RI Hospitality Association President/CEO Dale J. Venturini Honored with “Golden Pineapple Award” at 2021 Annual Meeting

Dale J. Venturini, President & CEO, RI Hospitality Association (RIHA) accepts the 2021 Golden Pineapple Award [Photo Credit - Spencer Gossy]

Cranston, RI – December 8, 2021 – The RI Hospitality Association (RIHA) is pleased to announce that in recognition of her steadfast leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic, President/CEO Dale J. Venturini was presented with the inaugural “Golden Pineapple Award” at the Association’s 2021 Annual Meeting, which took place at Bally’s Twin River Lincoln on the evening of Wednesday, December 1st.

The award is representative of the pineapple’s designation as a universal sign of hospitality; it is the centerpiece of RIHA’s logo and is featured in the name of several of the Association’s programs including its successful “Pineapple Bus Pass” and its new “Pineapple PAC,” which was launched at RIHA’s 2021 Annual Meeting.

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Venturini has been at the forefront of developments affecting the hospitality industry and has led her staff, Board of Directors, and RIHA’s members through myriad challenges and ever-changing restrictions while charting a course forward to ensure businesses could keep their doors open. Under her direction, RIHA provided financial relief for displaced employees, adapted new training methods, assisted small businesses with SBA loans, launched a nationally recognized “Be Kind” campaign, worked with the Department of Labor and Training on workforce issues, and much more.

“I am humbled for being recognized for working to keep our industry afloat, as the virus and restrictions upended countless lives these past 21 months,” said Dale J. Venturini, President/CEO, RIHA. “While I am honored to be recognized, I do so with the knowledge that our industry’s ability to navigate this unprecedented time is the direct result of the dedication and determination of RIHA’s staff and industry partners.”

Venturini has been the voice of hospitality in Rhode Island for nearly 34 years. In 1988, she was hired by Ned Grace, founder of the Capital Grille, the late Twin Oaks owner Bill DeAngelis Jr., and the late Ted Fuller, then the owner of Gregg’s Restaurants & Taverns, to assume the leadership role of Rhode Island’s premier industry advocacy agency and has done so ever since. As president/CEO of RIHA, Venturini is responsible for overseeing the RI Hospitality Education Foundation (RIHEF) and its Hospitality Training Academy, the Association’s lobbying efforts on behalf of the industry, its membership-based advocacy efforts, all with the assistance of her small and dedicated staff.

She is a commodore for the State of Rhode Island, a past president of the International Society of Restaurant Executives and is a commissioner of the Rhode Island Convention Center Authority. Venturini also currently serves on the boards of the Providence/Warwick Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Newport Preservation Society. She has also sat on numerous boards for other organizations including the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation (NRAEF), the Council of State Restaurant Associations, Miriam Hospital, the National Restaurant Association (NRA), the Rhode Island Community Food Bank, the Johnson & Wales University Feinstein Graduate School Advisory Board, the Wm. M. Davies Jr. Career and Technical High School, the Cranston Redevelopment Agency, the Dean’s Board of Distinguished Counselors to the Alan Shawn Feinstein Graduate School at Johnson & Wales University, and the 100 Club of Rhode Island.

Dale J. Venturini, President & CEO, RI Hospitality Association (RIHA) speaks after accepting the 2021 Golden Pineapple Award [Photo Credit - Spencer Gossy]

Photo Credit: Spencer Gossy Photography

About the RI Hospitality Association (RIHA):
With more than 800 foodservice and hospitality members in Rhode Island, the RI Hospitality Association (RIHA) has been the voice of the hospitality industry in the state since 1963. For more information on the RIHA, please call (401) 223-1120, or write to: RI Hospitality Association, 94 Sabra Street, Cranston, RI, 02910, or visit www.rihospitality.org.