Jason Smith; Vice President of Marketing Communications, HSMAI

The Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI) announced with great sadness the sudden passing of Jason Smith, Vice President of Marketing Communications. Jason served HSMAI and the hospitality industry with distinction, dedication and exceptional leadership for more than 24 years.

Since joining HSMAI in 2001, Jason has been instrumental in advancing the association’s marketing communications initiatives, overseeing the organization's digital presence, public relations efforts, and social media strategy. His creativity, strategic insight, and commitment to excellence made a lasting impact on HSMAI’s global community. A respected leader, trusted colleague, and admired mentor, Jason’s contributions will continue to influence the association and the broader industry for years to come.

‍

‍

Tony Espinoza; CEO, CallTek

It is with deep sadness that we learned of the passing of Tony Espinoza, CEO of CallTek. He passed away on March 31, 2025 from natural causes that
were unknown at the time.

Tony will be remembered for his gregarious personality and ability to quickly connect and make friends with most anyone he met from the corporate CEO to the person sitting next to him at the airport bar. He had the ability to make everyone feel special because he believed that they were.

Tony’s contributions to hospitality technology are numerous and were often unspoken because of his commitment to complete customer confidentiality. He held numerous patents for technology protocols that provide solutions for CallTek clients and hotels around the world. As a young man, Tony’s love for technology took him from Southern California to the Philippines where he worked in engineering for GoldenTree and ultimately founded CallTek in 2004.

Tony’s passion and commitment turned CallTek into a global enterprise with a presence in 12 countries and more than 10,000 employees around the world. To Tony, CallTek employees were family. He created an environment that supported employees and their families with excellent pay, education, health insurance, flexibility, food, clean water and a great deal of fun in addition to hard work.