Peggy Cherng
Overview
- Source of Wealth
- Fast food
- Industry
- Food & Beverage
- Residence
- Las Vegas, Nevada
- Education
- Oregon State University (Bachelor of Arts/Science)University of Missouri (Master of Science)University of Missouri (Ph.D)
- Marital Status
- Married
- Children
- 3
Assets
- East West Bancorp0 shares @ --EWBC-US
- Golden Eagle Retail Group Ltd.0 shares @ --3308-HK
Biography
Peggy Cherng is cofounder and co-CEO of Panda Express, the $6.2 billion (est. sales) Chinese fast-food chain with some 2,500 locations.
Born in Myanmar, Cherng got a Ph.D. in electrical engineering in the U.S., then went to work for 3M and McDonnell Douglas, where she helped design battlefield simulators for the U.S. Navy.
She left her engineering career to help her husband, Andrew Cherng, open Panda Express' first location in a Glendale, California, shopping mall in 1983.
She implemented the company's sales and analytics software, earlier than many other restaurants, helping make Panda Express the dominant player among Asian limited-service chains in America.
In 2018, the Cherngs invested in a group that bought the Mandarin Oriental hotel, now the Waldorf Astoria, in Las Vegas for $214 million.
About
The Cherngs' Panda Restaurant Group is also the sole U.S. franchisee of Japanese cheesecake chain Uncle Tetsu and runs all the Raising Cane's in Hawaii and Alaska.
For her 1974 doctoral thesis, Cherng developed a computer program that used an algorithm to scan digitized chest X-rays for signs of congenital heart disease.