Speakers

Demian Hodari is EHL Professor of Strategic Management at the Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne. In addition to teaching courses at both the Masters and undergraduate levels, he also founded and directs the EHL Distinguished Speakers Series, the EHL Strategic Investment Days and the EHL Strategy Challenge. His research focuses on the strategic practices of hospitality companies, the evolving role of the hotel general manager, and on collaborative efforts between industry and academia. He regularly presents his research at academic conferences, provides executive education lectures and is a frequent moderator and/or chairperson for industry events including most recently the International Hotel Investment Forum, ITB, the European Hotel Managers Association and Budget & Economy Hotels Asia. He has also been invited to deliver lectures and classes at other universities such as IMD (Switzerland) and Lincoln University (Argentina).

Prior to beginning his academic career Demian spent 15 years working in the hospitality industry. He was for several years a hotel general manager and the president of an independent hotel management and consulting company in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He holds a Ph.D. in Strategic Management from the University of Surrey’s School of Management, a Masters (Honors) from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration and a B.A. in comparative religions and philosophy from Georgetown University. He lives in Lausanne, Switzerland with his wife and three children.