TORONTO — The Ontario Hostelry Institute (OHI) announced the winners of its Hall of Fame Awards, which recognize long-term hospitality leaders. The awards will be presented to inductees at the OHC 2023 opening reception on October 2. This group is the first to be added to this prestigious group since 2018 and follows Ontario Restaurant Hotel & Motel Association (ORHMA) taking over custodianship for the OHI.
The 2023 OHI Hall of Fame award winners include:
- Ann Geddes – The Boulevard Club, community advocate
- David Smythe – Gillin Hotels & Lord Elgin Hotel Ottawa, graduate of Loyalist College
- Domenic Santaguida – Vittoria Trattoria, industry supporter and hospitality advocator
- Emad Yacoub – Glowbal Restaurant Group, recognized as top restaurateur in B.C.
- Frank Hennessey, CEO of Recipe Unlimited Corporation & Imvescor, MBA from the Rotman School of Management
- Franco Prevedello – Splendido/Biffi/Pronto/Centro/Terra/Acqua/Nota Bene
- Hans Gerhardt – Past Sutton Place Hotel, author of HotelBiz
- James Chiu – founder and CEO of Mandarin Restaurants, strong supporter of hospitality and community
- Janak Bhawnani – Easton’s Group of Hotels, studied at Ecole Hoteliere Les Roches
- Joan Monafaredi – executive chef, Park Hyatt Toronto, founder at TWO13 Kosher Food Design
- Joe Colasanti – Colasanti’s Tropical Gardens, hospitality and community supporter
- John Hunter – Hunter Amenities International, hospitality supporter
- Judson Simpson – House of Commons executive chef, chair of Canadian Culinary Federation
- Kenneth Willcocks – Best Western Sword Motor Inn, OHI founding committee member
- Klaus Theyer – chef, educator and culinary author, Humber College professor
- Michael Beckley – past Marriott International/Commonwealth Hospitality, hotel leader
- Nancy Munzar Kelly – GM & COO of Shangri-La Hotels & Resorts, graduate from Cornell Hospitality School
- Nick Perpick – past with Fairfax Holding & Caseys Restaurants, president & COO of Prime Restaurants
- Paul Neate – past president of Neate Roller Foodserivce, Business Development Gordon Food Service
- Phil Waserman – Courtyard Restaurant, Mamma Grazzi’s, Kitchen and Biagio’s Italian Kitchen (Ottawa)
- Ray Gupta – Chairman & CEO of Sunray Group of Hotels, multiple philanthropic endeavours
- Robert Carter – StratonHunter Group/NPD Group, Canada’s top authority on foodservice trends
- Roz Blaker-Winegrad – Marriot’s Franchise System, F&B/culinary experience including NY Marquis
- Rudolf Fischbacher – Dean, Centre of Hospitality & Culinary Arts, George Brown College, chef, education and F&B director
- Satinder Dhillon – InnVest Hotels & Westmount Hospitality Group
- Wally Elich – Sysco Foodservice, Gordon Food Service
