The George Dean Johnson, Jr. College of Business and Economics at the University of South Carolina Upstate will host Scott Taber, senior vice president of rooms for the Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, as part of its annual Wells Fargo Speaker Series.

The event, to be held on Tuesday, Oct. 16, is the second of three lectures that will be held this fall.

Taber’s presentation, entitled “Headwinds (Yet Opportunities) for the Hotel Industry,” takes place from 12:10 to 1 p.m. in the BMW Classroom at The George, 160 E. Saint John St., in downtown Spartanburg.

Taber is the global liaison for the room functions in each of the regions, including front office, housekeeping, security, and engineering. He is responsible for developing leaders for these areas; establishing global standards of service, policy, procedure, and necessary training programs; and assisting to achieve financial targets. In addition, Taber leads the quality assurance areas of the company, both with customer satisfaction programs and third party audits of the hotels.

Prior to Taber’s appointment as vice president of rooms in 2008, he was the opening general manager of the Four Seasons Whistler, the company’s first Ski Resort and Condominium Hotel model property. Whistler has won the AAA highest award of Five Diamonds, and the Forbes Five Star designation for excellence.

Taber has spent his career as a Four Seasons employee holding various operational roles with Four Seasons in Singapore and Hong Kong, along with nine properties in the United States. He is a graduate of the hospitality program at Cornell University.