Two UCR Alumni Return to Campus to Share Their Success Stories with Business Students

During the winter 2019 term, Dr. Raj Singh invited two UCR alumni, Armen Karamardian ’93 and Matt D. Lyons ’87, as guest lecturers in the Employee Benefits and Introduction to Business classes. Both alumni received an enthusiastic welcome from students who enjoyed hearing about the keys to their successful career experiences. 

Armen Karamardian joined Zov’s Bistro after graduating from UCR. He is now one of the owners of this family business, which was founded in 1987 by Chef Zov Karamardian. The legendary Zov’s Bistro and Bakery in Tustin, CA has become a culinary institution in Orange County, famous for its comforting creations with Chef Zov’s culinary artistry.  Over the years, Zov’s Bistro has expanded into a 14,000 sq. ft., facility encompassing an award winning bakery, a beautiful private dining room, and a busy catering division, which brings Zov’s culinary style to home and special events throughout Southern California. They have also begun offering a series of cooking lessons to those wannabe chefs.  

Matt D. Lyons currently serves as an Executive Fellow at the UCR School of Business. His 25 years of experience has been in the equity trading area for The Capital Group, since 1995. Before his recent retirement, he was the Global Equity Trading Manager, responsible for trading operations in the US, Europe, and Asia. Matt has also worked on the FIX protocol U.S. steering committee, STALA board of directors, NYSE Institutional Trading Advisory, and was the chair of the ICI equity markets advisory committee. Matt is a CFA charter holder, and earned a BS in Economics from the University of California, Riverside and an MBA from the University of Southern California, Marshall School of Business.

While both Armen and Matt have followed very different career paths to professional success, they emphasized to students the importance of developing key traits such as being innovative and creative, working hard, and valuing self-development as well as teamwork -- which are all essential ingredients to anticipating customer needs and interests, while ultimately exceeding the client’s expectations.