Dr. Cihan Cobanoglu is the Dean and the McKibbon Endowed Chair Professor of the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management (SHTM) in the Muma College of Business at the University of South Florida (USF), who also serves as the Director of the M3 Center for Hospitality Technology and Innovation and Coordinator of International Programs for the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management. He is a renowned hospitality and tourism technology expert. Dr. Cobanoglu is a Fulbright Specialist commissioned by the Fulbright Commission (2018-2021). He is a Certified Hospitality Technology Professional (CHTP) commissioned by Hospitality Financial & Technology Professionals (HFTP) and Educational Institute of American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA). He is the Editor of the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology (JHTT)(Indexed in SSCI IF=4.2) and a co-author of 10+ books and 20+ conference proceedings.

He was born in 1959 in Trabzon Of. He completed his primary, secondary and high school education in Trabzon. He entered (today's Gazi-AHBVU) AITIA-MBMYO - Department of Business Administration and Accounting in 1977 and completed it in 1981 and completed his military service between 1982-1983. He worked in the private sector in Ankara between 1983-1984. He was appointed to Istanbul Technical University Sakarya Vocational School as an administrative officer in November 1984. He started his master's degree in Istanbul University SBE Tourism Department in 1987 and completed it in 1989. He started his doctorate in Tourism at the same institute in 1990 and completed it in 1994. He was appointed as a lecturer in ITU- Sakarya Vocational School Tourism Management Department in 1989. He was appointed to Sakarya University Sakarya Vocational School Tourism Program, which was established in 1992, as an Assist. He continued his duty as Assoc. In 1988, he was appointed as Assistant Professor to Sapanca Vocational School of the same university. In 2000, he was appointed as Assistant Professor to Sakarya University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Department of Tourism Management, and in 2012, he was appointed as Assistant Professor to the Faculty of Business Administration. In 2014, he received the title of ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR as a result of the Interuniversity Board exams and was then appointed as Associate Professor at the same faculty. In 2016, he was appointed as ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR to SAU- Faculty of Tourism, which was established with the division of Sakarya University. In 2018, he was appointed to the Tourism Guidance Department of the newly established Sakarya University of Applied Sciences, Faculty of Tourism. In 2020, he was appointed as PROFESSOR to the Tourism Guidance Department of the same faculty. He is married with three children. Burhanettin Zengin, who has served as Department and Program Head, Director, Assistant Director, Department Head, Board Member in his nearly 40 years of education and teaching life, has been serving as the Director of Sapanca Vocational School since 2021, and has taken part in approximately 12 projects and supervised 55 postgraduate theses, 21 of which are doctoral and 32 of which are master's. During this period, he has more than 350 scientific works, including those presented and published in SSCI, ESCI, international field indexed, nationally refereed journals, congresses and conferences, and also national and international book and chapter authorships. His areas of expertise include Tourism and Travel Management, Guidance, Tourism Marketing, Tourism Accounting and Finance.