SHL alumnus spotlight: Isaiah Griffin

After graduating from the College of Business’ School of Hospitality Leadership (SHL) in the summer of 2019, Isaiah Griffin was caught at the beginning of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, which impacted the hospitality sector extremely hard.

So, with his degree in hand and the world at a 2-year standstill, Griffin looked at nontraditional jobs within the hospitality community and luckily stumbled across the perfect job for him: the Fayetteville Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.

In the summer of 2021, Isaiah was hired by the FACVB to serve as the sales coordinator for convention sales. The role of the sales coordinator is to assist the sales manager in locating a potential business to bring conventions and meetings to Cumberland County. However, there was no sales manager then, so Isaiah wore both hats, eventually earning the title of convention sales manager.

Griffin’s activities include working with local hotels, venues and meeting planners from the country to bring their meetings, conferences and tradeshows to Cumberland County. With a strong focus on customer service, excellent business practices, and building lasting relationships, Griffin is dedicated to meeting revenue and room night goals for the FACVB, directly affecting Cumberland County’s economic impact.

Isaiah credits his professional success to his educational foundation at SHL. Every class prepared him not only to understand the perspective of the hoteliers but also to know-how to communicate the needs of the meeting planners to the hoteliers. The well-rounded education gained from SHL has contributed to Griffin’s professional confidence in not only the area of hospitality and customer service but also food and beverage management, marketing, finance, entrepreneurship and facilities management, which are all integral aspects of the businesses he works with daily.

• Categories:
• Academic
• School of Hospitality Leadership