Richie Karaburun

Dr. Recep “Richie” Karaburun, aka “Dr. K”, is a Clinical Associate Professor of Hospitality and Tourism at the NYU School of Professional Studies Jonathan M. Tisch Center for Hospitality and Tourism. He has his doctoral degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing at the Lubin School of Business at Pace University in New York. He earned an MBA from the George Argyros School of Business and Economics, Chapman University, in Orange, California, in 2001 and a BBA in International Relations from the Uludag University, in Bursa, Turkey, in 1991.

With more than two decades of experience in the travel industry, Karaburun is recognized as an industry expert in helping travel companies start and develop a growth strategy and business. He has served on numerous industry panel presentations across a number of disciplines - sales leadership, marketing, hotel and other supplier negotiations, team building, leadership, innovation, metaverse in the hospitality industry, and travel technology.

He has been teaching many classes at the NYUSPS Jonathan M. Tisch Center of Hospitality since 2013. Karaburun is the multiple recipient of the New York University School of Professional Studies Excellence in Teaching Award in 2018 & 2024  and the Outstanding Service Award in 2019. In 2021, he was appointed as the Director of NYU SPS Tisch Center of Hospitality Innovation Hub Incubator Program. In 2023, Dr. Karaburun was selected as one of the 30 most influential educators in global hospitality by the International Hospitality Institute.

He last served as Managing Director, North America, of Roomer, an online peer-to-peer marketplace for travel. Prior to Roomer, Karaburun was Vice President of Global Supplier Relations at RADIUS, President at GTA North America, and Vice President of Product Development and Contracting at American Tours International, achieving high-value revenue and profit gains, gaining large-scale cost savings, improving organizational productivity, and performance at each.

Dr. Karaburun’s research interests include cultural differences in service quality, social connectedness in social media, how hotels use social media in customer engagements, and hotel distribution strategies in international markets. Dr. Karaburun's work and expertise have been featured in peer-reviewed journal publications, including the International Journal of Hospitality Management, as well as the press releases in Hotel News Now, The New York Times, Skift, Reuters, and The Atlantic.