ALEX M. SUSSKIND (the Banfi Vintners Professor of Wine Education and Management and Senior Director of Programs)
Professor Susskind joined the faculty at Cornell’s Nolan School of Hotel Administration in 1998. He is a Professor of Food and Beverage Management and is currently serving as the Senior Director of Programs. Professor Susskind earned his Ph.D. in Communication from Michigan State University with a specialization in organizational communication and his MBA with a concentration in personnel and human relations. Susskind earned his undergraduate degree at Purdue University in Restaurant, Hotel, and Institutional Management and is also a trained chef with a degree in Culinary Arts from The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York.  Prior to starting his career in Academia, Susskind was a chef and restaurant operator for both independent and multi-unit restaurant companies in the Northeastern and Southeastern United States.

At Cornell, Professor Susskind teaches undergraduate and graduate courses addressing the operational and strategic elements of the food and beverage business. He also teaches in the School’s Executive Education Program to managers and executives both on and off campus and has developed and launched an eight-course online certificate program in Food and Beverage Management with eCornell.

Through his active research program, Professor Susskind is currently examining how: (1) customer-service provider interaction with guests and managers influences organizational performance; (2) organizational communication networks are influenced by elements such as teamwork and organizational change; (3) organizational technology is influencing/changing the relationship between guests and service-based employees and managers; and (4) nutrition information provided by restaurants on menus (as required by the Affordable Care Act starting in May 2018) is influencing guests’ food choices when they dine out in full service restaurants.  
Susskind released a book through Cornell Press entitled The Next Frontier of Restaurant Management: Harnessing Data to Improve Guest Service and Enhance the Employee Experience, with Mark Maynard formerly of Union Square Hospitality Group.

On a personal note: Professor Susskind and his wife Carrie have two boys and live happily in Ithaca, NY. Alex studies Chun Do Kwan Tae Kwon Do and holds a 3rd Degree Black Belt; he is an enthusiastic collector of fine wines with around 1400 bottles in his personal wine cellar; and is drummer who practices nearly every day.