From high school dropout to managing partner: alum Eugene Choi realized his potential, thanks to Woodsworth College program

Eugene Choi posing next to his engraved granite paver at Kings College Circle.

University of Toronto alum Eugene Choi (BA 2012 WDW, MBA 2019) credits Woodsworth College’s academic bridging program for setting him on the right path to higher education and professional success.

During a challenging time in adolescence, Choi made the difficult decision to drop out of high school. He’s since risen to managing partner of Blue-Mark Management Consultants, a leading Toronto consultancy firm.

“All the people who managed Woodsworth’s academic bridging program were very pleasant to work with and very caring about everyone who went through the program,” says Choi. “They support you through the whole process and they know there's a number of reasons why people need this type of program. They just want you to succeed.”

Choi’s education was derailed in 2003, as the SARS outbreak was spreading across Toronto. Choi’s mother, a nurse at Scarborough Grace Hospital, caught the illness caring for patient zero. When his father started to show symptoms, they urged him to get tested. While his SARS test came back negative, the beginning stages of lung cancer were discovered.

“Oftentimes you don't catch lung cancer until it's too late,” says Choi. "My mom catching SARS was a blessing in disguise because we were able to find that lung cancer. They're both fully recovered now, but as you can imagine that was a pretty difficult time. So, I dropped out of high school and started working at whatever part-time gigs I could get.”

As he earned money flipping burgers or ringing up sales, he knew he had more potential and was looking for ways to continue his education. He signed up for Woodsworth College’s Academic Bridging program after his father showed him a newspaper ad. The program helped him earn his undergraduate degree by bridging the gap between his prior education and the skills needed for first-year university courses. After the program, Choi entered the university’s undergraduate program.

Choi earned an honours bachelor of arts, with a double major in philosophy and the ethics of law, an educational foundation that has greatly supported him in his career as a management consultant.

“Philosophy, in simple terms, is breaking down arguments. That thought process of taking a problem and breaking it down and analyzing its component parts, and then putting it back together again to come up with the new solution, is the basic thought process that you need in every single engagement you have with a client,” says Choi. “It's basic problem solving and critical thinking types of competencies. I use it every single day with every single problem I come across.”

After graduating, Choi started with his own projects until securing a role as a business analyst with Travelers Canada.

“I realized, as I started to manage projects and took on more of a strategic role, that I didn't have the financial language to speak with the leaders in the company. That's why I started to look at doing my MBA — to get that language and get that syntax,” he says. “Rotman School of Management is the top program in the country, and it was the one I could most easily do part time while continuing my career. Having the familiarity of home and the ability to keep working as I did was quite beneficial.”

Choi now works with medium-large sized firms at Blue-Mark, advising them on organizational design and effectiveness, strategy and planning, operating models, and complex change implementation.

“We help with organizational effectiveness issues. So, mostly things to do with people in the organization,” says Choi. "We help our clients figure out when the interaction is not working right, or why they're not getting the results they're looking for. Is there something around how their teams are working together, or how their people are being trained?”

As Choi advanced, it was also important for him to give back and use his skills to help others. He’s served on numerous non-profit boards, including for the Kennedy House, which provides youth services in the Toronto area, and Mackenzie Health Volunteer Association, and is currently serving on the board of directors for the Children’s Aid Society of Toronto.

“Most of my non-profits have been involved with at risk youth. I understood the feeling of being lost after dropping out of high school, so I wanted to do my best to give back to those who are facing tough situations,” he says.

Choi is also an invested mentor. He volunteered for Arts & Science’s Backpack-to-Briefcase (b2B) program, which connects recent grads with experienced alumni to learn about potential career paths, and was elected to the U of T Alumni Association’s board of directors in 2023. He is also a mentor for the Alumni-Students Mentorship Program at Woodsworth College.

“The aspiration is to get to a point in my in my career where I can take a step back from the day-to-day running of the business and bring my talents to other causes, so I can have an impact on our world,” he says.

Originally published by University of Toronto Faculty of Arts & Science