359: Dave Willner: Maintaining an Employee First Culture in Difficult Times
- 359: Dave Willner: Maintaining an Employee First Culture in Difficult Times Nicole Jansen, Leadership Coach For Purpose-Driven Entrepreneurs 38:49
Dave Willner served as the Chief Operating Officer for Skyport North America, one of the nation’s premiere airport hospitality groups for almost 5 years. As the strategic leader of Skyport, Dave directed all systems and operations for 70 distinct Retail and restaurant entities across multiple states, including spearheading rapid expansion and escalating gross revenues to over $200M.
After being forced to shut down all but one of their 70 restaurants and lay off 1250 employees due to the COVID pandemic, Dave also left in search of new opportunities where he could utilize his experience and passion for hospitality and employee engagement. As such, Dave is now the newly appointed National Director of Food and Beverage at Sun Communities & Sun RV Resorts.
He also proudly serves on the Board of Directors for the Colorado Restaurant Association and frequently serves as a Guest Lecturer for the Hospitality programs at Johnson & Wales University, University of Denver, and Metro State University.
What We Discuss With Dave Willner In This Episode
- Transitioning from a starving actor to COO in a premiere hospitality group
- Building an employee first culture
- Navigating through the uncertainty of Covid-19
- Leadership skills needed to be a great leader in difficult times
- A secret to leadership success
- The importance of customer service and growing guest experiences
- Pivot – the word of 2020
Episode Show Notes: https://tinyurl.com/y67g9ye3
