives of the hospitality industry.

Lectures take place at 9:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Students who attend will benefit from the advice of a hotel executive who brings a wealth of experience in hotel sales and marketing, hotel operational effectiveness, revenue management and asset repositioning.

Bill Bennett joined Valor Hospitality Partners in June of 2013 as general manager of the Crowne Plaza Charlotte. In that role, he successfully led his team through a $10 million property-wide renovation and completely transformed a 30-year-old Marriott Hotel into a top Crowne Plaza brand performer.

Prior to joining Valor, Bennett’s leadership roles included director of sales, regional director of sales and general manager for various brands including Marriott, Westin, Sheraton and Hilton. He has won numerous accolades for his efforts including Hotel of the Year, Sales Team of the Year, Director of Sales of the Year and the All Green Zone award with Hilton for four consecutive years.

His knowledge and experience provide a sound foundation for his current role at The Lodge at Gulf State Park, a Hilton hotel.

Fall Hospitality Industry Lecture

10/12/2018

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Greg Friedman, Chief Executive Officer of Peachtree Hotel Group, will speak at the Shila Bowron Leadership Lecture on Thursday, October 18 at The University of Alabama’s Child Development Research Center. The hospitality management program in The College of Human Environmental Sciences hosts the event which is sponsored by Bill Bowron, CEO of Red Diamond.

The lecture series, named in honor of Bill Bowron’s mother, began in 2002 to introduce students to a variety of hospitality leaders and their perspectives of the hospitality industry.

Lectures take place at 9:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Students who attend will benefit from the advice of a hotel executive who has more than 19 years of hospitality experience with an emphasis on deal-structure and financing.

Greg Friedman has successfully led Peachtree Hotel Group in more than $1.9 billion in hotel acquisitions, investments and development since co-founding the company. Friedman formerly was senior vice president of business development for Specialty Finance Group, LLC, a direct lender providing hotel first mortgage and FF&E financing, where he originated more than $2 billion of hotel debt. Previously, he was vice president of business development for GMAC Commercial Mortgage – Asset-Backed Lending Division. During his six-year tenure there, he originated, closed and funded more than 300 hospitality FF&E financing transactions with an aggregate capital structure exceeding $10 billion. Friedman holds a Bachelor of Arts in Biology from the University of Texas at Austin.

Source
Dr. Kimberly Severt, director of the hospitality management program, 205/348-8169, ksevert@ches.ua.edu

The Shila Bowron Leadership Lecture Series

11/15/2016

Paul van Leeuwen

The Hospitality Leadership Series of the Restaurant, Hotel, and Meetings Management Program at The University of Alabama began in 2002 in an effort to achieve the goal of exposing students to a variety of hospitality leaders and their perspectives of the hospitality industry. In 2010, Mr. William A. Bowron, Jr., President, Red Diamond, Inc. Birmingham, Alabama, made a generous gift to the Restaurant, Hotel and Meetings Management Program to rename the Hospitality Leadership Series, the Shila Bowron/Red Diamond Leadership Series in honor of his mother.

The Restaurant, Hotel, and Meetings Management Program at The University of Alabama was established in 1985 as part of the Department of Human Nutrition and Hospitality Management, in the College of Human Environmental Sciences. More than 600 students have graduated from the program and are employed in a variety of hospitality management positions throughout the United States. There are over 400 students currently enrolled in the program.

This semester's speaker for the Shila Bowron/Red Diamond Leadership Lecture was Mr. Paul van Leeuween. Mr. van Leeuwen is a senior hospitality executive with over 30 years of experience. He spent close to 20 years with the Walt Disney Company leading Business Planning and Development teams throughout the world. As an executive and former vice president at the Walt Disney Company, Mr van Leeuwen was instrumental in seeing Walt Disney World Paris from conception through construction to opening. More recently he has led a private equity fund and served as President for a $100 million integrated hospitality company.

He shared the challenges he faced and the experience he gained from his time at the Walt Disney Company with our RHM students during the course of two lectures on Thursday, November 10, 2016. The RHM faculty hosted a dinner for Mr. van Leeuwen and his family at a local restaurant owned by an alumnus of the RHM program. Lunch the following day was enjoyed at The University Club, which is managed by the College of Human Environmental Sciences' Department of Human Nutrition and Hospitality Manageme