Laurie Stroll '83

Position: President/Owner, Newport Hospitality

Location: Newport, Rhode Island

Program: Undergraduate

Major: HTM

“We’ve moved mountains for people,” remarks Isenberg Hospitality & Tourism Management (HTM) graduate Laurie Stroll ’83, who is president and owner of Newport Hospitality in Newport, Rhode Island. Stroll is an energetic advocate for her profession, Destination Management. Drawing on local knowledge, relationships, and resources in Rhode Island—especially Newport and Providence—Laurie and her management team craft and execute memorable events, tours, special activities, and their accompanying logistics for their mostly high-end corporate clients.

“Everything is customized; everything is priced differently,” she observes. Some examples: a gathering for 500 guests at a company’s 75th anniversary celebration and an out-of-the-box event at Newport’s iconic Marble House Mansion and its nearby Chinese Tea House. Later this year, Laurie and her team will coordinate events for thousands of visitors when Newport hosts the round-the-world Volvo Ocean Race.

Laurie joined Newport Hospitality in 1992, where she focused on event and meeting planning and support. In 2004, she bought the business, which she has grown while emphasizing its destination management identity and industry credentials.

As a hospitality student in the early 1980s, Laurie—then a single mother—thrived in the program’s high-energy culture, which combined classroom and experiential learning. For Laurie, that included an internship with Hampshire College’s Food Services. “I loved the hospitality program and campus back then,” she reminisced. “It was fantastic when it became part of Isenberg [in 2002]. Employers, including me, greatly value hospitality students with business school skills.”

Laurie’s commitment to Isenberg’s HTM program continues through her mentorship of its students and her annual Laurie Ziino Stroll Scholarship, reserved for a single mother enrolled at Isenberg, preferably an HTM major. Last year, in a stylish ceremony reflecting her own professionalism, the HTM program celebrated Laurie’s accomplishments with The Stephen E. Elmont Award, its highest alumni honor.