Hospitality leader and educator, Dr. Jeffrey Obomeghie, is a Nigerian-American hospitality expert and educator. He is the President and CEO of the International Hospitality Institute.
Known professionally as Dr. Jeffrey O, he was born on March 7, 1961 in Nigeria to the Obomeghie family in Iyekhei, Auchi, Edo State. Dr. Obomeghie was the Founding Editor-in-Chief of the People’s Express Newspaper which was based in Lagos. He was admitted to the University of Lagos to study Political Science. He left the University of Lagos to continue his studies in the United States of America. He finished his Bachelor’s degree in Political Science at the University of Maryland University College in 2015. In 2016, he earned a Master’s degree in Human Resource Management and Training from Amberton University. In 2020, he earned a Ph.D. in Leadership Studies from Johnson University. The topic of his dissertation was: A Narrative Analysis Exploring Perceptions of Leadership Among Hourly Workers in Hotels in the Southwestern United States.
Dr. Obomeghie worked as General Manager at several US hotel brands including Marriott, Hilton, Radisson, and Embassy Suites, among others. As General Manager, he won awards for service excellence at the Marriott Sugar Land Houston and the Embassy Suites Dulles Airport. He was named General Manager of the Year by Remington Hotels, a company for which he worked for several years.
In 2008, he was appointed as Vice President of New Generation Hotels. Subsequently, he was promoted to Chief Operating Officer that same year. As COO, he oversaw multiple hotel properties located in the Northeast United States. In 2009, he joined Mercury Hotels as Chief Executive Officer. In 2020, he took on the role of President and CEO of the International Hospitality Institute, the leading organization serving the global hospitality industry. With offices in Texas and Board Members in different countries, the International Hospitality Institute’s mission is to promote the global hospitality industry.
Dr. Obomeghie has overseen a hotel portfolio valued at over one billion dollars comprising of hotel brands such as Renaissance, Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, Sheraton, and many others. The combined annual revenue for the hotels under his management was over $250 million.
The International Hospitality Institute is the creator of the Hospitality Code of Ethics, known among hoteliers as the HCODE. The International Hospitality Institute is also the organizer of the Global Hospitality Summit 2021. The event which is scheduled for November 9 and 10, 2021, is bringing together 55 of the most influential leaders in global hospitality. The keynote speaker for GHS 2021 is Horst Schulze, the Co-Founder of the Ritz Carlton Hotel Company. Opening remarks will be delivered by Dr. Jeffrey O and William “Chip” Rogers, President and CEO of the American Hotel and Lodging Association. The International Hospitality Institute is the publisher of the Top 50 Most Influential Hospitality Leaders in the USA and the Top 50 Most Influential Hospitality Leaders in the world.
In addition to his work in the field of Hospitality, Dr. Jeffrey Obomeghie is a leadership coach, and motivational speaker. He is the Chairman of the Board of Directors at Telacoach, a coaching, therapy and advisor platform. He has served on Marriott International’s Rooms Advisory Board and many other boards. He has published several books of fiction and non-fiction, including Dead or Alive, The World According to Jeffrey O, The Collector of Butterflies, Abraham Lincoln is Not Dead, Get Rich, Get Happy, Get Love, and The Woman Who. In 2021, he was inducted as a member of the Hoteliers’ Guild, an exclusive “invitation-only” society of the world’s leading hoteliers based in Lugano, Ticino, Switzerland
Frank Tejiro wrote this piece from Asaba, Delta State.