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Lucie Wang ‘19: Mastering New Realities

August 22, 2019 - 2 minute read


Lucie Wang

As a professional, Concordia Irvine MBA alum Lucie Wang helps create systems so that large sports arenas can replenish foods to hundreds of concession locations in real time.

In her role as a program manager, Lucie provides cloud-based e-procurement services to the hospitality industry, including hotels, restaurants and stadiums. Lucie is helping the company expand into larger, more-complex venues such as Ohio Stadium (home of the Ohio State Buckeyes), the Staples Center and others. She and her team build systems that efficiently supply the right number of food and drinks at the right time from off-site warehouses to on-site storage rooms to concessions stands, down to the mustard and relish.

“If you go to an NBA game at the Staples Center, for example, everything you eat or drink will soon be ordered and replenished by our system,” Lucie says. “We are going to have a large presence in those locations.”

Lucie began her career with the company traveling to Hyatt, Marriott and Starwood hotels all over North America to train hotel employees in the company’s web-based ordering system for things like towels, shampoos and room-service foods.

“When I started, a lot of hotels were using pen and paper to count their inventory or order supplies. There was no way to track things,” Lucie says. “With us they can send out purchase orders and report and track spending. It makes their job easier and automated.”

The MBA program was the perfect option to help me grow and improve and open career opportunities.

Lucie was promoted to manage an account with 183 contracted properties to deploy, and potentially millions of end-users (read: the guy buying the hot dog at halftime).

“I had never thought before about how people run a stadium,” Lucie says. “It’s fascinating to understand different business processes. I like solving problems and working with customers to do process mapping and creating business values.”

Lucie has proven adept at mastering new realities. Originally from a “small” city of 4 million in central China near the famous Three Gorges Dam, she attended college in China, then France, then St. Louis before coming to Southern California. After scouting nine different MBA programs, she chose Concordia.

“The program opened new possibilities for my life,” she says. “I loved the marketing classes. Our professors were in those fields and gave you firsthand information on the new trends. It changes how you see things. I had very good experiences with the classes and interactions with other students. I really enjoyed the collaboration.”

One major lesson she learned through the Capstone Project was how to break big problems into smaller pieces so they become more manageable — a skill that serves her well in the complexity of her present job.

“That was a life lesson for me,” she says. “Concordia taught me things inside and outside the classroom.”

As her career unfolds, Lucie is thankful that Concordia gave her confidence in her business skills.

“I feel comfortable applying for any business-related position now,” she says. “The MBA program was the perfect option to help me grow and improve and open career opportunities.”

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