The 100th Annual Hotel Ezra Cornell came to a close on Saturday evening after three days of networking, business panels and meals prepared by undergraduate and master’s students in the School of Hotel Administration.
HEC is one of the oldest organizations at the University, allowing hotel school students to plan and operate a hospitality conference for faculty, current students, alumni and business leaders for three days.
While the first HEC started as a “hotel-for-a-day” event at Risley Residence College, it has expanded over the years and is now a major hospitality conference. Through the conference, current students display their business planning skills and operational abilities in the hospitality industry, while guests are invited to discuss current developments in the industry in panels held throughout the weekend.
This year’s HEC theme was HECentennial, reflecting 100 years of tradition, history and innovation in the Hotel school. Around 700 students ran the Statler Hotel for three days, managing logistics and planning events and fancy meals for around 300 guests.
Heather Kolakowski ’00, the faculty advisor for HEC and a senior lecturer in the Hotel school, expressed her excitement for advising the students running HEC, especially as an alumna who participated in HEC during her undergraduate years.
“It’s a reunion of hotels focused on celebrating our impact on the hospitality industry,” Kolakowski said. “It’s a big honor to be on faculty here because I think HEC is one of the defining features of the hotel school.”
This year’s planning was especially unique, as students planned events celebrating 100 years of HEC in the midst of the Statler Hotel renovations. Following the renovation of the hotel’s porte-cochère — the canopy cars pass through — in 2022, the conference rooms inside the hotel have also been under construction, estimated to finish in June 2025.
“I really appreciate the dedication [the students] put into the planning because the food labs, meeting space and the hotel were under construction,” Kolakowski said. “I think it just demonstrates the resilience of hotelies and how if a problem comes, we fix it and we figure it out.”
Sarah Newcomb ’25, the managing director of HEC100, explained that the planning teams went through HEC archives to create a museum of past HECs and a new time capsule that will be stored in the archives.
“Our events, like the food and beverage events, are inspired by the different conferences that took place before us,” Newcomb said. “We got a lot of historical pieces to show to the guests, and we had guests bring in a piece from their HEC to add to the time capsule.”
The three-day conference officially began with the Key Pass on Thursday afternoon, where Arthur Keith ’84, the managing director and general manager of the Statler Hotel, handed the keys to the hotel over to Newcomb. Around 200 guests gathered in front of the hotel entrance, where they were greeted with glasses of HEC 100 Commemorative Champagne, which is available to purchase, with a portion of sales going directly to HEC.
The three-day conference involved a silent auction and various panels, many of which focused on technology. Topics included technological advances in the food and beverage industry, the impacts of digitalization on the hotel industry and how technology changes guest experiences in hotels.
Programs Assistant Director Samantha Saito ’26 explained that one of the most memorable panels for her was the panel with former HEC board members.
“We invited past board members from different years, who are also from different industries,” Saito said. “The panelists talked about their experiences with HEC, what they have learned and how it's helped them in their career.”
HEC also hosted Cheryl Stanley ’00, a hotel school senior lecturer, who led a wines class for the guests. Guests shared their experiences in the wine industry and enjoyed a tasting session.
Programming Manager Ben Scali ’28 also explained that while the wines classes were held in previous years, this year’s was especially memorable.
“The wine panel was my favorite for HEC100,” Scali said. “This year we had three different speakers going over the past, present and future of wines, and I thought it was a super unique spin on something that’s been done in the past.”
In the Hospitality Business Plan Competition, five teams of one to three students pitched their business ideas to a panel of four judges: Tony Capuano ’87, president and chief executive officer of Marriott International; Taylor Hardy ’19, CEO of Hardy World LLC; Chris Hemmeter ’86, managing partner at Thayer Investment Partners; and Meli James ’00, co-founder of Mana Up and president of Hawaii Venture Capital Association.
The first-place winner was Armita Jamshidi ’25, who won $25,000 for her business Aunt Flo’s Kitchen, which sells snacks that mitigate menstrual cramps. The second place winner was Hayden Earl ’25, who won $7,500 for BoatCape, his private yacht chartering business, and third place was awarded to Akhil Damani ’25, Matthew Puzzini ’25 and Jacob Berchtold ’25 for their business Hermit, which provides free airport parking spaces.
As the conference reached to an end, Kolakowski announced the winner for the Hannah MacDonald Hotelie Spirit Award, an award created in honor of MacDonald, a hotel school alumna from the Class of 2022 who passed away a year after graduation. Announced by MacDonald’s parents, Chayil Hyland ’25 was awarded for her kindness, dedication and hard work.
From the silent auction, which was held each day of the conference, a total of $28,000 was raised, according to the programming team’s announcement at the conference. The money will be donated to Ben’s Friends, an organization dedicated to creating new pathways in the food and beverage industry for those who previously struggled with substance abuse.
For many Hotel students over the years, HEC was an experience that not only shaped their undergraduate experience, but one that allowed them to grow as leaders in the hospitality industry.
“I think HEC as a tradition at the University really defines us because everyone has participated in some way shape or form as either a student or an alumni,” Kolakowski said. “Being able to create an environment where students get to practice leadership hands on is something you can’t get early in your career, so seeing students do that as undergrads was just amazing.”
