Julian MacQueen Receives Alumni Award from the University of South Alabama


On Friday, March 7, 2014, CEO and Founder of Innisfree Hotels Julian MacQueen received a Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of South Alabama at the National Alumni Association’s Annual Awards Gala.


The Distinguished Alumni Award recognizes outstanding individuals who have demonstrated significant achievement and leadership in their field over an extended period of time.


MacQueen graduated from the University of South Alabama in 1973 with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology. He started Innisfree Hotels in 1986 and has since grown the company from a single property operation to one of the largest hotel management companies in the southern United States.


Today, Innisfree has over 2,000 rooms and 1,000 employees. Innisfree’s success is partly attributed to MacQueen’s mandate of fostering a workplace culture that celebrates creativity, dignity and principled corporate citizenship. Under his guidance, Innisfree adopted a Triple Bottom Line business model, which means implementing the use of an expanded spectrum of criteria for measuring success that values communities, sustainability and profit in equal measure.


The Distinguished Alumni and Service Awards program is the largest, most prestigious annual event hosted by the university. The National Alumni Association launched the awards program in 2005. Since its creation, only 71 graduates have received this honor. Click here to learn more about the Alumni Association at USA.