UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Ken Young, class of 1972, a celebrated hospitality and recreation entrepreneur, received the Penn State Distinguished Alumni Award, which honors alumni whose personal lives, professional achievements, and community service embody their alma mater's values. This is the University's highest honor for its alumni.
Throughout his career, Young, a hospitality management alumnus, has shaped national standards in food service, venue management, and professional sports. His influence spans national organizations that support sports, entertainment, and leisure facilities.
"Ken’s career demonstrates how a strong hospitality-focused college education transcends business sectors,” said Donna Quadri-Felitti, Marvin Ashner Endowed Director of the Penn State School of Hospitality Management. “He consistently infused his numerous entrepreneurial efforts from food service to sports with the operational and cultural excellence that he learned while at Penn State through our exceptional curriculum. As we prepare to celebrate our 90th anniversary, this hallmark of entrepreneurial and operational excellence, such as Ken’s career exhibits, remains intact to this day.”
Young served as president and executive chairman of Spectra, a food services and hospitality organization. In 2021, the Oak View Group acquired Spectra to form OVG360, a full-service venue management company. Prior to this acquisition, Young played a role in building Spectra by unifying three divisions of Ovations Food Services under one company.
In 1985, Young founded Leisure and Recreation Consultants Inc., which was acquired by Comcast‑Spectacor. Earlier in his career, he held leadership roles in multiple organizations before becoming Eastern area president of Volume Services Inc. His career began in 1972 with ARA Services Inc., managing food operations for major civic centers and arenas.
“I consider my Penn State, College of Health and Human Development, and Food Service Management education to be the foundation of being able to accomplish a great career,” Young said. “At Penn State, I was taught and prepared for success.”
Young helped define Minor League Baseball for more than 30 years, owning or co‑owning five different teams and earning various accolades, including the John H. Johnson President’s Award (2018) and Baseball America’s Minor League Executive of the Year (2009). Since 1997, Young served on the board of trustees of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues. In 1993, he became president and general partner of the Norfolk Tides Baseball Club, later leading the relocation of the Calgary Cannons to Albuquerque as the Isotopes.
Young has served on the College of Health and Human Development’s Philanthropy Council and previously received the Penn State Alumni Fellow Award and the Penn State Hotel and Restaurant Society Alumni of the Year Award. Young also established a trustee scholarship and the Ken Young Family Professorship for Healthy Children.
Young joins fellow hospitality management alumni Richard A. Benefield, Edward R. Book, Walter J. Conti, Franco Harris, and Ira M. Lubert in receiving the Distinguished Alumni Award from Penn State. The Penn State Hotel and Restaurant Society is the oldest academic affiliated alumni group at Penn State.
The Board of Trustees established the Distinguished Alumni Award in 1951, the highest honor bestowed by Penn State upon an outstanding alumna or alumnus. The award is commemorated by the presentation of an inscribed certificate and an engraved bronze medallion displayed in a box handcrafted from the wood of the historic Penn State American Elm trees that once flourished on the University Park campus.
The Penn State Hospitality Management program was rated No. 1 in Pennsylvania, No. 3 in the United States and No. 20 in the world by the 2026 QS World University Rankings by Subject for hospitality and leisure management programs.