Howard Feiertag receives hospitality industry award
Howard Feiertag, of Blacksburg, an instructor in hospitality and tourism management at Virginia Tech's Pamplin College of Business, received the inaugural Excellence in Sales and Marketing Strategy Award at the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association/New York University Strategy Conference in New York recently.
The award was developed to recognize an outstanding industry leader who has "contributed to or represented the sales and marketing profession in a manner that has shaped sales and marketing strategies used by the industry." The accolade acknowledges such contributions as the introduction of innovative methods, the refinement of traditional concepts, and the adaptation of best practices that are used throughout the industry.
Feiertag is credited with educating three generations of sales professionals and general managers, said HSMAI president and CEO Robert A. Gilbert. His 40-year career in hospitality includes convention bureau management, hotel operations, food and beverage management, sales and marketing, catering, meetings and convention management, and tour and travel management.
His numerous other honors include the President's Award from Meeting Professionals International, the Professional Convention Management Association's Educator of the Year Award, Fellow of the American Hotel and Motel Associations Educational Institute, and induction into the Convention Industry Councils Hall of Leaders. He co-authored Lessons from the Field: A Common Sense Approach to Effective Hotel Sales and also recently published an audio-tape series, Hospitality Sales The Basics and Beyond.
Feiertag is an editor at Travel Trade Publications and a regular columnist for Corporate and Incentive Travel magazine and Hotel and Motel Management magazine. He has taught many continuing education and training programs for Virginia Tech and industry groups.
Virginia Tech's nationally ranked Pamplin College of Business offers undergraduate and graduate programs in accounting and information systems, business information technology, economics, finance, hospitality and tourism management, management, and marketing. The college emphasizes the development of leadership skills and ethical values and the integration of technology in the academic curriculum, and prepares students for global business challenges through faculty-led study abroad programs. The college has research centers that focus on business leadership, electronic commerce, energy modeling, and wireless telecommunications. The college is committed to serving business and society through the expertise of its faculty, alumni, and students.
Founded in 1872 as a land-grant college, Virginia Tech has grown to become among the largest universities in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Today, Virginia Tech's eight colleges are dedicated to putting knowledge to work through teaching, research, and outreach activities and to fulfilling its vision to be among the top research universities in the nation. At its 2,600-acre main campus located in Blacksburg and other campus centers in Northern Virginia, Southwest Virginia, Hampton Roads, Richmond, and Roanoke, Virginia Tech enrolls more than 28,000 full- and part-time undergraduate and graduate students from all 50 states and more than 100 countries in 180 academic degree programs.
