Neil C. Tarallo is a senior lecturer at the SC Johnson College of Business at Cornell University, where he teaches innovation and entrepreneurship. Over the past 25 years, Neil has worked with Fortune 500 companies, mid-sized firms, and global teams across five continents and more than 20 countries to develop leadership capacity, build innovation cultures, and drive purposeful growth. A lifelong entrepreneur and innovator in his own right, Neil’s work bridges the gap between research and real-world leadership. He is the author of “The Purposeful Leader,” a practical guide to multi-dimensional leadership in complex environments.

On‑Campus Capstone – Advanced Hospitality Strategy CapstoneImmersion Program
Course Overview
This session takes place June 13-16, 2022 on campus at the Cornell Hotel School in Ithaca, NY. Sessions run from 8:00am-5:00pm ET each day.
The Advanced Hospitality Strategy Capstone, part of the Cornell Professional Development Program, is the on-campus component that results in the completion of your advanced certificate. It takes place at the Cornell University campus in Ithaca, NY, at the renowned School of Hotel Administration.
Over four intensive days, you will tackle strategic management challenges and collaborate with a network of peers to expand the foundation of your hospitality knowledge.
Days 1 and 2: Creating Sustainable Innovation
Innovation: It's a hot topic these days, and there is a plethora of information regarding how to transform, change, or revolutionize your company. Many in the hospitality industry find the application of technology and product innovation methodologies just won't work for service-based companies. In this two-day intensive, you will learn what it takes to create and execute sustainable service-based innovation programs. This is a hands-on, workshop-based session that will give you a clear path to innovation.
Days 3 and 4: Using Financial Tools for Strategic Value Creation
Over these two days, you will explore how to bridge the gap between business strategy and operational performance. You will focus on value creation from the perspective of the hotel operator, with the expectation that getting the most value out of the individual business units will, over time, aid in the company's goal of value maximization. Considerable time will also be spent understanding and managing issues arising between the owner and the operator regarding their expectations and goals for the hotel.
Key Course Takeaways
- Review and practice a proprietary process for sustainable innovation
- Develop a managed, repeatable process for creating new opportunities
- Measure performance and value from the operator and connect it to the hotel owner's value
- Identify specific strategies that can enhance profitability and value in the hotel
- Improve financial performance by maximizing the use of working capital and long-term assets in a competitive hotel market
- Identify opportunities to reallocate hotel spaces to increase profitability

Course Authors
Steven Carvell joined the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration’s finance faculty in 1986 and is currently a Professor of Finance in the SC Johnson College of Business. Over the past 33 years, he has taught undergraduate and graduate courses such as Advanced Corporate Finance, Capital Budgeting, Financial Strategy, and Investments. Dr. Carvell has also been an active teacher in executive education since 1990, working with almost every major domestic and international hotel company to create custom courses for hotel executives with companies like Hilton, Marriott, InterContinental Hotel Group, Taj Hotels, Jumeirah, Accor, Sol Melia, Le Meridien, Shangri La, and Peninsula. Dr. Carvell has also authored eight distance-learning courses through eCornell that are among the most widely demanded courses offered. He has held academic leadership positions at the School of Hotel Administration since 1999, serving as the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs from 2007 to 2016 and the Academic Director of the Pillsbury Institute for Entrepreneurship from 2013 to 2016.
Dr. Carvell has published numerous articles in academic and professional journals, including the Financial Analysts Journal, Journal of Portfolio Management, the Harvard Business Review, and the Cornell Quarterly, and he is the co-author of “In the Shadows of Wall Street.” His work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Forbes, Fortune, Institutional Investor, Financial World, and Leaders. Dr. Carvell has recently finished a major project designed to identify the determinants of hotel demand for U.S. hotels and another on economic and capital market antecedents of venture capital commitments. He is currently working on a project to disaggregate hotel room rates within urban markets and another to determine the risk-return characteristics of hotel room rates in major U.S. markets. Dr. Carvell is also involved with evaluating the effectiveness of hotel company business strategies using strategic benchmarking and economic value-added analysis.
Dr. Carvell has worked for professional money managers in the area of applied strategy in the equity market and served as a consultant to the Presidential Commission on the 1987 stock market crash. His consulting interests include valuation and risk analysis in feasibility studies, hotel debt capacity, strategic benchmarking, and corporate and financial strategy.
Who Should Enroll
- Senior leadership at hotel properties
- General managers
- Executive committee personnel
- Managers hoping to move into a senior leadership position
- Hotel owners
- Corporate-level managers interested in the formulation of business-unit and corporate strategy
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