Lecture Series Features UA Alumnus and Founder of Troon

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The University of Alabama’s restaurant, hospitality and meetings management program will host Dana Garmany, chairman and chief executive officer of Troon, as part of the Shila Bowron Leadership Lecture Series March 13.

Garmany has more than 30 years of industry experience developing and operating golf facilities worldwide, and he has received such honors as the DeKalb County Alabama Sports Hall of Fame, Southwest Section PGA Hall of Fame, the Arizona Golf Hall of Fame and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the KPMG International Golf Forum.

He also serves on boards of the National Golf Course Owners Association and the McDowell Sonoran Conservancy, and he holds a bachelor’s degree in restaurant and hospitality management from UA.

Sponsored by Bill Bowron, of Red Diamond Inc. in Birmingham, the leadership series of the restaurant, hotel and meetings management program at UA began in 2002 in an effort to achieve the goal of exposing students to a variety of hospitality leaders and their perspectives of the hospitality industry.

His lectures are designed for students, but the community is invited to attend. He will speak from 10 to 10:50 a.m. and 1 to 1:50 p.m. in the Child Development Research Center on the UA campus.

Following the 10 a.m. lecture, Garmany and Dr. Roy Maize, retired restaurant, hospitality and meetings management program faculty member and originator of the Hospitality Hall of Fame, will be inducted into the Hospitality Hall of Fame.

The University of Alabama Hospitality Hall of Fame was created in 2010 to honor individuals who demonstrate outstanding leadership in the hospitality profession; emulate the six exemplary characteristics of leadership — model the way, inspire a shared vision, challenge the process, kindle the heart, enable others to act, and believing in oneself; have established a strong, supportive relationship with The University of Alabama; and have participated in the Shila Bowron Leadership Lecture Series.

The Restaurant, Hotel, and Meetings Management Program at The University of Alabama was established in 1985 as part of the department of human nutrition and hospitality management, College of Human Environmental Sciences. More than 600 students have graduated from the program and are employed in a variety of hospitality management positions throughout the United States. There are approximately 400 students currently enrolled in the program.