When Sean Im ’90 returned to UMass Boston to speak with College of Management students this past fall, he didn’t start with his track record as president of Samsung SDS America. Nor did he lead with the fact that he recently founded VerticalAI, a venture-backed AI firm attracting serious attention for transforming legacy industries through advanced technology and human-centered design. Instead, he started with a truth most executives wouldn’t share.

“I got lost at UMass Boston. For two years, I really failed. And then I had a turnaround.”

His goal that day wasn’t to deliver a breathtaking highlight reel to dazzle the students—it was to show how ambition and uncertainty, shaped by personal loss, can forge a leadership style grounded in empathy and reinvention.

Shaped by Motion, Motivated by Grief

Born in Seoul to a Korean diplomat father and a homemaker mother, Im moved every few years. The family spent three years in Colombia, returned to Korea, then lived in Ecuador for four more. That transnational childhood, Im said, gave him early fluency in multicultural environments, an ability to adapt quickly, and the confidence to navigate unfamiliar territory—qualities that still shape how he leads today.

Arriving in Boston for college brought its own challenges—but also a setting that sparked something in him: the skyline, the sea, the sense that here, something meaningful could begin.

“The first two years, I explored life,” he said. “I was reading, reflecting, asking myself big questions about meaning and direction. That exploration led to a kind of existential crisis—not from partying or distraction, but from not [yet] knowing what I was supposed to become.”

When Im’s roommate woke him from a nap at Healey Library to tell him that his father had died in a car accident, it was not just a moment of grief for Im—it was a breaking point. “That was the lowest point of my life,” he said. “What my father’s death taught me was that life is short, and no one’s guaranteed a lifetime. And so my guidance from that point onwards was, ‘I’m going to live my life as if today was my last day.’”

As Im moved through doubt and loss toward finding his purpose, “every day became a war against myself,” he said. “Some days I lost. But if you keep going, you start winning more than you lose.”

In the Room Where It Happens

Im earned his degree in computer science, then took a job at a tech firm, where he quickly realized he was drawn to the strategies shaping the enterprise, not just the systems behind it.

“I started noticing the people making big decisions weren’t the engineers. They were the business leaders.”

That insight led Im to reinvent himself as an executive. He earned an MBA from Yonsei University in Seoul, then held a series of consulting and leadership roles at Accenture, PwC, IBM, and eventually Samsung SDS. At Samsung, he helped lead the company’s global shift toward cloud and AI technology, ultimately serving as president and CEO of Samsung SDS America, where his leadership was instrumental to managing and growing a $2.6 billion business portfolio.

In 2024, in another bold pivot, Im left Samsung to launch VerticalAI, an AI-first consultancy focused on transforming infrastructure-heavy industries. The move puts Im at the forefront of a burgeoning market for vertical artificial intelligence—AI built for specific industries—that is projected to reach $47.1 billion by 2030 and potentially exceed $100 billion by 2032.

VerticalAI is digging into rugged sectors like logistics, transportation, and manufacturing—trillion-dollar markets still running on duct-taped legacy systems. The company helps streamline operations and reduce complexity by embedding AI into day-to-day systems and workflows. The goal is to make artificial intelligence useful, scalable, ethical, and meaningful in the real world.

“If technology creates more friction or anxiety, it’s not innovation,” Im said. “I want to build systems that feel intuitive—so people can spend more time doing meaningful work.”

Leadership, Beacon Style

Throughout his career, Im has drawn on the lessons he learned at UMass Boston.

“There’s a unique profile here,” he told students. “Many of you are working while you study. That takes grit. Don’t downplay it. Lead with it.”

Im sees his own story in today’s UMass Boston students. “I consider my competitive advantage the fact that I’ve lived and worked across cultures,” he said. “It makes you better at spotting the intersections”—at recognizing the spaces where differences converge and give rise to innovation.

Im’s leadership has been defined by empathy, adaptability, and a focus on bridging divides. Facing a widening generational gap between Gen Z employees and senior staff, for example, Im didn’t impose a typical top-down solution. Instead, he brought together a leadership team of Gen Z employees and paired them with senior leaders for a four-day retreat, where both groups could openly discuss challenges and propose changes. This experience surfaced 18 new initiatives, each led by Gen Z employees.

Students sat forward in their seats as Im spoke with frankness and humor. Afterward, Im heard from more than 30 students—some of whom hadn’t even attended but reached out after hearing about his talk from peers. He continues to mentor several of them, offering guidance and encouragement, and he’s described the response as humbling and energizing.

“This generation wants meaning,” Im said. “They want to matter.”

From the couch in Healey Library to the launch of VerticalAI, Sean Im’s story is proof to students that reinvention isn’t a one-time event—it’s a way of moving through the world with purpose.

Sidebar: Four Lessons from Sean Im ’90

1. Don’t downplay your UMass Boston story.
   “Working through school shows resilience. That’s something employers notice.”
2. Look for intersections.
   “I was a tech guy who became a business strategist. The growth edge is where fields meet.”
3. Be coachable.
   “Skills matter, but character matters more. Be someone others want to invest in.”
4. Treat your name like a brand.
   “Your reputation is your asset. Everything you do adds to it. Guard it. Grow it.”