September Member Spotlight

While Pete has been in Huntsville for the past 35 years, he grew up in Nashville. After
graduating from MTSU in Business, he began his career in hospitality as a Banquet
Bartender at Holiday Inn in Nashville. For a short stint, he moved from there to the
Unemployment Office for Tennessee, and then back into hospitality. He progressed
from Bellman to Banquet Manager, to Catering Manager, to Food and Beverage
Director, and then Hotel General Manager. Pete has been at the Holiday Inn Research
Park for almost 25 years. One of Pete’s three sons works with him at the Holiday Inn.

Pete loves three main aspects of his career in the hospitality industry:

- The biggest benefit is the immediate gratification of seeing your customers happy
   with your service.
- The second is the relationships he has built with the employees – always thinking
   of them as family and everyone strives to take care of each other.
- Third are seeing former employees go off and excel in other positions and come
   back an thank him for helping them grow in their careers.
The demands of running a hotel doesn’t leave much time for hobbies. When time
permits, Pete likes live music, traveling, and his motorcycle. Last summer he drove
from Spokane, WA to Kansas City, visiting Yellowstone, Rushmore, and many other
wonderful sites. HE has driven completely across country to LA. His next target is the
Northeast.

He values the comradery and sharing of information and networking that is provided by
the Hospitality Association. Its members are always helping each other. They share
similar problems and come up with solutions for everybody. He usually learns
something he can use and derives value from the meetings and speakers.