AH&L Educational Institute honors hospitality industry leaders

The American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute (EI) honored the 2009 recipients of the Certified Hotel Administrator (CHA) Emeritus and Master Hotel Supplier (MHS) Emeritus designations at its annual Celebration of Excellence Breakfast during the International Hotel/Motel & Restaurant Show, which took place Nov. 7 to 10 in New York.

This year's CHA Emeritus honorees are:

• Caroline Cooper, CHA, professor, Alan Shawn Feinstein Graduate School and former dean of the Hospitality College at Johnson & Wales University
• Pedro Mandoki, CHA, chairman and CEO, Mandoki Hospitality Group
• Richard C. Nelson, CHA, vice president emeritus, Hyatt Hotels
• Paul O'Neil, CHA, chief operating officer, Kerzner International

This year's MHS Emeritus honorees are:

• Kerry Hirschy, MHS, senior vice president, Kaba Lodging Systems
• Stanley Turkel, MHS, ISHC, hotel and franchise consultant
  

The CHA Emeritus and MHS Emeritus are awarded in recognition of the recipients' careers in the hospitality industry. The career of an Emeritus is marked by commitment to the past, present and future of the hospitality environment.

AI culinary student wins Tabasco Hottest Chef Contest

At the 2009 Tabasco Hottest Chef Contest, which took place last month at Delgado Community College in New Orleans, two winners were selected for submitting entrée recipes for any daypart of the menu that incorporated Tabasco products and did not exceed a menu price of $15. Jared Cushman, a chef-in-training at International Culinary Schools at the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., took the competition's student category prize of $2,500 for his chipotle duck breast risotto entrée (pictured, below).

The student category winning entrée, chipotle duck breast risotto, featuring Tabasco brand Chipotle Pepper Sauce, took the $2,500 prize.*

The professional and student category winners were awarded cash prizes and will be featured along with their winning recipes on www.tabascofoodservice.com.

*Photo courtesy of McIllhenny Co./Tabasco Brand Products