Skip Links

Find an Expert View All Stories

Topic: Travel and Tourism

Inna Soifer

By

Inna Soifer, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of event and meeting management in the School of Hospitality at Metropolitan State University of Denver. Her areas of expertise include global meetings and events; conventions, exhibitions industry; event technology; incentive travel; venue management and destination management.

Prior to joining MSU Denver, Soifer taught at the Kemmons Wilson School of Hospitality and Resort Management for the University of Memphis and was a graduate instructor at the University of Mississippi. She is a certified hospitality educator with over a decade of experience in the global hospitality industry, including as a project manager for one of Russia’s leading meeting and event agencies. Soifer’s primary research area is in business and trade events. Her recent studies examined value creation in corporate events and customer adoption of event technology.

Soifer received her Ph.D. in nutrition and hospitality management with a minor in applied statistics from the University of Mississippi in 2021.

Eric Olson

By

Eric D. Olson, Ph.D., is the chair of the Rita and Navin Dimond Department of Hotel Management, School of Hospitality, Metropolitan State University of Denver. His areas of expertise include customer service, customer experience, service failure and recovery, LBGTQ tourism and events, events and festivals, hospitality and event management education.

Olson has over 20 years of hospitality, tourism, event and higher education experience. He has published extensively in top academic journals such as Tourism Management, Annals of Tourism Research and Journal of Convention and Event Tourism.

Olson received his Ph.D. from the University of Central Florida, MBA from the Stetson University, and a BBA in marketing from University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. His academic career includes appointments at Iowa State University, and his industry experience includes working at The Walt Disney World Resort.

Carol Krugman Maller

By

Prior to joining the faculty at MSU Denver, Professor Krugman worked in the global arena for 30 years in a variety of corporate marketing and meeting/event planning positions, as well as owning and managing her own meeting management company specializing in international medical/pharmaceutical meetings and conventions. She is retired as chair of the Department of Hospitality, Tourism and Events at MSU Denver.

She is regarded as one of the meeting industry’s top experts in cross-cultural planning, global meeting operations, and risk management. Professor Krugman has successfully implemented programs throughout Latin America, Europe, Asia, Australia and the Middle East, as well as in the US and Canada. She has lived in France, Mexico and Brazil and is fluent in French, Spanish and Portuguese, with a working knowledge of Italian.

Named one of “The 25 Most Influential People in the Meeting Industry“ by Meeting News in 2004, Professor Krugman has written numerous articles for meeting and event industry publications and has co-authored two books: Mexico: A Planning and Information Guide, published by Meeting Professionals International and Global Meetings and Exhibitions, a textbook on international meeting planning published by John Wiley and Sons.

Professor Krugman received her BA from Goucher College and MEd from The Johns Hopkins University. She obtained the Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) designation in 1996 and the advanced Certification in Meetings Management (CMM) in 1998. Professional memberships include Meeting Professionals International, the Professional Convention Management Association, the International Medical Meeting Professionals Association, the International Association of Exhibitions and Events, and the International Council on Hotel Restaurant Institutional Education. She serves on a variety of committees and task forces for meeting and event industry associations.

Lincoln Davie

By

Lincoln Davie, Ph.D., is an associate professor of outdoor recreation in the School of Hospitality at Metropolitan State University of Denver. His areas of expertise include outdoor recreation, adventure sports and curriculum and instruction. He joined MSU Denver in August 2018.

Davie teaches Colorado Tourism and Recreation; Recreation, Leisure and Well-Being; Sport in Society; Recreation Therapy; and Ecotourism and oversees student internships. His research areas include adventure-sports coaching, teaching and learning.

Davie received his doctorate in Philosophy and a Master of Education from Montana State UniversityBozeman in 2016 and 2014, respectively, and a bachelor’s in Psychology, History and African Studies from St. Lawrence University in 2007. He is also a licensed Emergency Medical Technician.