Building Extensive Finance and Global Business Experience
This fall, Mike Magusiak joined the Univeristy of Dallas as an adjunct professor and hopes to share what he learned working as an integral member of the executive management team for CEC Entertainment, Inc. (Chuck E. Cheese) for nearly 27 years.
When Magusiak initially joined CEC Entertainment in 1987, the Irving-based company was facing a negative cash flow and needed a turnaround. By 1989, with Magusiak as chief financial officer and taking CEC Entertainment public, the company began returning profits once again. In 2008, Magusiak was named CEO of the company and served until 2014 when it was sold to a private equity group. Magusiak also served on the board of directors from 1988 to 2014. The annual compound growth rate of CEC Entertainment, Inc. stock from 1989 to 2014 was 18.6 percent
Prior to joining CEC Entertainment, Magusiak worked for Church's Fried Chicken, Inc. five years and Holiday Inns, Inc., in Memphis, Tennessee, for four years.
Throughout his career, Magusiak also developed strong global business experience. While at Holiday Inns, he performed international financial and operations audits and expanded the Chuck E. Cheese’s brand across two additional continents.
Giving Back to Graduate Students
When asked what students can expect in his Foundations of Management and Strategy course this fall, Magusiak said, “I ran a public company for many years and learned that thinking strategically is absolutely critical for success. I want to focus on not just developing a strategy but knowing the best ways to implement it too.”
“At CEC Entertainment, at the end of every year, our executive team spent the last two months brainstorming ideas to evolve our concept and improve our product. Each time we began with a blank slate and asked ourselves the same questions. Often, we came up with many different ways but the execution of the plan was very, very hard work,” said Magusiak, “I used to carry our strategic plan in my briefcase to remind us that implementation is key to growth.”
Much like 85 percent of UDallas students, Magusiak worked full time while studying for an MBA and adds that he knows full well what UD students are going through.
“I went to school at night as well,” said Magusiak, “I worked full time as I worked on my master’s and it took me four years to complete my MBA.”
Overall, what Magusiak is most looking forward to in this new venture is interactions with UD students.
“So many people have had a positive influence on my career and life both professionally and personally; I hope I am able to share with UD students the same mentorship that I received and help them develop a great career.”
Learn more about the Satish & Yasmin Gupta College of Business.