Building a Bridge to Our Brightest Future: Celebrating Bob Gilbert’s Impact

To celebrate the life and career of Bob Gilbert, President and CEO of HSMAI who passed away September 19, 2024, is to acknowledge his leadership and impact on the hospitality industry. Bob’s passion and commitment have been instrumental in guiding HSMAI Foundation’s mission to attract, develop, and engage the brightest talents. Join us in honoring Bob Gilbert by making a donation today. Your support will help bridge the gap to a brighter future for the hospitality industry.

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We all started somewhere. And while our stories are different, one thing we all have in common is that we received support in our hospitality careers – whether through a mentor guiding you towards a successful next step, a friend urging you to follow your passion for service, or a leader providing sponsorship towards your continued education. This support has culminated in positive sentiment towards the industry, personal fulfillment, and tangible revenue for hoteliers.

Our industry is at an urgent inflection point; the recent pandemic only magnified the talent issues in the hospitality industry. The HSMAI Foundation’s third annual State of Talent Report found that talent shortages continue to drive decisions as hotel commercial teams learn, unlearn, and relearn in the new travel environment. To help secure a prosperous future we need your financial support.

HSMAI Stories

The HSMAI Foundation is focused on continuously growing the industry through attracting, developing, and engaging top talent in revenue generation functions.

Through your contributions, funds will be deployed to:

Attract new talent from top hospitality and business schools. Provide and enhance cutting-edge instructional materials for faculty who teach sales, marketing, and revenue courses. This includes showcasing pathways for successful careers in hospitality and developing research such as the HSMAI Foundation State of Talent Report.
Develop emerging talent in hospitality through the funding of global Rising Leader Councils that recognize top sales, marketing and revenue performers in the under 30 age demographic, fostering their growth and development within the industry.
Engage and recognize diverse talent ensuring commercial career paths are demonstrated and fostered for underrepresented groups and full support of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging initiatives. This is accomplished through strategic partnerships, actionable research, grants, and scholarships.

As always, our efforts are relevant, informed by data and measured. Please see a summary of our initiatives by strategic pillar for more details.

We all have the opportunity to leave the industry a better place than we found it – and the time is now. Please consider making your tax-deductible pledge to support today.