Humans of Kellogg: Chevy Chen (Kellogg E&W), Business Manager - Pacific Airport Operations, United Airlines
- Cathy Campo
- 9 hours ago
- 4 min read
It’s All Logistics
By: Nika Chugh
To know Chevy Chen is to ask him the following question: “What are you up to this weekend?” and not know exactly what answer you’ll get back. One weekend, he could be flying to New York (his hometown) to visit his family; the next, a flight to Austin to attend the Austin City Limits music festival; the following week, it may be a trip to Japan or Australia to visit his United Airlines colleagues based in the Pacific.
As Chevy told me through a series of voice memos after our Tuesday evening MORS class, his role as a Business Manager for Pacific Airport Operations keeps him pretty busy—not to mention his coursework as part of Kellogg’s Evening and Weekend program, his involvement with the Kellogg Student Association’s Social committee and the Golub Capital Board Scholars Program. Even so, he tries his best to make time to catch those weekend flights, racking up 60 flights so far this year, totaling 95,000 miles. “It hasn’t been a great year for standby travel, though,” Chevy joked. We clearly have different definitions on travel frequency!
A Love for Aviation
Chevy’s interest in the aviation business began as a child. About his first flight ever, Chevy remarked, “As my parents tell it—unlike every other baby on the plane, I was laughing and giggling, almost as if I was built for the air.”
This passion only grew as Chevy became more interested in how planes actually work. “I just remember thinking: What is this modern scientific marvel? This GIANT hunk of metal in the sky? How are you staying afloat?”
Young Chevy spent his childhood browsing YouTube, researching all about the new developments in aviation. He even remembers when the Airbus A380 came out in 2007 and his excitement over the sheer number of passengers this new airplane model could seat.
“I used to watch slide evacuation tests, where they would test to see if they could evacuate all 800 passengers if half of the plane doors weren’t accessible, in under 90 seconds. You can imagine just how huge of a logistical and operational challenge that is.”
A Pivot Away, then a Pivot Back (It’s a Process)
Chevy originally started at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York as a chemical engineering student, but he changed his mind once he realized that what actually interested him was optimizing systems and increasing efficiencies, not chemical solutions and fluid processes. After a “quick crashout,” as he puts it, he sought advice from a close friend, who told him about the hottest major in town: industrial engineering.
“It kind of applied similar concepts from chemical engineering—except instead of chemical processes, we looked at human interfacing processes and general manufacturing applications. I. Loved. It. It was like second nature to me.”
After a few internships in the industry, by chance, Chevy would find his way back to aviation through an internship at United Airlines. “I realized that the aviation industry is just one huge logistics and transportation problem. There’s so many challenges and issues that come with running such a complex operation.” And he’s been there ever since.
Making it Work
Chevy’s hectic schedule, filled with classes, social outings, SoulCycle classes and of course, flights, has garnered him a bit of a reputation among friends and cohort-mates alike.
“I always joke that I tell my friends if you want to make plans with me, you have to tell me six months out so I can get it on the calendar. I live, breathe and die by my calendar.”
Chevy’s love for logistics and operations plays out perfectly in this arena, allowing him to constantly look for opportunities for optimization in his planning process. A color-coded schedule? He’s got it. Email notifications, Partifuls and even several alarms set on his new iPhone 17 (orange, if you’re curious)—he’s got it all, in pursuit of making it all work.
“We all have so many choices for our lives, but my advice is just to be intentional with your time. You're not going to be able to do everything, so choose what matters to you the most.”
What have I learned from Chevy? Life is like one big logistics, planning and optimization problem. Everything is a trade-off—like sacrificing that extra hour of sleep to complete an assignment before work the next day or choosing to head to that concert solo when you could be hanging with your cohort-mates or enjoying Chicago (in whatever season we’re currently experiencing). All the same, make sure you make time for life’s sweet moments, whether that’s the miracle of flight or an engaging get-together with classmates at Kellogg Table before class. Who knows what you’ll discover along the way? Read more Humans of Kellogg profiles:
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