Hospitality Management Adjunct Professor Dave Scypinski arrived at Mercyhurst a year ago, to spread his knowledge to students about his real world experiences in the industry.

He started off working in hotels, like Hilton Hotels Corporation and Starwood.

Scypinski spent 23 years with Hilton in a wide variety of roles. He left Hilton as Vice President of Industry Relations and took the position of Senior Vice President of Industry Relations at Starwood. He remained at Starwood for about 10 years before taking a position at ConferenceDirect.

ConferenceDirect is one of the industry’s largest meeting, sourcing and planning companies. Scypinski is responsible to head the new business development and contracting functions.

At Mercyhurst he teaches one class that deals with the process of sourcing, booking, arranging and performing a meeting, convention or tradeshow. This class provides students with the education to enter a job as a meeting planner or salesperson at a hotel.

“The reason I wanted to teach is two-fold. First, to give back to the students and help them to know what is really happening in the industry, not just what might be in the textbook. Secondly, I want to assist every student with getting a job or an internship,” Scypinski said.

Because he has worked in the business for more than 35 years, Scypinski can provide students with the proper contacts to help them network into great opportunities.

While Scypinski thoroughly enjoys teaching at Mercyhurst, he also loves the atmosphere.

“My favorite thing so far about Mercyhurst is the intimacy of the education experience for both the student as well as the instructor,” said Scypinski. “The physical environment at Mercyhurst is conductive to learning and at the same time very comfortable.”

In his spare time, Scypinski enjoys the outdoors. He specifically likes to go biking at the Presque Isle, dine outdoors and embrace all that Erie has to offer.

To learn more about his past experiences in the hotel industry or his hospitality class, contact Dave Scypinski at dave.scypinski@conferencedirect.com.