Dr. Rachel MK Headley has been in the trenches, dealing with unspoken conversations, barriers to team goals and success, and figuring out how to achieve impossible goals demanded by executive leadership. She believes the internal experience (iX) of an organization is a leadership choice. Partnering with Meg Manke at the Rose Group Int’l, they developed the critical, new (and practical) iX leadership framework. Rachel is a TEDx speaker and has spoken on stage in front of over 12,000 people. She is a Forbes Coaches Council contributor and serves on the Council of Trustees for South Dakota State University. She is a Mensa PhD scientist, a certified Project Management Professional, a global citizen, a choral singer, and an art patroness.
Rachel Headley
Rose Group Int’l
Ginny Morrison of Evanston, Illinois, is a 33-year veteran of Spire Hospitality, a hotel management company with a portfolio that spans coast-to-coast. As vice president of sales and marketing, Morrison saw the coronavirus pandemic decimate the meetings business. More than a year later, she’s witnessing a comeback as small-meeting planners are actively booking events for the last half of 2021 and beyond. As public health agencies expand COVID-19 vaccination programs across the U.S. and states ease up on public-gathering restrictions designed to keep the virus at bay, the hotel industry is seeing small meetings begin a comeback. In Episode 317, Long Live Lodging covers the state of the small-meetings sector and how hotels can grab their share of the meetings business during and post-pandemic. This report is part of our ongoing coverage about the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on the hospitality industry.
The Hunter Hotel Investment Conference will be the industry’s first large event to be held during the coronavirus pandemic. The Atlanta event will be a hybrid format of in-person and virtual access, also an industry first. Lee Hunter, chairman of the conference, knows the level of expectation is high among other conference planners as well as industry professionals eager to network after more than a yearlong hiatus. Episode 316 of Lodging Leaders podcast features Hunter as he tells what it takes to re-launch the industry’s conference circuit amid the COVID-19 outbreak.