Elizabeth Sun

Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell SC Johnson College of Business, Cornell University

“Thoughtful, service-oriented leader dedicated to changing systems and connecting action to impact through purpose.”

Hometown: Seattle, WA / Albuquerque, NM

Fun fact about yourself: To teach my siblings and I problem-solving growing up, my dad would challenge us to spatial puzzles – one of which involved attaining a candy bar placed out of reach on a chair that was situated on a large, off-limits rug. I attribute my resourcefulness and strategic thinking to him.

Undergraduate School and Degree: Pomona College, French

Where was the last place you worked before enrolling in business school? Le Monde French Immersion Public Charter School, Office Manager

Where did you intern during the summer of 2024? Deloitte, Seattle

Where will you be working after graduation? Deloitte, Senior Consultant

Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School:

• Executive Director, Johnson Board Fellowship Club
• VP Finance, Sustainable Global Enterprise Club
• Course assistant for ten courses and initiatives
• Johnson Leadership Fellow
• Big Red Microenterprise
• Edward S. Flash Jr. School of Management Memorial Scholarship Recipient
• Dean’s List (top 10%) for 2023-24 academic year

Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? I am most proud of inciting deeper conversations about community engagement at Johnson, specifically via a tri-club event on what ‘giving back’ means at Johnson. As the Executive Director of the Johnson Board Fellowship (JBF) program, one of my goals was to strengthen the social impact awareness, action, and community at Johnson. In collaboration with the leaders of the two other social impact-focused clubs (Sustainable Global Enterprise and Community Impact Club), I worked to increase community engagement and service-oriented impact. We informally deemed ourselves the Social Impact Coalition and solidified our partnership by creating a new annual event that served as a platform to discuss what it means to have social impact at Johnson. Our hope is that by starting these conversations early, MBA students will be encouraged to think critically and thoughtfully about their responsibility and potential for shaping their community.

What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? One of my proudest professional achievements was traveling to Tunis, Tunisia to help facilitate a leadership development program. I was part of the Strategy and Learning team at Mercy Corps, an international non-profit focused on helping people build secure, productive, and just communities. As the Emerging Leaders Program intern, my job was to administratively support the annual internal program which consisted of several months of virtual cohort learning, culminating in a three-week on-site conference. Due to unforeseen circumstances, the conference coordinator could not travel. I was proud to be asked to lead in her stead because it demonstrated my team’s trust in me. Traveling over 6,000 miles to create a positive participant learning experience taught me the importance of implementation paired with preparation. It’s one thing to be planning on a spreadsheet and another thing entirely to be coordinating technology needs in French with international team members in a hotel lobby. This experience made me a more adaptable, agile leader.

Why did you choose this business school? One of my reasons for choosing Johnson was its location. On the one hand, I wanted to live somewhere that would make it easy to immerse myself in the MBA program – a small town offered fewer distractions, an academics-centric environment, and walkability. On the other hand, I also wanted easy access to nature to balance out the intensity of business school. For example, one of my favorite things to do after class is walk along the Cascadilla Gorge trail. This gorgeous walkway is three-quarters miles long and runs from Cornell’s campus at the top of a hill down to the Ithaca town center. It’s a restful space to pause amidst the bustle of classwork and responsibilities to just exist. This accessible nature is one example of how Ithaca has helped me stay grounded during business school.

Who was your favorite MBA professor? One of my favorite MBA professors is Risa Mish, Professor of Critical and Strategic Thinking (CST). Beyond her sharp wit and energy, Professor Mish is genuine, purposeful, and service-driven. Each day in the classroom, we could feel how strongly she wanted us to succeed. She pushed us towards our higher potential and challenged us all to consider, how do you elevate the communities that you’re a part of? Her encouragement to “Do what you can, with what you have, from where you are” dares us to take both agency and responsibility in how we shape the world – an important duality given the breadth of spaces that my peers and I will soon inhabit.

What was your favorite course as an MBA? Strategies for Sustainability taught by Glen Dowell has been humbling, startling, and motivating. I’m always interested in “the why” – i.e. what drives our actions and how our actions connect to the bigger picture. So, when we started off this course by discussing the purpose of a corporation, I was hooked. From there, it was empowering to develop the skills needed to credibly determine if a business is serious about sustainability. This course complements traditional business offerings by considering what business success means from a non-purely financial perspective.

What was your favorite MBA event or tradition at your business school? My favorite MBA tradition is centered around student leadership, namely, how each new club board creates events that iterate on and diverge from past leaders’ work. The more diverse ways we can meet, the greater our potential for connection. The Women’s Management Council (WMC), led by Haley Lukas, my year’s WMC president, embodied this. Haley was deliberate in thinking through how the club could add value to the community. She led the WMC board to create non-MBA-traditional events, think: a daytime, fitness-oriented gathering rather than an evening party with informal mingling. Through events like yoga, self-care seminars, and financial management discussions, the WMC offered alternative spaces to learn and engage.

What did you love most about your business school’s town? One of the parts of Ithaca that I loved most was the Odyssey bookstore. This cozy shop is nestled on the ground floor of an old brownstone which is down the street from the public library and a very short stroll from cake, tacos, and coffee. During my second year after class, I’d often walk down the Cascadilla Gorge Trail and spend a few hours at the bookstore. The booksellers are kind, knowledgeable, and welcoming. It’s been a physical haven that reminds me of what I’m working towards via this MBA degree, that the skills I’m learning can and will create real world impact.

Which MBA classmate do you most admire? I admire Kanyin Odunjo. We met during our first semester, as we both had early offers from the same consulting firm and were trying to determine how said offers aligned with our personal and professional goals. Since then, we’ve worked together to lead a non-profit club, drive an intensive consulting project, and provide feedback on lengthy assignments as course assistants. Through all of this, Kanyin has brought groundedness and warmth to every interaction. Not only is she smart, but she also has this way of listening that draws people out and cuts through the small talk or MBA jargon. I’m grateful for the generosity and compassion with which she shares her perspective.

What are the top two items on your professional bucket list? Both top items on my professional bucket list are stepping stones to reach my long-term career goal of being a leader in education-driven economic development. First, I plan to get involved in Deloitte’s Step-Up initiative as a mentor to colleagues working on pro-bono projects for local non-profits. I want to use my non-profit experience to support and expand how the next generation thinks about impact. Second, I want to first volunteer for and then join the board of an education-focused non-profit. One of the most impactful takeaways from my MBA is that we’re all responsible for shaping our communities. Serving on a non-profit board will help me learn from local stakeholders while also empowering me to grow my ability to influence change in complex environments.

What made Elizabeth such an invaluable addition to the Class of 2025?

“In my 13 years as a strategy consultant and three years on the Cornell faculty, I have met few, if any, people more genuinely motivated to learn and grow than Elizabeth Sun. While Elizabeth entered the program with many gifts – she is brilliant, hardworking, humble, and generous, to name a few – I was most impressed by the steps she took to address (what she perceived to be) a shortcoming in the classroom.

Early in the semester, Elizabeth stopped by office hours to discuss how she might better contribute to in-class case discussions. While students are often concerned about their ability to “speak up”, it is highly unusual for a student to (a) proactively present a list of ways that they intend to improve their performance, (b) take noticeable steps to grow, develop, and push beyond their comfort zone each week, and (c) emerge as one of the most insightful and prolific contributors by the end of the course.

As a second year, Elizabeth brought her dedication to continuous improvement – and the matching work ethic to get things done – to her many roles as a student leader. In the Strategy & Consulting Immersion alone, Elizabeth was responsible for developing several new student projects in the social impact space, improving the training provided to the small army of Course Assistants, and continually identifying strategies to engage the most reluctant students. Although Elizabeth often plays the role of “unsung hero”, she is one of the few students who has had a truly outsized impact on this program and sets an example for all of us to follow.”

Chris Bordoni
Senior Lecturer of Strategy & Business Economics
Management Consulting Industry Lead
Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management
Cornell SC Johnson College of Business

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