Originally published on October 23, 2019.
An adventurer by nature and one who does not take the traditional path, St. George, Utah, native Liz Wallis works to advance supplier diversity and inclusion at American Airlines and, after her day job, spends time planning her next trip and learning all things tech, business, and social media.
As manager of American’s Supplier Diversity program, Liz works to find minority and women-owned businesses that can meet the procurement needs of the company. The job involves relationship building, understanding complex business needs and finding solutions, marketing and communication with internal and external groups, strategic planning, and program management. She is currently building a three-year strategy that includes a new marketing plan and growing supplier investments.
“It’s very rewarding to find diverse business owners and connect them with an opportunity that could very well change the trajectory of their business,” she says.
Previously she worked in college recruitment at American, but by “total luck” an opportunity surfaced to work with a woman at American that she admired and so she jumped at the opportunity.
“I really believe that working for people who are passionate and disruptors in their space is the key component of a rewarding career. It can be such a great opportunity to learn,” she explains.
Liz says SUU was pivotal in opening her eyes to new experiences and learning that she is more resilient and capable of stretching herself than she thought. She received encouragement from SUU mentors to explore the unknown and go after things that were not on the typical path after graduation.
She also credits professors who taught her that “nothing is a crisis” and who challenged her to “make a better argument” by backing up her opinions, ideas, or recommendations.
Liz and husband Kit Wallis (’08 & ’09) live in Dallas, Texas, with their dog Tank. Their all-time favorite trip was fly-fishing in Iceland last summer.
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