Business & Finance

Leaders of Brinker International and AH&LA are the 2010 Hospitality Industry Hall of Honor Inductees

Doug Brooks and Joseph A. McInerney to be Inducted into the Hospitality Hall of Honor at the Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management at the University of Houston

HOUSTON, TX - August 16, 2010 - Two hospitality-industry visionaries, including the head of one of the world’s most popular casual-dining companies and the president of the lodging industry’s largest trade association, are this year’s inductees into the prestigious Hospitality Industry Hall of Honor housed at the Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management at the University of Houston.

Doug Brooks, chairman, president and CEO of Brinker International, which operates restaurant brands Chili’s Grill & Bar and Maggiano’s Little Italy, and Joseph A. McInerney, president and CEO of the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA), will join some of hospitality’s biggest icons and industry giants in the Hospitality Hall of Honor at the annual induction ceremony to be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct.13, in the Conrad N. Hilton Ballroom at the Hilton University of Houston.

“These inductees are two excellent leaders and are highly deserving of this recognition,” said John Bowen, dean of Hilton College.

“Doug Brooks expanded Brinker International and continues to preserve the positive culture within the company first established by company namesake Norman Brinker. And Joe McInerney took a struggling AH&LA and turned it into an effective and efficient organization that is a real asset to America’s lodging industry, not to mention the rest of his outstanding career in the hotel industry that spans decades.”

Brooks said he is excited to be the first alumnus inducted into the Hall of Honor and honored to share the distinction with his mentor, Norman Brinker, who was inducted in 2004.

“To be included on that list of the most successful and influential leaders in this industry is incredibly humbling,” Brooks said. “It’s an impressive list of people. I’m amazed to be in the company of this industry’s geniuses and to follow in Norman Brinker’s footsteps—I honor and thank him for any recognition I receive.”

Joseph A. McInerney, CHA, is president and chief executive officer of the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA).

“It’s a tremendous honor and something I greatly appreciate,” McInerney said of his upcoming induction into the Hall of Honor. “I am truly humbled because of all the great people who have been recognized in past years. I’m proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish at AH&LA and grateful for this tribute.”

Established in 1995, the Hospitality Industry Hall of Honor recognizes industry leaders who have made extraordinary contributions to American and international business and society. The inductees’ achievements are now memorialized in commissioned portraits in the new Hall of Honor Gallery in the newly renovated Hilton University of Houston’s lobby, and in the new Massad Family Library Research Center and Hospitality Industry Archives, which contains archival documents and memorabilia from the companies the inductees conceived and built.

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