In February, Brent Lynch ’90 was named president of HFS Concepts 4, an international leader in hospitality architecture and design with offices in Los Angeles and Shanghai — not at all where he imagined his life taking him when he graduated from Wofford with a degree in English and certification to teach.
“I wasn’t sure if I wanted to teach high school English after all,” says Lynch, who went to work instead for a company in Atlanta that distributed furnishings to hotels.
Success in Atlanta led to a move to Chicago, where he ran the company’s Midwest region. Through mergers, promotions, moves and national involvement in professional organizations, Lynch built a reputation and was recruited to join HFS Concepts 4 in Los Angeles as executive vice president in charge of the firm’s architecture, interior design and procurement teams. He served in this position for 13 years before being named president.
“I have worked with some of the hotel industry’s greatest owners and brands in the United States and Asia,” he says. “It is an exciting and ever-changing industry, and I am fortunate to be a part of it.”
HFS Concepts 4 consistently is ranked as a hospitality design giant by Interior Design magazine. With an emphasis on total design solutions, the company brings together the disciplines of architecture, interior design, procurement and construction services.
“My experience at Wofford provided me with an education beyond the concentration of my major. The opportunity to be connected to student life through theater, music, fraternities and sports provided avenues to interact with students of all backgrounds,” says Lynch. “It sparked my interests in areas that I had never been exposed to previously. All of these opportunities formed the foundation on which my entire professional career has been based.”
By Jo Ann Mitchell Brasington ’89