Educational Institute Announces New Vice Presidents

For Domestic Sales, Global Sales, and Information Technology

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. April 24, 2013

Orlando, Florida - April 24, 2013 - Robert L. Steele III, CHA, president and chief operating officer for the American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute (EI) has announced the appointments of three new vice presidents from within the company. Shelly Weir has been named vice president, domestic sales; Ed Kastli has been named vice president, international sales; and Joshua Sumption has been named vice president, information technology.

Shelly Weir has been with the Educational Institute since July of 2011. As senior director of state relations & educational programs for the Educational Institute, Weir was responsible for the management of activities and programs related to the sales of EI products to state hospitality associations, secondary schools, and workforce development agencies.

As vice president of domestic sales, Weir oversees the domestic sales team responsible for all product sales to corporate hotel brands and management companies, academic school markets for both secondary and post-secondary, specialized markets (restaurants, casinos, spas, etc.), and state hotel associations partnered with AH&LA. She also maintains direct supervision over EI's high school and workforce development initiatives.

Ed Kastli joined EI's international sales division in November 2009. As EI's managing director for Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and the Caribbean, Kastli worked to create new international partnerships beyond EI's original Hospitality Education Partner (HEP) and Global Academic Partner (GAP) model. He expanded EI's global reach and introduced EI programs and services to a number of international hospitality associations and organizations with a special focus on emerging tourism markets such as Azerbaijan, Georgia, Cyprus, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Jordan, Palestine, Oman, Comoros Islands, while strengthening EI's presence in important tourism destinations such as China, South Africa, UAE and Jamaica.

In his new role as vice president of international sales, Kastli will oversee EI's international sales team, which includes representatives working with Latin America, Europe, China, and Canada, to sustain EI's continuous growth and development overseas.

Joshua Sumption began working at EI's Lansing, Michigan office as a member of the fulfillment department in 1999. The following year, he moved to the IT department as a PC support coordinator. He was promoted to network administrator in July 2004, with responsibility for supporting AH&LA and AH&LEF's IT functions. In March 2007, he become manager of network operations and relocated to EI's Orlando office. Sumption was promoted to director of network operations in November 2009, and to chief technology officer in October 2011.

Sumption is responsible for the oversight, management, administration and director of IT resources for AH&LA, EI, and AH&LEF. He also serves as the staff liaison for the hospitality industry technical committees, including the AH&LA Technology and E-Business committees. Most recently, he directed the development of EI's new website and e-commerce platform, consolidating three sites into one and improving site navigation, mobile accessibility, and optimization. He also oversaw a project of service consolidation and virtualization that reduced the amount of server hardware needed to run the company's mission-critical applications by half.

About the American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute Established in 1953 as a nonprofit educational foundation of the American Hotel & Lodging Association, the Educational Institute's mission is to continue being the preferred provider to the lodging industry, hospitality schools, and related hospitality industries by developing and providing quality resources to train, educate, and certify hospitality professionals worldwide. Please visit http://www.ahlei.org