Brian C Barker

After spending a year as a visiting faculty member, Brian Barker now joins the Tisch Center of Hospitality and Tourism Management as an Endowed Professor through the J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation. He serves as the Executive Director for the Apprenticeship & Workforce Development Program at the Tisch Center for Hospitality.

In this role, Barker will lead the joint Tisch Center and DAUS, AAS, and Apprenticeship Program, which aims to help the largest global industry convert industry experience into recognized credentials. Through a partnership with the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA), the program targets over 1,800 apprentices nationally, engaging more than 80 participating corporate lodging employers across 52 states and U.S. territories, involving more than 500 individual hotel properties.

Professor Barker will teach courses in Sales & Marketing and Social Entrepreneurship, while also leading a Social Entrepreneurship Global Field Intensive (SE GFI) to Tulsa, OK. Additionally, he will contribute to the SPS community engagement initiatives. Before his current appointment, Professor Barker held an esteemed Endowed Professorship at the Chaplin School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, at Florida International University.

With an impressive background spanning over two decades, Professor Barker's experience encompasses both hospitality and academic leadership. A significant portion of his career was spent with Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts (FSHR), where he served as an operational manager in Philadelphia and Miami. A notable achievement during his tenure was leading the FSHR Miami to its first AAA-Five Diamond Award status as Front Office Manager. Before his appointment at FIU, Professor Barker taught courses in Leadership, Tourism, and Lodging at DePaul University's School of Hospitality Leadership. His educational journey includes a Master of Arts in Multicultural and Organizational Communication from DePaul University, and he is currently a Ph.D. candidate at Iowa State University.

Professor Barker's contributions extend to the design and development of a globally recognized leadership course, which has been featured in prominent publications such as Condé Nast Traveler. He has also dedicated efforts to establishing a comprehensive national Alliance, now a 501(c)(3) entity, where he serves as Founding Executive Director. This Alliance focuses on the hospitality talent pipeline within hospitality education, with far-reaching implications for the C-suite and includes senior leaders from entities such as Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, JLL, Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits (SGWS), and other prominent academic institutions.