slideshow

John Cahill saw 77 countries in 15 years.

While working for The Sheraton Corporation and Inter-Continental Hotels and Resorts, Cahill helped international hotels stay up to date with technology.

“The company was intercontinental so 30 weeks out of the year I would be traveling,” Cahill said. “I would spend 12 weeks out of the year in London and two weeks in Tokyo. I’ve been to so many place a lot of them feel like home.”

Of all the places he has traveled, Cahill says Australia and Rome are his favorite, but for very different reasons.

“I love the outlook of life people have in Australia: surfing and no work,” he said. “In Rome, it is tiring to the eyes looking at all of these beautiful places that are 3,000 years old. It’s amazing to think you are walking where Alexander the Great or Julius Caesar walked.”

Though Cahill has worked with technology since 1964; that wasn’t his original goal.

He studied Elizabethan drama at Manhattan College in Riverdale, N.Y. and wanted to write and teach. After finding out that didn’t pay very much he got a job at the Bank of New York. But while working in the bank, he saw a sign advertising jobs for programmers that paid more than he was currently making.

“They gave me a test and I got a promotion to work as a programmer,” he said. “You always have to be open to possibilities.”

Cahill started working for the ITT Sheraton Corporation in 1972 until 1985. His job was to help worldwide corporations develop their technology for their business.

While working with technology, Cahill saw how it evolved. When Cahill started he said he was using huge IBM computers that had to be kept in air-cooled rooms that didn’t get above 70 degrees.

“It is a completely different world now,” he said. “I’m currently reading Steve Jobs’ book, and it’s incredible the things he had in mind in the 1970s.”

Cahill’s dreams of writing and teaching weren’t lost, but were not directed toward literature. He co-authored a book about technology in 1987 with Michael Kasavana called “Managing Technology in the Hospitality Industry.” It has been used in approximately 250 universities all over the world.

“My goal was to write and teach, but it was just a different direction. The book helped me stay current with what was happening with technology,” he said. “Since I lectured in so many universities about the book, I was invited to teach as an adjunct professor at NYU for 13 weeks.”

Cahill worked for Inter-Continental Hotels and Resorts from 1985 to 1999, where he helped 200 hotels connect with technology across 77 countries.

After retiring in 1999, he also helped a small firm in Manhattan, now called Denihan Hospitality Group, grow with the use of technology.

Cahill worked as the chief information officer until 2009, when he and his wife moved to Elkin.

“My oldest daughter had lived in Elkin for 10 years at Hugh Chatham and she has given us five grandchildren, so we moved down here,” he said.

Cahill has gotten involved in the community such as getting involved with the Boy Scouts, working as the finance chair of St. Stephens Catholic Church, and he will be the president of the Rotary starting in July.

Prior to living in Elkin, Cahill and his wife had lived in a small town in Massachusetts where families had been living since 1635. He said if you weren’t one of those families, then you weren’t welcomed. Cahill said Elkin is completely different than that.

“People are so warm here and welcoming,” he said. “A large part of why we moved here is because the people welcomed us with open arms — even on our visits to see our daughter.”

Full Name: John Cahill

Age: 69

Occupation: retired from technology for hotels

Favorite food: Leg of lamb

Favorite pastime: Reading about history

Family: Wife- Alieen; Children- Mary, John, Aileen, Paul, Margaret, Denis; and 17 grandchildren

Pets: Golden Labrador named Dixie

Residence: State Road

Born in: New York City (Manhattan)

Interesting Fact: Traveled to 77 countries

Church: St. Stephen Catholic Church