Discours de Vincenzo Vinzi pour les 40 ans du programme IMHI

Dear IMHI Alumni, speakers, professors, ladies and gentlemen,

Good afternoon! It is my greatest pleasure to be with you today. I am happy to see such a big crowd gathered to celebrate an outstanding achievement: the 40th anniversary of our flagship program in Hospitality, the IMHI.

I would like to start by thanking the IMHI Alumni Association and its president Monika Moser for putting this event together. I know they have worked on this for a long time and put a lot of energy into it, and the result will be magnificent for sure. I look forward to the conferences and conversations we will have all afternoon, with first rank panels and guests.

Thank you to the speakers and professors who accepted to share their experience with us today, and to our sponsors for making this event possible.

Last, on behalf of all our school, I would like to express my gratitude to the team running the program and making the magic happen, after four decades of existence!

Hospitality is a topic that is very close to my heart, because I was born in the hospitality industry, so to speak. On the island of Capri, in Italy, just a few years before the creation of IMHI, my family worked in that sector – as well as all my parents’ friends, all my schoolmates, and many people around us. It was a strong and attractive sector, as it still is today. Although I did not choose that career path for myself, the fact that I became Dean & President of the business school that runs the best Hospitality Management program in the world is maybe a sign of destiny!

The history of this Master’s degree in Hospitality is quite special. Some 40 years ago, pioneers built a program to bring the best of academic expertise, rigor and knowledge to the hospitality industry. Even though this idea can seem pretty common today, it was really an innovation at that time, because hospitality was solely based on hands-on learning. In the early 1980s, going to school to learn how to manage a hotel was something unheard of: you just got a job in a hotel and started from there.

But the idea of creating an international academic program on hospitality proved very successful and visionary, as demonstrated by its long-lasting history, its impact on generations of students and on the development of the sector as well. The IMHI has trained more than 1,900 highly qualified managers who now occupy key positions in the hospitality business, in so many different countries.

Our audience today reflects that: IMHI is a unique, global brand whose community is present on all continents and adds to our school’s solid international reputation. The AAIMHI counts 1,900 Alumni, from 45 nationalities over 55 countries. It is an important and active segment of the ESSEC Alumni network, which has over 60,000 members worldwide. Thanks to this growing network of Hospitality industry leaders, the IMHI has become even more than an academic program.

Hospitality remains a very important expertise for ESSEC and IMHI is still a leading program. It has evolved to meet the challenges of our times, and now includes concentrations on digital leadership, sustainability and entrepreneurship, in addition to the foundational concentrations on real estate management, luxury services management and food and beverage. After 25 years of joint venture with Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration between 1981 and 2006, we are now happy to partner with Boston University to offer our students the opportunity to study abroad.

Building on this expertise, ESSEC has extended its portfolio of Hospitality-related programs recently with the Global Executive Master's in Hospitality Leadership, in partnership with Glion Institute of Higher Education, a business school specializing in hospitality and luxury professions based in Switzerland. Contrarily to the IMHI, which trains younger students, this Executive program targets seasoned professionals who want to move up to leadership positions. In the hospitality industry, too, learning can be a lifelong process.

At ESSEC, we are lucky to have multiple jewels in the crown, and IMHI is one of them. We are committed to investing in the program to make it evolve so that it meets the new needs of the global hospitality education market. I am firmly convinced that IMHI has all the assets to remain the best hospitality program to train forward-thinking leaders with an unequaled sense of service.

I believe that, as all human-centered industries, Hospitality offers many opportunities to learn and grow to the people who choose it as a career. Of course, there are challenges too: the Covid pandemic has been a tough one for businesses dependent on tourism and travel.

The rising environmental crisis also questions how we practice hospitality, and we know that the new generations of students are more and more aware of the sustainability imperative. But when I consider the determination, creativity and value-driven mindset of our students, professors and team, I know that we are capable of addressing these challenges and eager to tap into every opportunity. And no doubt today’s conferences will give us directions to where the hospitality industry is headed.

Tomorrow, some of you will be visiting our Cergy campus that is undergoing a profound transformation. A lot has changed, in connection with the Campus 2023 Project and “Together”, our 360-degree environmental and social transition plan. We have already inaugurated the new Sports & Recreation Center, with the help of Junior IMHI in the organization. ESSEC keeps forging its history, and the IMHI is always part of it. Let’s keep it growing and building a bright future for Hospitality at our School and beyond.

Thank you so much and enjoy the event!