The Sky’s the Limit: How a Zicklin Professor Helped This Alum Become a Billion-Dollar Efficiency Ace

Since he arrived in New York in the 1990s, Wendell Batista (BBA, ’14) has gone from the loading dock to the first-class cabin—literally.

As the Northeast regional director of continuous improvement for LSG Sky Chefs, the world’s largest airline catering company, Wendell is responsible for seven airports, over 200 million first-class and business-class airline meals per year, and a portfolio of more than $1 billion in operational scope.

Reflecting on his 20-plus years leading large-scale manufacturing, food service, and logistical operations, Wendell sees a clear through-line back to his time as an international business major at the Zicklin School of Business. The Zicklin School taught him to think like a leader, he says—especially in a class taught by his most important mentor, Prof. Seth Lipner of the Department of Law.

“Everything about the way he taught business contracts is applicable to my job now,” Wendell says. “Instead of lecturing, he structured the class like a discussion, and we all sat in a circle. The questions he asked and the answers he expected were really helpful. It was like answering questions in a boardroom. He even taught us to breathe in before answering and exhale on the first word—it calms you down and lets you take control of the room.”

Wendell recently used Lipner’s teachings to save 20 percent on a contract to purchase $38 million in manufacturing equipment, by breaking out the cost of engineering (which is considered part of research and development and therefore not subject to President Trump’s tariffs) and using delivered-at-place-unloaded (DPU) shipping as opposed to free-on-board (FOB). “DPU shifts the risk of tariff increases from the buyer to the seller,” Wendell explains.

“The discipline I learned in Professor Lipner’s class has stayed with me throughout my career and directly shaped how I operate in high-stakes executive and board-level settings,” he adds. “The ability to remain composed, cut through complexity, and communicate with clarity in those rooms traces directly back to the discipline I developed at Zicklin.” Even the master’s degree Wendell later earned at Harvard University was “not a leap, but a continuation enabled by the rigor, work ethic, and decisiveness Zicklin instilled.”

How It Started
Long before he controlled a multibillion-dollar portfolio, Wendell had a humble start to his food service career. He was a loading dock manager for Eli’s Bread, the gourmet bakery division of legendary New York deli Zabar’s.

“I worked directly for Mr. [Eli] Zabar,” Wendell says. “I learned a lot from him. Also, while working for Mr. Zabar, I met Steve Wolf, who became my mentor and a father figure. My path to Baruch College would not have been possible without his love, kindness, and trust in me.”

Zabar and Wolf were among several mentors who helped Wendell in the beginning. The first was a friend back in Wendell’s native country of Brazil, who had successfully moved to New York herself and told him she could help him do the same. “The economy in Brazil left a lot to be desired for a young man trying to accomplish something,” Wendell recalls. “She told me, ‘If you work as hard in New York as you do here, you’ll be successful.’”

Another mentor was an instructor at LaGuardia Community College, where Wendell studied English as a second language when he first arrived in New York. “He made me drop his class because I kept falling asleep—I was working the four-p.m.-to-four-a.m. shift at Eli’s Bread—but when I told him my story, he offered to help me,” Wendell says. The teacher told Wendell to buy The New York Times every day, read a short article, highlight an unfamiliar word, and use that word throughout the day, asking native speakers to correct him. The unorthodox method worked; in two years, Wendell went from knowing almost no English to speaking nearly flawlessly.

Summing up, Wendell says, “I was fortunate to have mentors and a top-notch education that prepared me to lead. I am equally mindful that none of these achievements would have been possible without the unwavering support, patience, and conviction of my wife, Vania, whose belief in me enabled this journey and its outcomes.”

Bonus question: What’s a fun fact about you that few people know?

“When people hear that my name is Wendell but I’m from Brazil, they think I must be named after someone from England or America. In fact, I was named after a famous Brazilian soccer player, Wendell Lucena Ramalho.”

Categories: Alumni, Alumni News, Faculty, News