Alex Susskind

Biography

Alex Susskind joined the faculty at the Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration, part of the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business, in 1998. He is the Banfi Vintners Professor of Wine Education and is currently serving as senior director of programs. Susskind earned his PhD in communication from Michigan State University with a specialization in organizational communication, and his MBA with a concentration in personnel and human relations. He 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, NY. 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 U.S.

At Cornell, he teaches undergraduate and graduate courses addressing the operational and strategic elements of the food and beverage business. Susskind also teaches in the Nolan 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, Susskind is currently examining how: customer-service provider interaction with guests and managers influences organizational performance; organizational communication networks are influenced by elements such as teamwork and organizational change; organizational technology is influencing/changing the relationship between guests and service-based employees and managers; and nutrition information provided by restaurants on menus influences guests’ food choices when they dine out in full service restaurants.

He released a book through Cornell University Press entitled, The Next Frontier of Restaurant Management: Harnessing Data to Improve Guest Service and Enhance the Employee Experience, with Mark Maynard of Union Square Hospitality Group.

On a personal note, Susskind and his wife, Carrie, have two boys and live happily in Ithaca, NY. He studies Chun Do Kwan Tae Kwon Do and holds a third-degree black belt; he is an enthusiastic collector of fine wines with around 1,400 bottles in his personal wine cellar; and is a drummer who practices nearly every day.

Selected Publications

• Susskind, Alex; Odom-Reed, Peggy. "Team Member's Centrality, Cohesion, Conflict, and Performance in Multi-University Geographically Distributed Project Teams"Communication Research. 46.2 (2019): 151-178
• Susskind, Alex. "Downsizing Survivors' Communication Networks and Reactions: An Examination of Information Adequacy and Turnover Intentions"Communication Research. 34.2 (2007): 156-184
• Susskind, Alex; Kacmar, K.; Borchgrevink, Carl. "Guest–Server Exchange Model and Performance: The Connection Between Service Climate and Unit-Level Sales in Multiunit Restaurants"Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research. 42.1 (2018): 122-141

Awards and Honors

• Lead Author Best Paper of the Year Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research Journal (2017) The Council on Hotel Restaurant and Institutional Education (CHRIE)

Recent Courses

• HADM 3365 - Foodservice Management Essentials
• HADM 6066 - Industry Immersion II
• HADM 7090 - Introduction to Hospitality
• HADM 6100 - MMH Distinguished Lectures (DDLS)
• HADM 6390 - Operational Analysis for Foodservice Management

Academic Degrees

• PhD Michigan State University, 1996
• MBA The Eli Broad Graduate School of Management, Michigan State University, 1993
• BS Purdue University, 1991
• AOS Culinary Institute of America, 1988