Ann-Dawn Young Sang — A CEO with heart
SHE is an energetic manager who enjoys bringing people joy and impacting the lives around her.
In addition, she is very strategic and deliberate about her choices, so much so that her desk is positioned to face the hills, and behind her a painting of heavenly skies reads, ‘The Heavens Declare the Glory of God’ – Psalm 19 ‘How Great Thou Art’. This is an affirmation of her Christian faith, which signifies her giving God glory while trusting Him to guide her path.
Meet Ann-Dawn Young Sang, the first female president and CEO of Supreme Ventures Limited (SVL), a position she assumed last October.
Born and raised in St Andrew, Young Sang attended Wolmer’s Preparatory before moving on to St Andrew High School for Girls where she shares she was very shy.
“I never saw myself as bright. There were other girls who were always on top academically. Additionally I had a strong stutter and that’s part of the reason I was very shy. I was aware of this and I had a teacher who made it worse. That’s why I get very passionate when teachers don’t realise how impactful they can be on a child,” she reflected.
“But I had friends who would say ignore it. I also had a wonderful accounts teacher who made me love accounts, made me love who I am.”
So with a love for accounts, she began looking at a career in the field.
After high school she moved on to the College of Arts, Science and Technology (now UTech) before venturing overseas to the New York Institute of Technology where she graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor of business administration in finance. Shortly after, she moved on to Fordham University where she did a MBA in finance and international finance.
What’s interesting is that Young Sang was never fond of mathematics and outlined that she did not understand quadratic equations until she got to college. But an important utterance from Young Sang is “whatever you’re going to do, do it to the best of your ability.
“I hated repeating things so I did it and gave it my all,” she said.
That determination led to Young Sang being recruited from university by McCann Erickson as their finance manger in Jamaica. At the time she was in her 20s and said the company took a leap of faith with her that further propelled her career in finance and business.
Moving from there Young Sang, who also holds the Certified Public Accountant designation, joined International Game Technology (IGT) PLC, formerly Gtech, as the finance manager in 2001. Shortly thereafter she was promoted to the position of country manager where she was charged with the responsibility of overseeing the entire Jamaica operations. A further promotion to the position of regional general manager for the Caribbean provided the opportunity for her seamless transition to regional vice-president for the Caribbean, a position she also had the privilege of being the first female and black person to hold.
But much of this success she credits to her hands-on approach to the job and going beyond the call of duty to know what made her staff feel appreciated.
“In order to be a good finance manager I needed to understand every aspect of the business. I would get up at 3:00 every morning to go out to the sites with the technicians. I walked in their footsteps and seeing what they went through enabled me to understand the various aspects of the business. That’s what truly drove me. I like the business aspect. I didn’t like being boxed in, instead, I interacted with the people. I could only make stronger decisions by understanding the various aspects. That is why the businesses I have handled grew at such an exponential level. People respond more when they feel you care, understand, and you’re able to adjust to various personnel and policies,” she said.
This approach has followed Young Sang and now as president and CEO of SVL, she has begun to make changes that will improve the output of staff.
“You spend most of your waking hours at work so you must enjoy coming to work. That’s why I piped music through the building, changed the way the lobby looks. I joke a lot and poke fun at myself and others. I’m all for people empowerment and people progress. I push you hard to get to your full potential but it’s because I know that you can do it,” she said.
Some of her other achievements include being a board member of SVL, Supreme Ventures Racing & Entertainment Limited and the American Chamber of Commerce; spokesperson for IGT’s Latin America and Caribbean region Women’s Leadership Series, member of IGT’s Global Diversity Council which was formed in 2017, and head of the pilot for IGT’s global mentorship programme also formed in 2017.
Under her leadership, SVL has realised record revenue and profits for 2017, and has seen its best performing first quarter ever in 2018.
One of her greatest accomplishments is heading the mentorship programme, which has allowed her to see the positive impact she can have on people.
“Managers need to know they have a responsibility to the development of their staff. It is key. Don’t just care about yourself, you have a responsibility to care about those who work with you and for you. The financial success of the companies is a spin-off end result of certain fundamentals that were there,” she said.
Outside of work, Young Sang enjoys spiritual renewal; family time which is spent with her husband and two children; giving back in the form of her philanthropic efforts of helping families; travelling and experiencing different cultures; as well as watching sports.
Young Sang, who lives by the philosophy “to thine own self be true” and “with Massa God anything is possible”, encourages people to be good to each other, appreciate other people and have love in their hearts. For women, she urged them to be kind and helpful to each other without destructive criticism. She also encourages young people to discover who they are and then they will know who they want to be.
