Profile: Lycos ’04 Explores Far Horizons

As the child of immigrants, Paul Lycos ’04 cherishes memories of visiting family abroad. “There’s something magical and majestic about being whisked away at near supersonic speeds to wherever your adventure may take you,” he says.

Now general counsel for Cronos Airlines, Lycos is living the adventure. Cronos is a regional West African airline with sister airlines in Europe and South Africa. Established only eight years ago, it has flown more than 1.5 million passengers.

“In this part of the world an international flight might be only 30 minutes. We deal with all the complexities of international travel, not to mention differing cross-border business practices and cultures,” says Lycos, who splits his time between Equatorial Guinea, South Africa, Greece, and the U.S. For business, Lycos uses mostly French, his mother’s native tongue, and Greek, his father’s first language.

Responsible for all contracts, labor and employment issues, and aircraft leases, Lycos is a government and law graduate with a J.D. from Boston College Law School. He clerked in the White House Counsel’s Office during the George W. Bush administration. He also holds a master’s degree in air and space law from McGill University and a master’s in finance from Harvard University.

Lycos says there are countless examples of how his Lafayette experience translated into real-life applications. These include improving his language skills with George Rosa, professor of French, and realizing in hindsight the advanced level of the civil rights seminar taught by Bruce Murphy, Kirby Professor of Civil Rights, which has an “uncanny resemblance to a second-year law school constitutional law class.”

—Matt Sinclair ’90