Dr. Denise Mazzei ’96 is an associate professor of Business Management at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA). Since joining the faculty of the School of Business and Management, Dr. Mazzei has taught six courses: Introduction to Business Management, Menu Development, Controlling Costs, Professionalism and Life Skills, Introduction to Hospitality, and Principles of Menus and Managing Profitability.
Additionally, Dr. Mazzei has taught the following courses for the Hospitality and Service Management department in the School of Culinary Arts: Beverages and Customer Service—Apple Pie Bakery Café, Contemporary Service Management, Formal Service Management, Hospitality and Service—The Bocuse Restaurant, and Hospitality and Service—American Bounty Restaurant.
Dr. Mazzei joined the faculty of her alma mater in 2005, as a lecturing instructor, teaching café operations management, beverages, and customer service and serving as maître d’ instructor in the Apple Pie Bakery Café on campus. From 2010 to 2013, on a three-year temporary assignment, Dr. Mazzei worked in CIA’s Advancement department as a senior advancement officer raising funds for the college’s ambitious Building on Excellence capital campaign. Her fundraising focused on foundations and government relations.
Her past professional experience is rich in entrepreneurship and includes serving as a consultant to the Black Water Grille Restaurant in Lumberton, NC, and Bon Vivant Catering in Durham, NC. She was also the chef proprietor of 608 Catering Company in Durham. Dr. Mazzei previously worked as the demonstration chef at CIA at Greystone and as a producer for Digital Chef, CIA’s online venture in the late 1990s.
In addition to her associate degree in Culinary Arts from CIA, Dr. Mazzei holds a PhD in Organization and Management: Leadership from Liberty University, School of Business, where her dissertation topic was Succession Planning: Lessons from a Qualitative Single Case Study of CEO Behaviors in an SME Hospitality Organization. She also holds a master’s in Executive Leadership from Liberty University, School of Business and a bachelor’s in Conflict Management from Vassar College. She is also a Certified Hospitality Educator (CHE) and earned a certificate as a student in the final class at The Madeleine Kamman School for American Chefs at Beringer Vineyards in St. Helena, CA, in 2000.
Dr. Mazzei’s research interest areas include hospitality, ethics, management and leadership, organizational change, and conflict management.
When she’s not teaching, Dr. Mazzei enjoys serving as the co-faculty advisor of the Culinary Christian Fellowship, CIA’s longest chartered club. She also enjoys spending time with family and friends in casual settings over good food and creative beverages.