Ruud Reuland, born in 1949 and of Dutch nationality, has a bachelor’s degree in hospitality management (Hotel school The Hague, the Netherlands) and a bachelor’s as well as a master’s degree in business law (Erasmus University, the Netherlands).

He worked in many operational jobs in the hospitality industry in the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Ireland.

In 1977 he was appointed Director of Human Resources of a hospital in Haarlem, the Netherlands.

In 1980 he joined the Hotel school The Hague, first as professor in Human Resource Management and Hospitality law, later as Member of the Board of Directors. In 1997 he was appointed Dean of the same school.

Ruud became General Director of the Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne, Switzerland in 2002 and ensured that the school was and is ranked as the premier hospitality school in the world.

Since 2011 Ruud is involved in several international projects, mainly in hospitality education strategy development and implementation: Switzerland, Australia, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Oman, Cambodia, Bhutan, India, Kenya, China, Tunisia, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Portugal, and Tanzania.

Ruud worked for and with renowned organizations, such as the Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne in Switzerland, Dusit International in Thailand, the Aga Khan University in Kenya, the Institut de Tourisme et Hôtellerie du Québec, the Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management in Dubai, the School of Hotel and Tourism Management in Hong Kong and the Nova School of Business and Economics.