Dr. Alan Fyall is Orange County Endowed Professor of Tourism Marketing at the Rosen College of Hospitality Management, University of Central Florida and is a member of UCF’s National Center for Integrated Coastal Research. He has published widely in the areas of tourism and destination marketing and management including 20 books. Dr. Fyall is a former Member of the Bournemouth Tourism Management Board (DMO) and Board of Solent Synergy Limited in Southern England, and has conducted numerous consulting and applied research projects for clients in the UK, European Union, Africa, the Caribbean, USA and South East Asia. Clients include Grant Thornton, Ernst & Young, the Commonwealth Secretariat, the Malaysian Government, the Supreme Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (Saudi Arabia) and World Travel & Tourism Council.

Alan currently teaches International Tourism Management and Destination Marketing & Management and to date has examined 27 PhDs in the UK, India, France, South Africa, Australia, Hong Kong and Malaysia. He has organized a number of international conferences and workshops for academic, professional and governmental audiences and is frequently invited to deliver keynote addresses. He is Editor of Elsevier’s Journal of Destination Marketing & Management and sits on the editorial boards of many leading journals. His current research interests relate to coastal tourism and destination resilience in Florida, the Caribbean and South East Asia.

Dr. Junehee Kwon is Professor and the Graduate Program Director in the Department of Hospitality Management at Kansas State University. Previously, Dr. Kwon worked as an assistant/associate professor and Director of Didactic Program in Dietetics in the Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences at Texas Woman’s University. She was conferred Bachelor’s degree in Food Science and Human Nutrition from Seoul National University, South Korea and Master’s and PhD degrees from Hotel, Restaurant, and Institution Management from Iowa State University in 1995 and 1999, respectively.

Currently, she conducts research related to food and beverage operations including employee training for foodservice employees and consumers for food safety and food allergy prevention. Her past research projects included developing food safety training for food service staff, volunteers at faith-based organizations, and consumers and food allergy curriculum for hospitality management and dietetics programs. In addition to her own research, she is engaged in various graduate and undergraduate student research projects in the context of food and beverage management including sustainability, big data analytics, and consumer behaviors. She and her team have received several federal and private grants for food safety/food allergy research projects totaling over $3.0 million.

Valerie Sheppard is an Associate Professor at the Universidade Europeia (UE), in the School of Tourism and Hospitality, Lisbon, Portugal. In addition to her teaching duties, Valerie is the Director of UE´s Ph.D. in Tourism Management program. Her professional experience includes positions in the for-profit, not-for-profit and government sectors in the Canadian tourism industry. Valerie holds a Ph.D. in the Environment from Simon Fraser University, Canada. She also holds a Master of Arts, with Distinction, in Recreation and Leisure Studies, an Honors Bachelor of Tourism Studies, and an Advanced Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, all from Brock University, Canada. Her research interests are focused on ethics, sustainability, and resilience in the tourism industry.

Ms. Anju Singh's motherland is India and homeland is USA. She came to USA in 1990. She has been staying in Raleigh, NC for last 28 years. She did my undergraduate degree from Delhi University, India and Graduate Degree from NC State. She has been working as Graduate program associate at NC State for the last 14+ years. She has a passion to work with students as it is very rewarding for her to see them reach their educational goals. She meets, listens to, and counsels and advises them at some point in their graduate careers. Having studied in a foreign institute, she relates to the challenges of an International student and advises them accordingly.

As a result of the time she invests in the students, she has learned a great deal about what works and doesn’t work for them in terms of staying on track to successfully complete their course of study and graduate. She sees her job performance as directly tied to student success. Outside of work, she enjoys reading and spending time with her family.

Peggy Tirrell is the Sr. Associate Director for Graduate Programs and Admissions in the College of Business at the Rochester Institute of Technology. She oversees the MBA program, M.S. in Finance, M.S. in International Business and M.S. in Innovation Management. Peggy began her career at RIT in 1977 in the Enrollment Management Office before moving to the Saunders College of Business in 1988. Peggy earned a B.A. in Sociology from the Excelsior College (formerly the University of the State of New York). She also has an M.S. in Career and Human Resources with a focus on Training and Professional Development from the Rochester Institute of Technology. Peggy participated in the Saunders College of Business initial quality training and served as a member of the college's first process improvement team.

As a strong believer in quality management, Peggy has put this knowledge to good use by developing training in process improvement, which has been used by other RIT departments, and in the classroom. In 1998, she began teaching quality concepts and applications courses taken by College of Business undergraduate students later teaching business communications classes. She has also conducted training to organizations in the area of Quality Customer Service and Process Improvement. Recognized as a specialist in training and diversity-related issues, Peggy provides training and support to American Red Cross units. Her involvement at the national, state and local level focuses on capacity building for quality customer service. Peggy has served as a National Diversity Consultant for the American Red Cross, a member of the Regional Committee, the governing body for the American Red Cross for the Northeast and the Mid-Atlantic States as well as the U.S. Virgin Islands. She also served as a member of the Board of Directors for the Clara Barton/Livingston County Chapter of the American Red Cross.

Committed to education and lifelong learning, Peggy has joined the Board of Trustees for the Avon Free Library. Peggy is actively involved in RIT's diversity and global initiatives. She has served as a member of the President's Commission on Pluralism & Inclusion and chaired the Diversity Leadership Committee. Additionally, Peggy has served as a Professional Mentor to the Global Leadership Certificate Program at RIT and a coach for 6 Faculty/Staff partners in the RIT Partners in Pluralism Program. Peggy's experience with International sponsored student programs has given her the opportunity to travel to both Moscow and Kazan, Russia and Prishtina, Kosovo as a member of selection committees for IREX and American Councils. Peggy is currently serving as a member of the selection committee for the Schwarzman Scholars program.

Dr. Cihan Cobanoglu is a McKibbon Endowed Chair Professor of the College of Hospitality and Tourism Leadership (CHTL) at the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee (USFSM), who also serves as the Director of the M3 Center for Hospitality Technology and Innovation and Coordinator of International Programs in the College of Hospitality and Tourism Leadership. He is a Certified Hospitality Technology Professional (CHTP) commissioned by Hospitality Financial & Technology Professionals (HFTP) and Educational Institute of American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA).

He is the Editor of the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology (JHTT), co-editor of International Interdisciplinary Business-Economics Advancement Journal (IIBA Journal), Co-Editor of Journal of Global Education and Research (JGER) and a co-author of five textbooks and two conference proceedings. He is also currently serving as the President of Association of North America Higher Education International (ANAHEI) Dr. Cobanoglu served as the chair of the American Hotel and Lodging Association’s (AHLA) Technology and E-Business Committee from 2009 to 2011 and also a member of CHTP Advisory Council and Editorial Advisory Board of HFTP. In addition, Dr. Cobanoglu is a visionary board member of Hospitality Technology magazine and editorial board member of Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, International Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Administration and Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Education. Dr. Cobanoglu also serves the industry as consultant. He is the founder of International Interdisciplinary Business-Economics Advancement Conference (IIBA). Dr. Cobanoglu created curriculum for hospitality software:innRoad Property Management System, M3 AccKnowledge Hotel Accounting System, and M3 Link Hotel Business Intelligence System.