Work hard, give back Park tells Rotarians
Immigrants might find coming to America easier if they followed the Sunny Park model. The native of South Korea and founder of the One Georgia Bank told Rome Rotarians that his arrival in Indianapolis in 1974 was a dream come true for his life. “I had high hopes, a good plan and very big dreams,” Park said.
Park, a member of the Berry College board of trustees, explained that his first task after arriving in the U.S. was to find a job and the second objective was to learn the American national anthem. “It’s hard,” Park told the club Thursday.
Park said he watched TV religiously to learn English. “Starsky and Hutch,” “Charlie’s Angels” and “All in the Family” were his favorites.
Korean American businessman Sunny Park detailed his path to success after moving to the United States 36 years ago. (Doug Walker, RN-T)
The Korean American businessman said he forced himself to be a patriotic first generation immigrant. “When you come to this country, you make that decision to make this country better,” Park said.
Today, Park is the CEO of General Building Maintenance, which provides a complete range of janitorial and handyman services to Fortune 500 companies in 18 major cities across the United States. Park said his company has more than 3,200 employees, and he called himself Chief Executive Janitor.
“Cleaning bathrooms is not something to be ashamed about. Working in a kitchen is not something to be ashamed about,” Park said. “I want them to be proud of what they are doing — manufacturing clean space every day.”
Park serves on 17 different nonprofit boards, including the Georgia Ports Authority. Park explained that the port at Savannah has become the number two port on the East Coast and is responsible for more than 284,000 jobs.
Park said that as a result of a recent trip to China, Hong Kong, Vietnam and Korea, that at least two more huge container ships would be calling on the Savannah port regularly.
Park was also involved in the effort to bring South Korean automaker Kia to West Point. “Other Asian countries are looking at why Kia came to Georgia,” Park said. “We promote Georgia’s quality education and work ethic and they love it.”
Park divided his life into three stages: the first 30 years as a young man, the next 30 years making money and his next 30 years, “I got to stop making money and start sharing money,” he said.
Among the ways he shares his good fortune is sponsorship of Korean students who are studying at Berry College.
