The future of hospitality relies on diverse leadership, and women are increasingly stepping into those roles. Championing women in the hospitality industry is the AHLA Foundation’s ForWard Conference, now in its sixth year. Nearly one thousand hospitality professionals convened at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta earlier this month for this year’s conference, which “centered around the concept of power, both individual and collective power,” Kevin Carey, president and CEO, AHLA Foundation, shared with LODGING.
This year’s ForWard Conference marked a milestone for the event, which found a new home in Atlanta after being held in Chicago since its inception. Carey said Chicago has “a wonderful market, a lot of hotel headquarters, operations, owners, great market from a lift perspective, and travel ease, but it was never the intention to be there forever. Atlanta has many of those same attributes.” Carey highlighted IHG Hotels & Resorts and Davidson, who have headquarters in Atlanta.
ForWard Conference speakers transcended industries and conveyed insights that attendees could use to help advance their careers. Among the most impactful speakers were Jennifer Hyman, CEO and founder of Rent the Runway, and Nicole Lynn, president of football operations, Klutch Sports Group, Carey noted. Additionally, mentorship played a large role in this year’s ForWard Conference. “We actually instituted a new activation zone, which allowed for both informal networking but also pre-confirmed mentorship conversations and flash mentorship conversations,” Carey shared.
ForWard’s focus is on empowering and connecting women in the hospitality industry, but its community-building aspect also includes bringing more men into the fold. Carey explained, “We’re certainly trying to encourage men to participate, and, obviously, there are men who want to be allies for advancing women in the industry.” He also shared that ForWard has become the primary women’s network opportunity for colleagues and organizations, some of which brought over 50 team members to this year’s event. “Getting that benefit of the community, the networking, but also the practical training and access to speakers on topics from leadership development and well-being to industry insights, people are coming away with things they can apply,” Carey added.
Following the ForWard Conference’s success, Carey said, “We’re still feeling the glow of the event.” And the feedback from attendees confirms that success. “The response has really been exceptional. We’ve received post-event attendee responses that are approaching close to 25 percent of attendees, which is just amazing,” Carey shared. He added that the AHLA Foundation is still getting responses, and that close to 92 percent of those respondents said the event was either excellent or very good. “We couldn’t be happier with the response and really proud of how it continues to evolve and how the momentum continues to accelerate,” he said.
The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) and the AHLA Foundation are two legal enterprises that operate under one entity. While the AHLA focuses on public policy advocacy and membership, the AHLA Foundation promotes workforce advocacy and developing and attracting the future workforce. Carey cited ForWard and No Room for Trafficking as two highly visible initiatives where the AHLA and the AHLA Foundation “come together to make a difference.”
