{"id":887,"date":"2026-05-08T19:27:05","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T19:27:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/centers\/?page_id=887"},"modified":"2026-08-11T18:13:35","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T22:13:35","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/centers\/pihe\/about\/","title":{"rendered":"About the Pillsbury Institute"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><\/head><body><div class=\"intro-text global-spacing--3x dotted-line-start\">\n  <div class=\"acf-innerblocks-container\">\n\n<p>The Leland C. and Mary M. Pillsbury Institute for Hospitality Entrepreneurship (PIHE), established in 2006, is the home for entrepreneurial thought leadership in the hospitality industry. PIHE achieves this goal through collaboration with faculty, industry professionals, students and alumni in a series of courses, mentorship programs, competitions, industry roundtable discussions, research and guest speaking engagements.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-our-vision\">Our vision<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>To be the hospitality industry&rsquo;s&nbsp;preeminent hub for&nbsp;entrepreneurship, advancing students and industry leaders through&nbsp;engagement,&nbsp;experiential learning,&nbsp;and&nbsp;education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-our-mission\">Our mission<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The Leland C. and Mary M. Pillsbury Institute for Hospitality Entrepreneurship engages leading industry experts and faculty to educate students and provide them with experiential and innovative opportunities to learn all aspects of entrepreneurship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"tablepress-20-name\" class=\"tablepress-table-name tablepress-table-name-id-20\">Pillars of Success<\/h2>\n\n<table id=\"tablepress-20\" class=\"tablepress tablepress-id-20\" aria-labelledby=\"tablepress-20-name\">\n<thead>\n<tr class=\"row-1\">\n\t<th class=\"column-1\">Engagement<\/th><th class=\"column-2\">Experiential Learning<\/th><th class=\"column-3\">Education<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody class=\"row-striping row-hover\">\n<tr class=\"row-2\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Engagement of students, faculty and entrepreneurial community both at Cornell and within the hospitality industry.<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">Experiential learning connecting students with real world application of                  classroom learning.<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">Educating students and alumni in hospitality entrepreneurship.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-students\">Students<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>PIHE is the hub for Cornell students interested in hospitality entrepreneurship who have access to several experiential courses and competitions designed to educate through real-world scenarios such as creating a pitchdeck or a business plan. The courses provide students with an analytical framework for pursuing an entrepreneurial venture, while the competitions serve as a vessel for students to incubate and test their ideas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Additionally, PIHE hosts an Entrepreneur in Residence program where hospitality entrepreneurs visit campus and work, one-on-one, with students and a luncheon series where students dine with hospitality entrepreneurs and develop the knowledge, networking skills, and practical experience necessary to pursue their entrepreneurial ambitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-professionals\">Professionals<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>PIHE is the thought leader for alumni and others who operate, or are interested in operating, an enterprise in the hospitality industry. The institute joins faculty and industry through an annual series of sector specific roundtable discussions where participants share knowledge pertaining to entrepreneurship and innovation in the hospitality industry. Also, PIHE works with the Nolan School&rsquo;s Center for Hospitality Research to regularly publish articles<br>relevant to hospitality entrepreneurship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Along with its directors, assistant director, and affiliated faculty, PIHE&rsquo;s Advisory Board members offer vital counsel and help direct and operationalize the Institute&rsquo;s philosophy and activities.<\/p>\n\n\n  <section class=\"featured-profiles featured-profiles--condensed  section-heading--wrap bg--clear\">\n          <div class=\"section-heading__title\">\n                          <h2>Our team<\/h2>\n              <\/div>\n    \n    \n    <div class=\"section-heading__content\">\n      <div class=\"grid-container text-margin-reset global-spacing--4x\">\n        <ul>\n                      <li>\n              <article class=\"profile profile--featured \">\n    <figure class=\"aspect-ratio-frame\" style=\"--aspect-ratio: 7\/5\">\n                                    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/apps.business.cornell.edu\/faculty-research\/faculty\/photo\/clm354\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Photo of Christina McDowell\">\n                        <\/figure>\n\n    <h3><a class=\"stylized-link--dark\" href=\"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/profiles\/clm354\/\">Christina McDowell<\/a><\/h3>\n        <span>Teaching Professor; Faculty Accreditation Director<\/span>\n    \n    <\/article>\n            <\/li>\n                      <li>\n              <article class=\"profile profile--featured \">\n    <figure class=\"aspect-ratio-frame\" style=\"--aspect-ratio: 7\/5\">\n                                    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Michelle-mahool-1000x1000-5-515x520-1-515x500.png\" width=\"515\" height=\"500\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"auto\">\n                        <\/figure>\n\n    <h3><a class=\"stylized-link--dark\" href=\"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/profiles\/mlc296\/\">Michelle Mahool<\/a><\/h3>\n        <span>Assistant Director, Leland C. and Mary M. Pillsbury Institute for Hospitality Entrepreneurship<\/span>\n    \n    <\/article>\n            <\/li>\n                      <li>\n              <article class=\"profile profile--featured \">\n    <figure class=\"aspect-ratio-frame\" style=\"--aspect-ratio: 7\/5\">\n                                    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/kaitlyn-mann-515x500.jpg\" width=\"515\" height=\"500\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"auto\">\n                        <\/figure>\n\n    <h3><a class=\"stylized-link--dark\" href=\"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/profiles\/kp452\/\">Kaitlyn Mann<\/a><\/h3>\n        <span>Centers and Institute Assistant, Leland C. and Mary M. Pillsbury Institute for Hospitality Entrepreneurship<\/span>\n    \n    <\/article>\n            <\/li>\n                      <li>\n              <article class=\"profile profile--featured \">\n    <figure class=\"aspect-ratio-frame\" style=\"--aspect-ratio: 7\/5\">\n                                    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/devon-rainbow-1000x1000-16-515x520-1-515x500.png\" width=\"515\" height=\"500\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"auto\">\n                        <\/figure>\n\n    <h3><a class=\"stylized-link--dark\" href=\"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/profiles\/drr89\/\">Devon Rainbow<\/a><\/h3>\n        <span>Centers and Institutes Assistant, Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration<\/span>\n    \n    <\/article>\n            <\/li>\n                  <\/ul>\n\n              <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n  <\/section>\n\n\n<section class=\"sock-cta global-padding--10x bg--tone\">\n  <div class=\"grid-container\">\n    <div class=\"sock-cta__text text-margin-reset\">\n      \n      <h2>Contact us<\/h2>\n\n              <div class=\"global-spacing--1x intro-text\">\n          <p>Pillsbury Institute for Hospitality Entrepreneurship<br>\n149C Statler Hall<br>\nIthaca, NY 14853<\/p>\n\n        <\/div>\n      \n              <div class=\"global-spacing--3x\">\n          <ul class=\"btn-row\">\n                          <li><a href=\"mailto:pihe@cornell.edu\" target=\"_self\" class=\"btn\">Email PIHE<\/a><\/li>\n                      <\/ul>\n        <\/div>\n          <\/div>\n  <\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Our vision To be the hospitality industry&#8217;s&nbsp;preeminent hub for&nbsp;entrepreneurship, advancing students and industry leaders through&nbsp;engagement,&nbsp;experiential learning,&nbsp;and&nbsp;education. Our mission The Leland C. and Mary M. Pillsbury Institute for Hospitality Entrepreneurship engages&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":0,"parent":2253,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"leadership":[],"class_list":["post-887","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.2 (Yoast SEO v28.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>About the Pillsbury Institute - Cornell College of Business<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Leland C. and Mary M. 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