Vol. 4 [UT Member Interview] 🎤Sun Kyu Park (CS ’03) Part 1 of 2

This is Part 1 of the alumni interview with Sun Kyu Park (CS ’03), composed of questions designed to help us get to know him better on a personal level. Below is the English translation of the original Korean text.

🎤 How do you usually like to start your day?
Before heading from home to the office, I start my day by carefully reviewing the key issues and news from the U.S. markets overnight. After arriving at work, I prepare for the trading day by going through reports and emails that summarize the major events in the Korean market before it opens.

🎤What is one small habit or routine from your university days that you still keep?
I spent my first two years at UT living in Jester Residence Hall. At the time, I couldn’t quite get used to the cafeteria food, so I always kept a bottle of sriracha sauce in my room. I put it on almost everything, and that habit has continued even after 20 years—I still instinctively reach for sriracha whenever I eat pizza or chicken.

🎤 Is there a place on campus that you remember especially clearly?
It was Rainbow Arcade on Guadalupe Street (The Drag). Between classes, I would stop by whenever I had a break and play a round of Street Fighter III: Third Strike, which was hugely popular at the time. If I still had time afterward, I’d grab a coffee at the nearby Einstein Bros. Bagels and seriously think about how I could get better at the game. I miss the unhurried rhythm of those days.

🎤When you were a student, what did you imagine your life and work would look like at this stage?
When I entered UT in 1998, I majored in Computer Science and dreamed of becoming a programmer at major IT companies like Dell, IBM, or Motorola. However, in 2002, during my senior year, the dot-com bubble burst and the IT job market froze. I then completed the Business Foundations program at McCombs and began exploring a new path. After entering the securities industry in 2003, I spent 20 years working across global investment banks and asset management firms in Korea, the United States, Switzerland, and Singapore. In 2023, I founded an asset management firm in Korea. My life has taken a very different direction from what I envisioned as a college student who dreamed of becoming a programmer.

🎤What is something you learned through your work experience that changed how you see people or life?
In 2021, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, after 16 years of working abroad, I was asked to take on the role of Head of Korea for the Wealth Management division at Credit Suisse Securities. Returning to life in Korea after such a long time became a turning point that led me to reexamine my identity as a Korean in an entirely new way.

Compared to when I first left for the United States as a high school student in 1995, South Korea today has achieved a level of development that is almost hard to believe. Even compared to 2007, just before I left for my MBA after graduating from UT, the pace of change has been extraordinary. When measured against advanced countries like Switzerland or Singapore, where I spent the past 16 years, Korea’s infrastructure, cultural sophistication, and the capabilities of its people are in no way behind. In fact, it was only after returning to Korea that I was able to objectively recognize how the diligence and dynamism characteristic of Koreans have been such powerful competitive strengths in the global market.

Through meeting fellow alumni in the field, there is one thing I have become certain of: the standing of students currently studying at UT must be far higher than it was when I was there over 20 years ago. I have come to feel both pride in being part of a country that is confidently recognized anywhere in the world, and a sense of fulfillment in having witnessed and contributed to its development. I am genuinely proud to be Korean in this era.

🎤If you had a completely free day with no schedule at all, what would you like to do?
Having spent many years living abroad as an adult, there are still many places in Seoul I have yet to visit. I would like to wander through unfamiliar alleys of the city without any particular plan, fully taking in the atmosphere and scenery of Korea.

🎤 What kind of work gives you the strongest sense of meaning or purpose?
I feel the greatest sense of fulfillment when my experiences become a meaningful “hint” or a source of comfort to someone else. Looking back, every major turning point in my career was accompanied by a significant global crisis. The dot-com bubble in 2002, which followed my admission to UT in 1998, led me from a dream of becoming a programmer into the world of finance. The global financial crisis in 2009, which struck just before I graduated from NYU with my MBA, once again put my career to the test. At the time, it felt like overwhelming uncertainty, but ultimately, riding those waves allowed me to build my career across global financial markets in places like Switzerland and Singapore. I find particular strength in sharing these experiences with junior alumni I meet through alumni activities and with those just beginning their careers.

🎤What inspired you to become involved in the alumni association?After returning to Korea, I happened to attend a seminar hosted by the UT Alumni Center, where I met Sydney Davis Pan from the UT International Office. Through that encounter, I learned about the university’s ongoing efforts to revitalize the Korean alumni network. When the current UTAKA was launched in January 2025 under President John Kim, I joined as the Membership Development Committee Chair to contribute to those efforts.

🎤What do you enjoy most about being connected with fellow alumni in Korea?
Since I went abroad in my third year of middle school and spent over 20 years overseas, my network in Korea had largely been limited to business relationships. However, through UTAKA, I have been able to meet fellow alumni who share memories from one of the most passionate periods of our lives, and being able to share those genuine memories together brings me the greatest joy.

🎤What is one thing you appreciate about your current city or daily routine?
Before returning to Korea in 2021, I lived in Singapore for 11 years. While Singapore is an extremely livable city, I always missed having four distinct seasons. Now, I find great satisfaction in experiencing Korea’s clearly defined seasons with all my senses, as they change day by day.

🎤What is something about you that fellow alumni might not know yet but would enjoy learning?
Those who attended UT around the same time as I did may remember this—I was the “Austin champion” of Street Fighter III in the early 2000s. I also held the record for the most wins at Rainbow Arcade up until my graduation in 2003. Haha.