Northern Arizona University Hospitality Administration Student Selected

ATLANTA, August 15, 2022 – Hospitality Upgrade Publisher and President Rich Siegel today announced the next recipient of the John Cahill student seat will be Shannon Regan, an undergraduate student of the NAU School of HRM in the W. A. Franke College of Business. In its 20th year, the upcoming CIO Summit will be held Sept. 7-8, 2022, in Hollywood, California.

The John Cahill Honorary Seat is awarded to one distinguished student from a selected university or four-year college with a hotel program. This student is recommended by his or her professors as an individual with great potential in the hotel technology industry.

The John Cahill Honorary Seat was created in memory of industry leader, technologist, mentor and friend John Cahill, a big supporter of the CIO Summit from its inception in 2001. Over the course of his career, Cahill was the CIO for three hotel companies – ITT Sheraton, InterContinental Hotels and The Denihan Hospitality Group. Cahill was an active leader in Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP), with his contributions including co-editing the inaugural Certified Hospitality Technology Professional (CHTP) exam in 1995.

Above all, Cahill was a mentor. Hospitality Upgrade’s Rich Siegel wished to see his memory live on by presenting one student each year with an exclusive opportunity to attend an otherwise closed-door, invitation-only CIO Summit, allowing the student to sit in John’s seat for the two-day event. “It’s something we know John would have loved,” Siegel said.

The previous recipients of this award include inaugural recipient Spencer Rung, a 2016 graduate of the Penn State School of Hospitality Management; the 2017 recipient, Andrew Trupia, a graduate of the University of Nevada - Las Vegas; the 2018 recipient Juan Jesus Trevino, a student of the Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management at the University of Houston; the 2019 recipient, Smit Patel a graduate student of the Boston University School of Hospitality Administration program; and the 2021 recipient was Alana Agcaoili, an undergraduate student of the Kennesaw State University School of Hospitality Administration.
The CIO Summit

The CIO Summit is an annual event produced by Hospitality Upgrade. It is a unique, invitation-only event for chief information officers from hotel brands, management companies, cruise lines, gaming and independent hotels. This year’s CIO Summit will be hosted at the Loews Hollywood on Sept. 7-8, 2022.  

For more information about The CIO Summit, please visit www.hospitalityupgrade.com/CIOSummit.