Biography - Sheri L Hernandez

Sheri L. Hernandez, MBA

Sheri Hernandez was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania into a family with 65 years of continuous military service on active duty and reserves. Her grandfather served as a pilot in WWII, her father was a decorated Navy A-4 pilot who served 3 tours in Vietnam and her brother continues to serve as an intelligence officer with the Air National Guard.


After holding part time jobs in restaurants and bars since high school, Mrs. Hernandez began her professional career in the hospitality industry upon graduating from Kutztown University, accepting a position as manager of a high volume restaurant and bar. She was responsible for all aspects of the operation, including hiring, training, purchasing, food safety as well as the daily operations and goals. She was chosen to be a member of the management team that was responsible for opening the organization’s second franchise in the area.

Mrs. Hernandez earned her Master’s in Business Administration from Lehigh University, where she taught Organizational Behavior to undergraduate business candidates as a Graduate Teaching Assistant. Upon graduating, she was recruited by Bethlehem Steel to serve as a Senior Sourcing Specialist in corporate raw materials, responsible for contract negotiations and procurement of the corporation’s supply of all base metals for all units and joint ventures. She developed price risk management strategies with hedge contracts based on the London Metals Exchange in order to reduce the price exposure for the base metals purchase of over 150 million dollars.

She worked as an independent consultant to help identify opportunities for a local community college to expand their future online learning program, as it related to grant spending, broadband infrastructure and community outreach.

Mrs. Hernandez began teaching at APUS as an adjunct instructor, moved to Full Time Assistant Professor, and is now the Program Director for the Hospitality Management Program. She combines her skills as a Restaurant Manager with her career experience in Financial Commodity Risk Management, Consulting and Purchasing to enable her educate her students with a customer-focused, yet financially sound approach to Hospitality Management.


Professor Hernandez and her husband, Todd enjoy raising their two young children, coaching their youth sports teams, skiing, cheering for the Steelers and traveling with their family. They look forward to owning their own restaurant one day.