Conrad Nicholson Hilton was an American hotel tycoon and politician who founded the Hilton Hotels chain. From 1912 to 1916, Hilton was a Republican representative in the first New Mexico Legislature, but became disillusioned with the "inside deals" of politics. In 1919, he purchased his first hotel, the Mobley Hotel in Cisco, Texas, for US$40,000 and subsequently capitalized on the oil boom. The rooms were rented out in eight-hour shifts. He continued to buy and sell hotels, and eventually established the world's first international hotel chain. When he died in 1979, he left the bulk of his estate to the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation.
William Barron Hilton was an American business magnate, philanthropist and sportsman. The second son and successor of hotelier Conrad Hilton, he was the chairman, president and chief executive officer of Hilton Hotels Corporation and chairman emeritus of the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. Hilton, a notable pilot and outdoorsman, was also a founder of the American Football League as the original owner of the Los Angeles Chargers, and helped forge the merger with the National Football League that created the Super Bowl. Like his father before him, he pledged 97 percent of his wealth to the humanitarian work of the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. At the time, the gift was projected to increase the foundation's endowment from $2.9 billion to $6.3 billion, and will make his estate the organization's most significant donor.
Ellsworth Milton Statler was an American hotel businessman, founder of the Statler Hotels chain, born in Somerset County, Pennsylvania.
The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation is an American non-profit charitable foundation, established in 1944 by hotel entrepreneur Conrad Hilton. It remained relatively small until his death on January 3, 1979, when it was named the principal beneficiary of his estate. In 2007, Conrad's son, Barron Hilton announced that he would leave about 97% of his fortune to a charitable remainder unitrust which names the foundation as the remainder beneficiary.
The Nolan School of Hotel Administration is a specialized business school in the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University, a private Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York. Founded in 1922, it was the world's first four-year intercollegiate school devoted to hospitality management.
Conrad Hotels & Resorts is an American multinational brand of high-end luxury hotels and high-end luxury resorts owned and operated by Hilton Worldwide. As of December 31, 2021, it has 42 locations with 15,085 rooms in 21 countries and territories, including two that are owned or leased with 778 rooms, 38 that are managed with 12,152 rooms, and two that are franchised with 2,155 rooms.
David Arthur Duffield is an American billionaire businessman in the software industry. He is the co-founder and former chairman of PeopleSoft, co-founder and CEO emeritus of Workday, Inc., and current founder and co-CEO of Ridgeline, Inc. He has been on the Forbes World's Richest People list for many years.
Hotel Ezra Cornell (HEC) is an annual weekend-long educational conference put on by the students of the Cornell School of Hotel Administration for leaders of the hospitality industry. Composed of educational seminars, leisure activities, and food and beverage events, the program is currently in its 100th year, predating the School of Hotel Administration and making HEC one of the oldest organizations at Cornell University. The purpose of the weekend is for students to practice the skills they have learned in the classroom and to showcase their talents to industry professionals, many of whom are Cornell alumni.
Herbert Fisk Johnson III, known as Fisk, is an American billionaire businessman. He is the fifth generation of his family to lead S. C. Johnson & Son, Inc of Racine, Wisconsin, as chairman and CEO. As of March 2022, his net worth was estimated at US$3.4 billion.
The Hilton family is an American family that originally comes from Kløfta, Norway, and spans over four generations from New York City and Los Angeles. The family members hold varying degrees of power, wealth and status as socialites in the United States. They are widely known for the Hilton Hotels & Resorts Group which was established by Conrad Hilton in 1919 when he bought his first hotel.
MacLaren (Mac) Thompson Cummings is an American entrepreneur and co-founder of Terakeet, a search engine optimization firm.
Barry Stuart Sternlicht is an American billionaire and the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Starwood Capital Group, an investment fund with over $100 billion in assets under management. He is also chairman of Starwood Property Trust. He is the founder of Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide and served as its Chairman and CEO from 1995 to 2005. As of May 2023, his net worth was estimated at $4.6 billion.
The Pennsylvania State University School of Hospitality Management is located at the main campus of The Pennsylvania State University in University Park, Pennsylvania, United States, and serves over 500 students. SHM is one of the three oldest continually-operating hospitality management programs in the United States and offers a Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Master of Professional Studies (M.P.S.) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Hospitality Management. The B.S. Degree offers an optional minor in Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
Mona Olsen is a British-American entrepreneur and academic. Olsen is the founder and president of the board of iMADdu Inc., an educational nonprofit (501c3) based in Fairfax, Virginia that launched in 2010.
Chuck Davis is an Internet entrepreneur, and Chairman and CEO of Prodege, LLC, an El Segundo, California-based online marketing and consumer research company.
Steven Michael Hilton is an American philanthropist. He is the son of hotel magnate Barron Hilton, and grandson of Conrad Hilton who founded the Hilton Hotels chain. Steven Hilton is the chairman of the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, a humanitarian charity working to improve the lives of disadvantaged and vulnerable people throughout the world. He served as president and CEO of the foundation prior to his retirement in 2015, since which he has remained chairman. During his tenure, annual grants have grown from a total of $6 million to $100 million a year, providing more than $1.4 billion to nonprofit organizations.
Ed Mitzen is an American entrepreneur, business executive and philanthropist. He is the founder and CEO of Fingerpaint Marketing, and also the co-founder of the non-profit organization Business for Good. Prior to founding Fingerpaint, Mitzen co-founded the ad agency Palio, which was sold to inVentiv Health in 2006.
Robert Alan Alter is an American hotelier and real estate investor. He is the founder and chairman emeritus of Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc., and the current president of Seaview Investors, LLC, a real estate investment management company that operates hotels in Southern California and Colorado.
Ajaz Khowaj Quoram Ahmed, is a British entrepreneur. He is best known as the founder and CEO of London-based new media company AKQA.
Mohammed Tayem is a Palestinian-Jordanian public figure and entrepreneur. He is the founding CEO of entourage a creative agency headquartered in the UAE, and digital events' metaverse platform eve virtual. He is also the co-founder member of BIA, and former board member of the Young Arab Leaders.
