July 24, 2003 (ATLANTA) Ira Blumenthal, a leader in the food industry and president of Atlanta-based consulting firm Co-Opportunities, Inc., will join the Cecil B. Day School of Hospitality at the Robinson College of Business as the School's first Executive-in-Residence. Blumenthal will work with the School to expand its strategic alliances within the hospitality industry.

Highly respected as a food industry visionary, Blumenthal is founder of the "Foodservice Branding Institute." He has led the conversion of over a dozen foodservice brands into retail packages for the consumer, created the first restaurant-branded food court in a U.S. supermarket and was one of the early pioneers of "home meal replacement." His company has worked with clients such as Coca-Cola, Nestle, Kroger, McDonald's, Harrah's, Albertson's, TGI Friday's, United Artists, Disney, Sara Lee, Wal*Mart, Fairmont Hotels and The Marriott Corporation as well as other operators and manufacturers.

 "Ira is an incredibly talented professional with an extraordinary business portfolio. His expertise and reputation within the foodservice industry will be enormously beneficial to both the School and our students," said School director Debby Cannon.

As Executive-in-Residence, Blumenthal will work to provide guest lecturers for classes, lead and facilitate special industry programs and help develop outreach activities such as executive roundtables, summits, speaker series and professional development courses.

A published author and speaker, Blumenthal has served as a visiting instructor for The Foodservice Institute at The University of Notre Dame and The Food Industry Institute at Michigan State University. He has also guest lectured at many institutions, including The Culinary Institute of America and Cornell University.

Blumenthal is the recipient of several top industry awards and serves as executive director of the Resource Center for Workforce Solutions, a strategic alliance between Coca-Cola North America Foodservice and Hospitality Division and The National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation.

The Cecil B. Day School of Hospitality, named for Cecil B. Day, founder of Days Inns, is ranked among the top 25 hospitality programs in the nation by the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Education. It is the only accredited program in Georgia offering a four-year BBA degree, a certificate program for undergraduate, graduate and post-baccalaureate students and an MBA concentration. 

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About The Robinson College of Business
The J. Mack Robinson College of Business is one of the nation's top business schools. The College's Flex (part-time) MBA program has been listed in the top ten by U.S. News for the past eight years and its undergraduate business program is ranked among the top 50 in the nation. BusinessWeek magazine ranked the College's Executive MBA program 20th in the world and Forbes rated Robinson in the top 20 for return-on-investment for regional schools. Georgia State University's Robinson College of Business has an enrollment for more than 8500 students and is located in downtown Atlanta.

For more information, contact:
Tammy Demel
Associate Director, Communications and External Affairs
J. Mack Robinson College of Business
Robinson College of Business
404/413-7078
404/702-9743 (cell)
tdemel@gsu.edu