President's Message

Spring is officially here in New York City, and with it brings warmer weather, more sunlight, and a sense of promise of better things to come. We’ve certainly been through a lot in these last two years. Riding the ebbs and flows of this long and uncharted recovery is turning out to be quite the adventure as well.  

I am so honored to have been elected as President of our chapter – the largest in all of HSMAI in the best city in the world!  Now more than ever, our organization feels important – almost integral – to our recovery. From networking, educating each other, sharing data in real time, and supporting each other to mentoring and encouraging the next generation of hospitality professionals. HSMAI is here for us all, and I couldn’t be prouder of our organization and our Greater New York Chapter.  

Towards our goal of engaging future leaders, our chapter planned an incredible Intercollegiate Virtual Spring Conference last year and was recognized with a 2021 Best of the Best Award for that event. The 2022 Conference took place April 4-7; similar to last year, we had an outstanding lineup of speakers and panelists that would be of interest, not just to students and educators, but to our regular members as well. 

In the afterglow of our first in-person program in over two years… Looking at everyone filled me with such pride and left me so hopeful and optimistic for our future in NYC. To say how grateful I was, to see my peers and colleagues and friends that I haven’t seen in so long, is an understatement. Being able to hug people, shake hands, have conversations in person, and not have to hear “you’re on mute” when you have something to say, was just such a special moment for me.  I know we still have an uphill climb ahead of us, but I genuinely feel that as we all have had to adapt and adopt new technologies, processes, and ways of doing our business more efficiently. We will make it to the other side of this as a stronger, more strategic, and creative industry than ever before.  Together we will innovate, adapt, and be better because of the challenges we've been facing these past couple of years. 

I hope you share my excitement for our industry's recovery, and I look forward to seeing you all at our next HSMAI event!

Warm Regards,
Derek Brewster