Assistant Vice President, Hospitality

Position Focus:

Yale is seeking an Assistant Vice President (AVP) for Hospitality. Yale Hospitality is dedicated to creating a welcoming environment where the joys of sharing food, nourishing minds, and making connections among the community are woven into every guest experience. We are fully self-operated with over 23 residential and retail dining operations, as well as dedicated catering services. We have a combined union and non-union workforce of approximately 600, plus our casual and on-call workforce. This team of talented culinary, service, management, and administrative staff touch the lives of students, employees, and visitors year after year, providing an average of 15,000 meals per day and orchestrating approximately 2,000 events a year.

Reporting to the VP of Campus Services the AVP for Hospitality carries the responsibility for overseeing all facets of hospitality services throughout the university, delivering positive guest experiences to students, faculty, staff, and visitors. Responsibilities include strategic planning, business and fiscal management, facility oversight, and operational execution.

The AVP is responsible for fostering positive relationships with leaders and key stakeholders across various sectors of the institution. This includes academic leaders, operational heads, student representatives, union representatives and alumni associations. This is critical to grasp the evolving preferences and demands of these distinct groups. Most notably the approximate 6,500 undergraduate students residing in 14 residential colleges.

We need a strong leader that will guide and support this complex operation to meet the evolving needs of the organization. This leader will lead by example, communicate effectively, and foster a positive workplace culture where collaboration, innovation, and growth are encouraged.

As both a visionary and change champion, this role drives initiatives to adapt and respond effectively to campus planning and changes, shifting market dynamics, technological advancements, and organizational growth. The AVP will manage a comprehensive $80 million operating budget and will be responsible for optimizing revenue streams and ensure cost-effective operations while maintaining service levels.

Strategic Leadership: Develop and implement strategic plans that align with the university’s mission, values, and priorities. Drive innovation and promote sustainability practices within hospitality operations.

Stakeholder Engagement: Collaborate with university stakeholders, including academic departments, student organizations, and administrative units, to understand and meet their hospitality needs.

Financial Management: Develop and manage annual budgets, optimize revenue streams, and ensure cost-effective operations.

Operations Leadership: Provide leadership and direction for hospitality services, including 14 residential dining halls, 11 retail and dining locations, Schwarzman Center, West Campus Farm, catering, and the culinary support center.

Risk Management: Implement effective risk management strategies to safeguard the university's reputation, assets, and stakeholders. Maintain strong internal controls to provide reasonable assurance of effective and appropriate resource use, accurate financial information, and adherence to contractual obligations, policies, procedures, and relevant regulations, and health and safety standards.

Talent Management: Responsible for overall staff management, including recruitment, labor relations, skill development, evaluation, and staff resource allocation and deployment. Foster a culture of trust, teamwork, inclusivity, and continuous improvement.

External Partnerships: Cultivate and maintain relationships with external vendors, partners, and industry peers to enhance hospitality offerings and explore new opportunities

Essential Duties

1. Directs one or more functional areas within an administrative department of the University and ensure compliance with University policies and procedures. 2. Directs analytic and research support for educational policies and planning and develops and approves administrative policies affecting assigned functional areas of the University. 3. Directs and establishes parameters for major projects for the department and University. 4. Interprets federal policies and regulations and educates staff and administration about regulations, restrictions, and the legal responsibilities of the University. 5. Directs and implements policy and program modifications and develops standards to ensure compliance with federal, state and local regulations. 6. Develops and administers an operating budget for the assigned department consistent with University policies and procedures; 7. Develops cost savings objectives and goals; authorizes major purchases and negotiates contracts that range from routine to complex in nature. 8. Establishes and implements long- and short-range goals for the functional area consistent with University goals and objectives. 9. Directs the development of related automated systems to support the function; determines office policies and procedures for use of automated systems. 10. Directs the evaluation and selection of vendors and negotiates contract details including work steps and pricing with the vendors on behalf of the assigned functional area. 11. Works with internal and external contacts to solve problems that range from routine to complex in nature. 12. Represents the University in discussions and negotiations with various governmental agencies. 13. Directs a staff of exempt and nonexempt employees.

Required Education and Experience

Bachelor’s Degree in related field and ten years of experience or an equivalent combination of education and experience.

Required Skill/Ability 1:

Familiarity with the complexity’s of working in a unionized environment.

Required Skill/Ability 2:

Proven experience managing a multi-location hospitality operation.

Required Skill/Ability 3:

Ability to motivate and inspire a hospitality team to provide extraordinary customer service.

Required Skill/Ability 4:

Ability to develop, manage, and regularly report on a large budget with a continual focus on profit and loss accurately and strategically.

Preferred Education, Experience and Skills:

Advanced degree. Experience leading hospitality dining programs in a higher education setting.

Weekend Hours Required?

Occasional

Evening Hours Required?

Occasional

Drug Screen

No

Health Screening

No

Background Check Requirements

All candidates for employment will be subject to pre-employment background screening for this position, which may include motor vehicle, DOT certification, drug testing and credit checks based on the position description and job requirements. All offers are contingent upon the successful completion of the background check. For additional information on the background check requirements and process visit "Learn about background checks" under the Applicant Support Resources section of Careers on the It's Your Yale website.

COVID-19 Vaccine Requirement

The University maintains policies pertaining to COVID-19. All faculty, staff, students, and trainees are required to comply with these policies, which may be found here:

Posting Disclaimer

The intent of this job description is to provide a representative summary of the essential functions that will be required of the position and should not be construed as a declaration of specific duties and responsibilities of the particular position. Employees will be assigned specific job-related duties through their hiring departments.