Alumni Spotlight

Jeanne-Mey Sun

Vice President of Strategy, Sysco Corporation

With a Masters and Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Chicago, Jeanne-Mey Sun could have had a successful career in academia. Certainly the halls of higher learning were a consideration. An undergraduate degree in Economics and International Relations from The University of Toronto, and pursuit of a Masters in European Economics in Brussels, were good preparation for academia, as was her first job with the Centre for European Policy Studies, a private policy think tank in Brussels.

Yet, rather than university, Jeanne-Mey decided to pursue a career in business. Following graduation from the University of Chicago, she joined A.T. Kearney’s Economics Group to consult on economic issues and to support the firm’s management consulting engagements.

Today, as Vice President of Strategy for Sysco, a foodservice marketing and distribution firm, Jeanne-Mey is responsible for strategy development, strategic planning, and execution of strategic initiatives. She can’t imagine her career any other way, saying, “I would not be in the role I’m in now if it weren’t for A.T. Kearney.”

Sysco was looking for someone with top-tier management consulting experience to help shape its relatively new strategy function. “And because I help execute strategy at Sysco, my impact extends beyond offering advice, which is typically the deliverable in consulting. I truly enjoy helping build and institutionalize Sysco’s capabilities in this area,” she admits.

Reflecting on her eight years with A.T. Kearney, Jeanne-Mey says she continues to benefit from her work with clients across a variety of industries and functions. “Every day, I apply what I learned at A.T. Kearney, whether it’s framing and structuring problems, seeing through ambiguity to identify needs, anticipating and mitigating challenges before they arise, or influencing senior leaders,” she explains.

Every engagement allowed her to work with different people and to learn valuable project and team management skills. “I also enjoyed working with energetic, smart, like-minded people, an experience that is unique to A.T. Kearney.”

When not working, Jeanne-Mey likes to relax with a good book, watch a movie, or catch up on sleep! With her husband and two daughters, she relishes swimming, ice skating, and taking the girls to play dates. She also likes to scuba dive, explaining that she and her husband have dived in Asia, the Caribbean, Mexico, and Hawaii. Their most interesting dive by far was a night dive where everyone held flashlights under water to attract plankton, which in turn attracted manta rays. “Seeing manta rays swoop down to catch plankton was one of the coolest experiences ever.”

The family loves life in Houston, where Sysco is headquartered, but they return home to Canada often to spend time with family and friends.