Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP®) is pleased to announce two champions of hospitality technology, Jeff Bzdawka and Jeff Edwards as the 2022 HFTP International Hospitality Technology Hall of Fame inductees, both recognized for their experience and leadership in promoting hospitality innovation and technology.
Bzdawka serves as CEO at Knowland. Edwards is senior vice president of Property, Owner and Enterprise Products and Platforms at InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG). The 2022 inductees will be honored at the upcoming Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition and Conference (HITEC®) in Orlando, Fla. on June 28, 2022.
The International Hospitality Technology Hall of Fame is HFTP’s highest level of recognition in the area of technology. Since 1989, 51 individuals have received this award as a reflection of their contributions to the hospitality industry. Bzdawka and Edwards are the 50th and 51st inductees and their induction on the HITEC Headliner stage in Orlando will also fittingly be when the event celebrates its 50th anniversary.
For Jeff Bzdawka, his career passion lies within hospitality and the belief that technology – when applied correctly – can enable change and create better experiences for all those involved.
“I am honored to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, amongst so many accomplished leaders in our industry,” said Bzdawka. “This recognition goes beyond me to the many mentors, peers, colleagues and organizations who have influenced me and supported me along this journey. As a lifelong learner, I strive to continuously grow, and I am thankful to HFTP for giving me a platform to do that as well as help others along the way.”
Bzdawka’s hospitality journey began as a corporate management trainee at Hyatt, where he spent 20 years across two stints with the brand. In his early years at Hyatt, Bzdawka identified a need to improve occupancy forecasting to support labor scheduling. This initiative led to the development of a program used by multiple Hyatt properties to streamline processing and improve operational efficiencies. Later, as senior vice president of global technology at Hyatt, he orchestrated the first successful self-hosting model for Opera PMS, introducing best-of-class digital experiences as well as a game-changing, integrated user experience that simplified the front-office environment.
Bzdawka has also served as head of Pegasus Financial Services and senior vice president of service delivery at Pegasus Solutions. While at Pegasus, he introduced an electronic reconciliation and tracking product to reduce friction points between supply-and-demand channels, improving supply chain experience and reducing time to market substantially.
Today, Bzdawka holds the role of CEO at Knowland where he leads the company to enable faster, smarter decisions and stronger performance for hospitality’s group business through its best-in-class data insights.
Innovative product development and technology implementation are the main drivers behind Jeff Edwards’ impressive career in the hospitality industry and representative of what it takes to be a Hall of Fame inductee.
“Being inducted to the Hall of Fame is a true career honor, as it is a recognition by my industry peers,” said Edwards. “I am pleased to be alongside a group of outstanding professionals, each with their own specialties all culminating in the excellence and progress of the hospitality technology industry.”
Edwards brings a versatile industry outlook, having worked across the board for vendors, consumer brands and major hotel brands. Throughout these roles, Edwards has championed the use of technology to advance the industry and create lasting change. His contributions to distribution and reservation technology, as well as hotel brand and owner technology, have been groundbreaking legacies to the hospitality industry.
During his time as president of Amadeus’ hotel division, Edwards led a team that developed a next-generation approach to a cloud-based reservation system. This new approach established greater flexibility in managing hotel inventory and enabled greater visibility into consumer options compared to the legacy tools of the past. Edwards has more recently been focused on advancing IHG Concerto™, IHG’s proprietary hotel operating platform. Previous to his roles at IHG and Amadeus, Edwards served as CIO for Wyndham Hotel Group, president and CEO of OpenTable, Inc. and president at MICROS-Fidelio.
Celebrating its 50th Anniversary in 2022, HITEC North America will take place on June 27–30 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida USA. HITEC is the world’s largest hospitality technology exposition and conference. It offers a unique combination of top-notch hospitality technology education, led by industry peers and experts, and an unparalleled trade show showcasing the latest hospitality technology products and services. Registration for HITEC Orlando is now open.
