Heather Singleton ‘19

Chief Operating Officer
RI Hospitality Association

Award Profile

Courageous Thinking and Action
Heather has never been afraid to launch a new idea or create a new event. You will often hear her say “Let’s try it. We won’t know if something doesn’t work until we try it.” Some of the best results start with a simple idea and persistent courage.

Working in and around the hospitality industry since her undergraduate days as a Johnson & Wales University student, Heather Singleton has begun her climb up the executive ladder with over 20 years of hospitality service experience.

In her role as Chief Operating Officer of the RI Hospitality Association and the RI Hospitality Education Foundation (RIHA/RIHEF), Heather has an everlasting passion to continue helping the hospitality industry by addressing many of their operations and workforce challenges through education and training.

Her role was critical in working with the President/CEO of RIHA and National Restaurant Association in bringing the National ProStart Culinary and Management Competition to the State of Rhode Island. Over the last eight years, the competition has grown to include nine high schools throughout the state. This competition alone, awards students over one million dollars in scholarship money annually. It’s work like this that she believes continues to ignite and grow the hospitality industry here in Rhode Island.

Vision and Innovation
Within her 20-year tenure at the RI Hospitality Association Ms. Singleton has grown the RI Hospitality Education Foundation’s programs from a small handful to nearly two dozen training programs and educational services.

Developing curriculum and training programs isn’t new to Heather as she has previously taught Travel and Tourism classes at both the Community College of Rhode Island and in the Hospitality College and the Graduate School at Johnson & Wales University.

She earned the designation of IOM from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for Organization Management program and is also a certified Personalysis facilitator; a study on individual differences in characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving. These professional development programs led her to realize that there was a gap between employees and management in the hospitality industry. The solution for Heather was to create and implement a new training program, Coaching for First Time Managers, one of many trainings she has implemented within RIHA/RIHEF with her expertise. Heather has developed several core skills training courses for the RI Hospitality Training Academy.

Inspiring Leadership
Heather leads by example; her professionalism, attitude and passion for the association is contagious. She challenges her staff to commit and take action on career and personal goals. Heather has been featured in the 2007 Women of Influence list in New England Foodservice and Providence Business News as a young business professional in their 2003 “Young Guns” article and again in 2005’s “40 Under Forty.” Heather believes that passing the torch is necessary to fuel employee morale and motivation. She is continuously recognizing and nominating team members for their victories whether small or large.

Community Mindedness
Heather currently serves as Vice Chair of the Certification Governing Committee of the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation; board Member of the Greater Rhode Island Workforce Investment Board and the Providence/Cranston Workforce Investment Board; and the William M. Davies Jr. Career & Technical High School Board of Trustees. She has also been the keynote speaker at Johnson & Wales University’s Convocation. Heather is also an active member of her neighborhood association and has volunteered for numerous local charities throughout Rhode Island.

JA Mission Moment
Over the past several years, I have had the opportunity to mentor and coach nearly 100 Rhode Island high school students as they prepare to demonstrate their skills at the National ProStart Invitational and compete against culinary arts and foodservice management teams from around the globe. To earn a spot on the National stage student teams have to utilize a variety of skills including the core competencies that Junior Achievement stands for; financial literacy, work readiness, and entrepreneurship.

I am extremely proud to work in an environment where words like mentorship, education, career pathways, scholarships, and opportunity are words that are not only used each and every day in my job but they are words that matter to our student’s future.