Dr. Cervantes Lee serves as the Faculty Director for Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CEI) at Cal Poly Pomona College of Business and leads efforts in advancing investment-ready venture creation, cross-disciplinary entrepreneurship, and fostering a collaborative ecosystem that connects academic research with industry application. Since August 2024, he has also been the founding Executive Director of the Asia Innovation Hub, launched in partnership with the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center, where he leads programs like Accelerate to Nasdaq, Asia Milestone Makers, and the Nasdaq IPO Bootcamp to mentor growth-stage CEOs on global expansion and IPO readiness. Known as the “Panda Professor” since his time at UNLV starting in 2021, Dr. Lee is an expert in multi-unit restaurant leadership and has coached CEOs of global chains operating 5,000–20,000 locations. Prior to academia, Dr. Lee spent two decades in principal investment managing over $100 billion in assets, with sector experience across hospitality real estate, location-based businesses, and consumer tech, and held roles at Beike Holdings (NYSE: BEKE), Redbridge Student House, Panda Express, Peking University Founder Group, CBRE Investors (NYSE: CBRE), AIG Global Real Estate (NYSE: AIG), and Arthur Andersen’s Corporate Finance division.
Education
Global Executive Doctor of Restaurant Education, University of Southern California (2021) M.S. in Real Estate Development, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2008) MBA in Finance, National Taiwan University (2001) BA in Economics, National Taiwan University(1997)
Courses Taught
GBA 5700: Business Planning GBA 6830: Business Research Methods GBA 6950: Business Research Projects
Research
Cervantes Lee, Linchi Kwok, and Zihui Ma (2025). Multi-unit Restaurant Management. Kendall Hunt Publishing. Paperback ISBN:9798385112302. https://he.kendallhunt.com/product/multi-unit-restaurant-management In April 2025, he received the Golden Leaves Author Award from the Cal Poly Pomona University Library for his lead authorship of Multi-Unit Restaurant Management, a textbook published in February 2025.
Additional Information
Dr. Lee served as President of the MIT Club of Southern California (2018–2019) and has supported undergraduate recruitment as an MIT Educational Counselor since 2021. In 2014, he became only the second professional globally to earn all five designations from the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), where he also served on the faculty of ICSC University (2012–2015).
