Dominic Sung
Today, we are catching up with Dominic Sung, a Business Honors Program (now the Canfield Business Honors Program) graduate from 2003. Since the 20 years that Dominic has been a student, he now has a wife and two sons (aged 5 and 8). Dominic started off by saying that it is hard for him to believe that some of the current Canfield Business Honors Program students were not born when he graduated from the program. When we last caught up with Dominic, he lived in Houston, where he still resides with his family. In his free time, he enjoys playing sports, tasting different whiskeys and spirits, traveling, and trying different foods. Dominic said where he has found most of his joy in introducing his hobbies to his sons, except the whiskey and spirits tastings, of course.
When Dominic was a student at UT, he majored in finance with a minor in management information systems and a concentration in management and philosophy. Needless to say, he was a very busy student. Dominic attests that the small size of the business honors program, alongside the vast resources available at such a large university, made his choice to enroll at UT a straightforward decision.
Now, Dominic works for CarbonBetter as the Director of Business Development for the Sustainability and Decarbonization Services team. He is responsible for building the business and client base. His work at CarbonBetter offers sustainability services across the entire spectrum – strategic planning, quantification and measurement of emissions, reporting, decarbonization strategy development, and participation in the voluntary carbon market via traded carbon credits and renewable energy certificates.
Dominic says that about the first twenty years of his career, he worked in energy trading and loved the work, but along the way, he decided to retire for a bit. During that time, he learned that there was more to life than career advancement, wealth accumulation, and success measurable in the more traditional business sense. Dominic said that though his time at BP was an incredible one, it allowed him the chance to retire and walk away from the industry for a moment. Dominic had a passion for building something from the ground up and having the opportunity to offer advice and opinions in a way that he could not do at BP, thus he ended up at CarbonBetter with the mission to prove that what can be good for the planet can be good for business as well.
Dominic reflected on his time in the business honors program and found that the program taught him how to assess and analyze a problem and work toward a solution. The ability to adapt to a changing environment and uniquely apply knowledge is paramount to his work. Dominic found it pivotal to recognize where his teammates’ skills augment his work. This skill allowed him to efficiently work collaboratively with a team and gave the opportunity to create something better. This skill of finding people’s strengths has been a fundamental lesson that he has also applied to his personal life. Dominic must also thank the many connections he made on the 40 Acres that helped him throughout his life and career.
We asked Dominic if he had any advice for current Canfield Business Honors Program students, and he said, “Spend time building connections with your fellow Canfield BHP students. They will all become wildly successful in whatever they do and become amazing references and contacts in the future. There are many careers out there; don’t pigeonhole yourself to narrow objectives. Don’t forget to have fun!”.
If you want to read more about Dominic, you can check out our previous blog with him.