Carl Winston has over 35 years of experience in a variety of senior executive level hospitality and tourism industry positions in academia and the “real world.” He is the founding Director of the L. Robert Payne School of Hospitality & Tourism Management at San Diego State University. He is also the founding Managing Director of the China Hospitality Education Initiative (CHEI) and lead Academic Advisor to The J. Willard & Alice S. Marriott Foundation for the initiative.
Prior to moving into academia, Carl was a chief operating officer for Trigild Corporation; executive vice president of operations for Jeepers!, a Boston-based company which operates a chain of small amusement parks; and executive vice president of operations for Trusthouse Forte; and later Chartwell Leisure. Prior to these experiences, he started his own hotel management company and was the senior operations executive responsible for a hotel company that grew from 17 to 125 locations in four years. In addition, he worked in public accounting as a consultant for four years. Carl has been involved with a large number of local, regional, and international industry associations and groups where he has served in leadership positions and on Boards of Directors.