Strong partnership leads to successful new role at UNH; enter "Sodexo Dan"

Last Spring, Sodexo at the University of New Haven (UNH) and Associate Vice President of Public Safety and Administrative Services Ron Quagliani discussed ways to provide the students at UNH with a more personal link to the dining program on campus.

The objective was to bring in someone to act as a resource for UNH Dining to offer students a unique level of input and more immediate responses, primarily through social media. The person hired would be dedicated to developing relationships with students on campus to ultimately add value to their campus dining experiences.

Enter Sodexo’s Daniel Simpson, or “Sodexo Dan” as students refer to him, hired as a student ambassador for UNH Dining Services this past Fall.

Students love him as demonstrated through social media comments including, “Yeah I love Sodexo Dan”, “Sodexo Dan is literally the best person,” and “Sodexo Dan is actually awesome!”

According to General Manager of University of New Haven Dining Services Gordon Hayes, “Sodexo Dan” has worked enthusiastically and strategically on campus and it is working.

UNH is a long-term partner of Sodexo so when Gordon Hayes was hired he quickly embraced the University’s vision for the student ambassador role and began working closely with “Sodexo Dan” to define the role with specific strategies and tactics.

Hayes’ vision was to make sure students see “Sodexo Dan’s” role as a commitment to ongoing dialogue geared to enhance the dining program as one that will be feedback driven.

“’Sodexo Dan’ has done a great job utilizing social media and in person meetings with Residential Life and the Student Government Association to strengthen our connection with the UNH Community. His efforts are helping to resuscitate community interaction with our program,” said Hayes. “He has become such a dynamic part of the community UNH even let him dress as the Charlie the Charger mascot for a Sodexo Traveling Chef event. You can’t get more UNH than that!”

Almost a year after Quagliani collaborated with the Sodexo team, he is very happy with the development of the role and the relationships that Dan is building on campus. “The students are the ones that should be driving our dining services program here. “Sodexo Dan” provides the necessary link that enhances student participation”, said Quagliani.