Investing in People and UMass Highlight HTM Awards Dinner

“You work for people, not for companies—that’s what it’s all about,” emphasized 2016 Stephen Elmont Distinguished Alumnus Award recipient Rick Colangelo ’84 in his keynote remarks at the annual Hospitality & Tourism Management (HTM) Awards Dinner on April 12. Deftly emceed by Rob McCarthy ’78, the event at the Boston Harbor Hotel also honored James Stamas ’54 with its Special Recognition Award and HTM student Alanna McCabe ’17 with its annual Stephen Elmont Scholarship.

More than 250 alumni, students, faculty, and friends from industry attended the dinner, which was preceded by an hour of convivial networking. Alumni represented every age group in the program’s history and every subsector in the hospitality industry.

An Enduring Commitment to HTM and its Students

Honoree Rick Colangelo’s commitment to people—he is Executive Vice President of Operations with Commune Hotels and Resorts—embraces customers, employees, and future employees—Isenberg HTM students included. “I go to HTM’s Career Day every year. I will never miss one,” he told the gathering. “UMass and HTM prepare their students for innovation. They are upbeat, positive, dedicated, and extremely hard working.”

Over the years, Colangelo (pictured center) has hired 75 of those students, 75% of whom have stayed in the hospitality industry. It has been satisfying to see many of them advance in their careers—some to senior executive positions, he told the gathering. His own daughter, Stephanie, a 2015 Isenberg HTM grad, began a career at Kimpton Hotels in Boston last spring. His oldest son, Daniel, is a sophomore Isenberg Operations & Information Management major.

“As a transfer student, my own journey at UMass was not typical,” Rick recalled. But through his HTM major, he gained an edge thanks to the program’s emphasis on experiential learning, which included roles at the Campus Center Hotel.  After graduation, he held managerial and leadership positions around the nation at Hyatt, Ritz-Carlton, Hilton, Marriott, Adam’s Mark Hotel in Colombia, and the Tremont Hotel in Chicago. Gaining a reputation as a go-to-guy in launching new hotels and brands, he began 11-years with Kimpton Hotels in 2001, opening its first hotel in the East and subsequently many others. “There were 55 when I left,” he told the gathering.

Since joining Commune in in 2013, Rick has thrived while energizing its Joie de Vivre, Thompson Hotel, and tommie brands—the latter micro-hotels targeted to a youthful demographic.   In January, Commune joined forces with Destination Hotels. At the new uber-business, Rick’s current roles will continue, with his full confidence that the culture will fuel continuous innovation. Ultimately, he remarked, “It’s all about culture”—a culture, he insisted, that supports “innovation, creativity, and people. “A hotel,” he insisted, “is a hotel, but ultimately it’s about people.”

Student and Emeritus Dean Perspectives  

Like Rick Colangelo, Alanna McCabe ’17, this year’s Elmont Scholarship honoree, is a staunch advocate of HTM’s Career Day. “I was coordinator of volunteers for this year’s event and will be chair of the Career Day Committee in 2017,” she told the banquet audience. An awarded member of HTM’s Eta Sigma Delta hospitality honor society chapter, Alanna thanked the gathering for her scholarship support: “Financial expenses are stressful,” she said. “I am relieved; the scholarship will have a great impact on my senior year.”

The event’s Special Recognition award went to UMass Amherst alumnus James Stamas ’54, Dean Emeritus of Boston University’s School of Hospitality Administration. Following an impactful managerial career in the hospitality industry, Jim, as dean of B.U.’s School of Hospitality Administration from 1995 to 2011, transformed it into one of the nation’s leading hospitality programs. Introduced by HTM alumna Denise Coll ’75, he prefaced his remarks: “This is an occasion to express gratitude toward UMass.” For a first generation college student of immigrant parents, UMass was extremely affordable, he said. It offered “a great education that made me better and happier. . . And I gained a lifetime of friends, including my wife. [In short], “I haven’t done anywhere as much for me as you did for me.”