Wherever Jun Sochi is in the world, he’s constantly driven by a desire to contribute to and help build his local community.
OCS’s newly appointed Chief Strategy Officer and Sub Region Managing Director for Asia Pacific and the Middle East grew up in New York, and has lived for the past 15 years in Asia – primarily in Singapore – and his belief in the importance of community has been a constant.
“I’ve always believed that, wherever you’re living, you’ve got to do more than just live your own life,” he explains.
“Yes, you go to work, you have your friends and your social activities, but I believe you should make a meaningful contribution back to the community in which you live.”
On many weekends in Singapore, you’ll find Jun and his wife Jo volunteering in aged care facilities, hospices, mental health wards and with children who have autism – with their dog Topper, as part of a therapy dog organisation, Therapy Dogs Singapore.
“The nurses always comment afterwards about how different the mood and behaviour of the residents are
after they’ve interacted with the dogs and the volunteers.”
“It’s fascinating because it exposes me to a wider, broader part of Singapore. It gives me a much more well-rounded view and appreciation for the community that I live in, and I just try to give something back, and have a positive impact on the community.”
Creating communities from the ground up.
When he’s back home in New York – to which he returns to spend time twice a year – Jun volunteers with a local nature conservation group, clearing trails in the woods or cleaning waterfront areas. As a keen sailor, he also volunteers his time to teach people how to sail. While living in New York City, he also volunteered on the board of a music school that builds an appreciation of music for preschool-aged children.
But this desire and drive to build better communities isn’t something that’s an ‘out of hours’ passion for Jun. Over the past 35 years, Jun has held a number of leadership positions in companies that have been focused on creating the infrastructure to build, develop and maintain the facilities that
support communities.
Having initially studied architecture, he spent 17 years at Johnson Controls, a building automation company, and, more recently, spent over a decade in commercial real estate at Cushman & Wakefield, where he was Chief Operating Officer for Asia Pacific.
“After studying architecture, I wanted to work in real estate development and especially renovation and adaptive reuse projects,” says Jun.
“Deep down, I love being out in the field, on a construction site, with my boots on, trudging through mud, walking through buildings that are being completely renovated and repurposed.”
“Of course, to do that, it requires the coordination of a lot of different people and teams, and you’ve got to make sure all of the pieces come together.”
Harnessing that ability to bring people together to achieve a positive outcome for customers and communities has been a driving force throughout his career.
A new chapter at OCS.
It was this ability to help communities thrive that played a major role in attracting Jun to OCS, with its focus on making people and places the best they can be.
“What attracted me to the company was the opportunity to make a real impact on people’s lives,” he says.
“We have around 75,000 employees here in Asia, and around 95% of them are frontline workers – cleaners, security guards, technicians, landscapers, catering teams and many, many more.
“We have the opportunity to provide people with secure and safe work environments that will pay them consistently on time at a proper wage and offer them proper benefits.
“This helps create a sense of dignity, and not only impacts their lives but the lives of their family and their community, too.”
Looking forward, Jun’s enthused by the challenge of building the OCS brand throughout Asia, and the impact the business can make.
“It’s important to not lose sight of where we’re starting from, but we have a good foundation to build upon.” he says.
“From there, we can contribute to our own sustainability goals, and help our customers meet the ESG commitments they’ve made.”
All of which, of course, combine to enable people and places to be their very, very best.