The Penn State College of Hospitality Administration within the Faculty of Well being and Human Improvement and the Penn State Resort and Restaurant Society (PSHRS) have named Reggie Aggarwal, founder and CEO of Cvent, because the 2025 Hospitality Government of the 12 months.

Aggarwal will probably be honored on the 2025 PSHRS Business Awards and Reception, which is able to happen at 4:30 p.m. on April 8, 2025, on the Nittany Lion Inn amongst alumni, school, trade companions and college students.

“This recognition is an incredible honor,” Aggarwal mentioned. “The hospitality trade is the spine of making memorable experiences and profitable occasions, and Penn State’s esteemed program has persistently been a cornerstone in nurturing new expertise and recent views. Bringing individuals collectively is on the coronary heart of what we do at Cvent, and we’re proud to contribute to an trade rooted in service and real human connection. Thanks to the Penn State College of Hospitality Administration and PSHRS for recognizing our unimaginable group and the affect they’ve made over the past 25 years.”

Aggarwal based Cvent in 1999 with the aim of creating assembly planning simpler for his friends within the enterprise neighborhood. Cvent has since change into a global-leading supplier of conferences, occasions and hospitality administration expertise. Right now, Cvent’s platform powers thousands and thousands of digital, in-person and hybrid occasions for 1000’s of organizations, together with half of the Fortune 500.

“Our hospitality administration majors at Penn State, and particularly our college students pursuing the entrepreneurship and innovation minor, are impressed by Reggie’s potential to see a chance, create an answer to an trade downside, and steward that answer into a worldwide, thriving firm,” mentioned Donna Quadri-Felitti, Marvin Ashner Endowed Director of the Penn State College of Hospitality Administration. “He isn’t solely a megastar to these college students, however an instance our school use throughout our curriculum in regards to the worth of tech-enabled, stakeholder-focused hospitality enterprises led by visionaries like Reggie.”

Below Aggarwal’s management, Cvent has grown to greater than 4,800 staff and 22,000 clients worldwide. In June 2023, Cvent was acquired for $4.6 billion and have become a non-public firm below Blackstone, one of many world’s largest non-public fairness companies.

As soon as featured as a rising star by Forbes Journal, Aggarwal additionally has been named the No. 1 SaaS CEO by The SaaS Report, Ernst & Younger’s Entrepreneur of the 12 months, and one of many 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs by Goldman Sachs. Aggarwal was named probably the most admired CEO by the Washington Enterprise Journal, inducted into the Washington Enterprise Corridor of Fame in 2022, and inducted into the Enterprise Journey Corridor of Fame in 2019, amongst different accolades.

As well as, Aggarwal has been featured in The Wall Road Journal and Enterprise Week for his assembly and occasion trade experience.

“PSHRS continues to be energized by the excessive stage and prowess of hospitality trade icons that gravitate to our coveted College of Hospitality Administration,” mentioned Tom Neely, president of PSHRS and president and CEO of Thomas E. Strauss. “Reggie, as an entrepreneur, is a most glorious instance of our trade’s acceptance of latest concepts that facilitate new alternatives that actually transfer to assist our trade be higher. For over 60 years, now we have been honoring those that have elevated our trade to new heights, and Reggie will probably be a beautiful addition to this pantheon of execs thought-about to be a few of the biggest in hospitality administration.”

Aggarwal graduated with a bachelor of science diploma from the College of Virginia, a juris physician diploma from Washington and Lee College Regulation College, and an LLM (post-law diploma) from Georgetown College Regulation College. He additionally obtained an honorary doctorate from Southeastern College for his contribution to the neighborhood.

Concerning the Penn State Resort and Restaurant Society

The Penn State Resort and Restaurant Society was based to strengthen all hospitality professions and improve the popularity of the Hospitality Administration program (HM). PSHRS is an Alumni Group of the Penn State Alumni Affiliation and the Faculty of Well being and Human Improvement Alumni Society.

PSHRS offers a way for reaching nearer fellowship amongst alumni, school and college students. PSHRS serves those that are at present attending Penn State in HM or who’re graduates of this system, in addition to those that work throughout the HM industries and have attended Penn State or are “buddies” of this system.

Concerning the College of Hospitality Administration

Established in 1937, Penn State’s College of Hospitality Administration is likely one of the nation’s earliest and most revered colleges of hospitality administration. Its top-ranked undergraduate and doctoral applications put together international leaders with a rigorous, numerous curriculum targeted on engaged scholarship, that includes partnerships with Penn State’s Hospitality Companies, Housing and Meals Companies, and prime international hospitality manufacturers. It’s additionally house to the oldest Penn State alumni program group, the Penn State Resort & Restaurant Society. New to the college’s portfolio is an modern and targeted Grasp of Skilled Research in Hospitality Administration graduate diploma program.

For 88 years, the Penn State College of Hospitality Administration has supplied excellent management for a worldwide and dynamic hospitality trade, providing modern applications, analysis and repair to the occupation alongside world-class school, workers and college students. The varsity conjures up all college students to pursue excellence in scholarship, exhibit a powerful work ethic, and change into profitable and moral hospitality leaders.

For extra details about the college or the PSHRS Business Awards and Reception, contact Ben Jellison, director of trade and alumni relations, at [email protected] or 814-865-6728.

Ben Jellison
Director of Business and Alumni Relations
814-865-6728
Penn State College of Hospitality Administration