About
Dr. Maksim Godovykh brings over two decades of leadership across research, business, government, and international organizations. He developed innovation pipelines, served as Director of the Business Development Administration, and led large businesses and international organizations. His work has appeared in top-tier international journals and has been featured in books, encyclopedias, industry publications, and major media outlets. He has led the development of government programs and organized more than a hundred high-impact forums, conferences, conventions, trade shows, and other landmark events.
Maksim is driven by a passion for creating projects that make a difference—serving communities, industry, government, academia, and a wide range of stakeholders. He believes that even the most profound knowledge must be translated into action to inspire others, cultivate growth, and spark meaningful change.
Education
- Earned a Ph.D. in Hospitality Management from UCF Rosen College, ranked #1 in the U.S., with a GPA of 3.99 out of 4.00.
- Also received Master’s degrees in Economics, Strategic Management, and MBA.
- Completed multidisciplinary programs in innovation management, strategic management, cognitive neuroscience, psychology, health and well-being, destination management, event management, behavioral economics, network science, and others from Claremont Graduate University, Higher School of Economics, University of Central Florida, Stanford Medicine, Harvard, and other schools.
- Honored with numerous awards, including the Order of Pegasus (UCF’s most prestigious award), the Multidisciplinary Doctoral Award (sole recipient), the Medal of Honor from the Ministry of Education and Science, the Most Outstanding People National Award, the UNWTO Global Hospitality Challenge Award, the UCF Seed Funding Award, and the National Best Business Event Award.
Innovation
- Developed and implemented nationally recognized
innovation infrastructure, including funding initiatives,
incubators, accelerators, technoparks, innovation missions,
roadshows, and strategic events. - Organized innovation forums, venture forums,
commercialization reactors, investment sessions,
workshops, and many other innovation
development events. - Designed and managed structured innovation pipelines,
integrating stage-gate processes for idea generation,
evaluation, funding, development, and commercialization. - Established innovators’ communities and ecosystems,
supporting over 1,000 startup projects. - Collaborated with governments, universities, venture funds,
enterprises, NGOs, and industry stakeholders to scale and
sustain early-stage innovations.
Leadership
- Served as Director of the Business Development Administration, a government agency overseeing 190,000 organizations.
- Managed over 100 team members and oversaw budgets exceeding $50 million.
- Held key leadership roles in business, including CEO positions across various industries, including large manufacturing company, tourism businesses, even planning businesses, and a number of innovative projects.
- Led international organizations, including serving as National President of JCI International, President of AIESEC, Chair of the Research Advisory Board for Meeting Professionals International (MPI), and other roles.
- Led planning and execution of over 300 events.
- Led over 50 international research projects, including global collaborative initiatives.
Research
- Conducted over 50 research projects
- Led global research collaborative initiatives.
- Published 50+ first-author papers in top-tier journals, including those ranked #1, #2, and #3 worldwide in the field
- Developed and organized a series of research-fostering events, such as the Research Acceleration Event, Research Idea Crash-Tests, and Commercialization Reactors.
- Disseminated knowledge through books, encyclopedia entries, industry reports, and mass media.
- Cited by over 1,500 research groups in more than 40 countries, and presented at 100+ conferences.
- Developed research proposals for major institutions, including the National Science Foundation, U.S. Economic Development Administration, European Research Council, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and others.
Events
- Planned and executed over 300 business events, including Innovation Forums, Investment Forums, Boat and Air Shows, Career Days, Millionaire Fairs, Trade Shows, conventions, conferences, workshops, and many other meetings.
- Serving as Chair of the Research Advisory Board at Meeting Professionals International (MPI), the world’s largest association of event planners.
- Developed and taught multiple event-related educational programs, including the Innovation Management Academy and the Business Event Management School.
- Developed a series of events for startups and technological innovations, including ideation sessions, research acceleration events, idea crush-tests, commercialization reactors, etc.
- Received the National Best Business Event Award.
Collaboration
- Extensive experience in partnership and stakeholder engagement at various levels, including business leaders, governments, researchers, NGOs, and international organizations.
- Held leadership roles in global member-based organizations, including AIESEC, JCI International, MPI, and many others.
- Collaborated with organizations and universities from the U.S., U.K., Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Poland, Turkey, China, and other countries.
- Founded and led the global research collaboration initiative with collaborators from 26 countries.
- Conducted presentations, road shows, and face-to-face meetings in the U.S., U.K., Spain, Netherlands, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Turkey, and many other locations.
Additional Info
- Travel: I am passionate about tourism. I have visited 60 countries, stayed in more than 1,000 hotels, sailed across the Atlantic Ocean, and developed new tourism products, guides, and programs. I regularly participate in the most important meetings worldwide.
- Healthy Lifestyle: I am exercising, keeping proper hours, eating healthy food, and avoiding any harmful substances, including smoking, alcohol consumption, and pharmaceuticals. I prefer physical activities such as hiking, bicycling, running, and sailing over long dining sessions or sitting in traffic jams.
- Innovativeness: I adhere to a proactive and creative approach, driven by a desire to seek novel ideas, methods, challenges, solutions, and innovations in any field. I am not willing to take on roles where innovation is not encouraged and supported.
- Hobbies: sailing and boating (crossed the Atlantic Ocean), mountain skiing, snowboarding, aircraft piloting, windsurfing, wakeboarding, book reading and writing, music, tennis, swimming, cycling, running, painting, camping, and hiking.
Useful Links
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=nwFRHs8AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao
ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Maksim-Godovykh
Personal Website: https://www.godovykh.com/
Selected Books
Godovykh, M. (2025). Empowring Innovation. Empowering Innovation is a practical guide for leaders, policymakers, entrepreneurs, and institutions seeking to create and sustain dynamic innovation ecosystems.
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/empowering-innovation-maksim-godovykh/1147103114
Godovykh, M. (2024). Kid-Friendly World: How to Make Communities, Destinations, Hotels, Events, and Experiences More Welcoming for Children and Their Families
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F7GNRBJ2
Godovykh, M. (2025). Research Acceleration. The book provides a comprehensive framework for transforming the research process, empowering individuals, institutions, and stakeholders to achieve greater efficiency, relevance, and societal impact.
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/research-acceleration-maksim-godovykh/1146874269?ean=9798230940227
Godovykh, M. (2024). Measuring Patient Experience in Healthcare. The book explores the drivers of patient experience, from communication and environment to organizational culture, and examines cutting-edge measurement tools such as surveys, moment-based assessments, psycho-physiological techniques, and AI-driven analysis. https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/measuring-patient-experience-in-healthcare-maksim-godovykh/1146645698?ean=9798230630807
Godovykh, M. (2024). Event Experience. The book offers a thorough exploration of how to create, assess, and enhance event experiences. https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/event-experience-maksim-godovykh/1146596819?ean=9798230994930
Godovykh, M. (2023). Tourism impacts: A guide to understanding, evaluating, and managing the positive and negative impacts of tourism development. This book aims to introduce the knowledge, methods, measurement practices, and management tools necessary to explore and maximize the impacts of tourism development on residents’ quality of life, health, and well-being in different types of tourist destinations. https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/tourism-impacts-maksim-godovykh/1143571629?ean=9798223922186
Selected Publications
Godovykh, M. (2024). Transformative experiences in tourism: where, when, with whom, and how does tourists’ transformation occur?. Frontiers in Sustainable Tourism, 3, 1377844. https://doi.org/10.3389/frsut.2024.1377844
Godovykh, M., Fyall, A., & Baker, C. (2024). Sustainable Labels in Tourism Practice: The Effects of Sustainable Hotel Badges on Guests’ Attitudes and Behavioral Intentions. Sustainability, 16(6), 2484. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16062484
Godovykh, M., Hacikara, A., Baker, C., Fyall, A., & Pizam, A. (2023). Measuring the perceived impacts of tourism: A scale development study. Current Issues in Tourism, 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2023.2243003
Godovykh, M., Fyall, A., & Ridderstaat, J. (2023). The well-being impacts of tourism: Long-term and short-term effects of tourism development on residents’ happiness. Tourism Economics, 29(1), 137-156. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F13548166211041227
Godovykh, M., & Pizam, A. (2023). Measuring patient experience in healthcare. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 112, 103405. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2022.103405
Godovykh, M., Back, R. M., Bufquin, D., Baker, C., & Park, J. Y. (2023). Peer-to-peer accommodation amid COVID-19: the effects of Airbnb cleanliness information on guests’ trust and behavioral intentions. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-12-2021-1508
Selected Projects
Reseach Acceleration
Rransforming the research process, empowering people, institutions, and stakeholders to achieve greater efficiency, relevance, and societal impact
Tourism Experimentation Platform
Pre-testing innovations, marketing tools, and sustainable practices before implementing any changes in real life using experimental design
Tourism Impacts
Exploring the impacts of tourism development on residents’ quality of life, health, and well-being worldwide
Customer Experience
Developing new methods of measuring customer experience in tourism, hospitality, healthcare, and public service
Hospitality Art Project
Exploring the effects of visual art attributes on guests’ emotions, attitudes, and behavioral intentions
Tourism Experimentation Platform
Pre-testing innovations, marketing tools, and sustainable practices before implementing any changes in real life using experimental design
COST Action on Tourism Impacts
Foster collaboration between various fields and organizations to jointly develop an overarching framework for assessing and improving the impacts of tourism
Sustainable Tourism for Kids
The mission of the “Sustainable Tourism for Kids” project is to educate and inspire young travelers to adopt sustainable practices while exploring the world.
Booking Experience
To analyze the effectiveness of various listing attributes on Booking.com, Airbnb, and Vrbo platforms in shaping guests’ attitudes and booking intentions
Kid-Freindly World
To help communities, governments, destinations, and organizations create inclusive, inspiring, and developmentally supportive environments where children feel valued, engaged, and empowered to thrive.
Innovation Hub
To provide structured innovation pipelines that support innovation projects at every stage of business development.
