Karen Xie is an Assistant Professor of Hospitality Management at the Daniels College of Business, University of Denver (DU) and the Director of Research of West Federation, International Council on Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Education (CHRIE). Her research interests focus on the use of technology and data analytics to solve business problems. Her work relies primarily on econometrics and machine learning using large-scale, yet granular, business data.

Prior to pursuing her academic career, Karen worked as an analyst with the strategy consulting group at Accenture. During her tenure at DU, she has been an analytics researcher/consultant for industry leaders, including Sage Hospitality, Smith Travel Research, Stonebridge Hotel Management Companies, Globus Family of Brands, Street Source Marketing, Aparium Hotel Group, Holiday Inn Express, Restaurant Solutions, Callan Associate, Mars, Incorporated, UBS, Unilever, and Denver City Council. Outside the United States, Karen has extensive experience working internationally and is an expert of the tech industry in China.

Karen’s work of applied business research has been published in Journal of Management Information Systems (Financial Times 50), Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, International Journal of Hospitality Management, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, among others. Her research has been recognized by many awards, including the prestigious W. Bradford Wiley Memorial Research Award (2017). Outside of work Karen is an enthusiast for ski. She holds a Ph.D. from Temple University Fox School of Business.