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Sam Mok.
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Labor CFO Looks Back on Accomplished Life
By Ji Hyun Lim
Special to AsianWeek
Samuel T. Mok, chief financial officer of the Department of Labor, always knew that his life was headed for big things. Said Mok: “I was always a very ambitious person. Regardless of setbacks and rude awakenings, I still believed in the American dream.”
Along with being a senior financial advisor to the Secretary of Labor, Congress, the Office of Management and Budget, and other stakeholders in the financial affairs of the country, Mok’s accomplishments in both the private and public sector are manifold.
He served in the U.S. Army from 1971 to 1976 in both the adjunct general corps and in the military service. He also worked as a Foreign Service officer in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs for the State Department and eventually became the first career comptroller under secretary James Baker, from 1986 to 1992.
Mok first began work in the private sector as an auditor with the accounting firm Parnell, Kerr and Forester. From 1976 to 1982, he served as director of accounting for Time-Life Books and joined U.S. News and World Report as a corporate treasurer. In 1996, Mok and his colleague Sen. Birch Bagh formed a consulting firm representing American corporate clients in Asia. Mok served as managing member of his firm until 2002.
At 55, with an endless list of jobs, Mok’s philosophy is that when he repeats experiences on the job, “it’s time to leave because life’s too short.”
Born in Hong Kong, Mok immigrated to Brooklyn, N.Y., with his family at age 18. Mok found that his pre-conceived notions — gleaned from movies of blond-haired, blue-eyed Americans who lived in houses on hills surrounded by white picket fences — changed completely.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Mok said. “We had settled in Little Italy and no one spoke English.”
Mok’s parents found that their education and status in Hong Kong were not recognized in the United States and most of the family took menial jobs to make ends meet. Mok’s father, a former lawyer and headmaster of a school, became a dishwasher and short-order cook and his mother was a typist for American Express.
Mok had attended La Salle Christian School in Hong Kong and excelled in literature and arts. Ironically, Mok felt most challenged by math and the sciences.
“I’m a touchy, feely guy,” Mok explains. “And accounting doesn’t require a whole lot of math. All you’re doing is moving 10 numbers around — back and forth. There’s a lot of interpretation. If people take advantage of those interpretations, you can have problems.”
Mok is a firm believer that hard work and discipline are the keys to success. When he arrived in America with his family, he applied to various universities. Because his mother was born in San Francisco and then immigrated to Hong Kong, upon his arrival in the United States, Mok was designated as a citizen. With this status, Mok was forced to compete with other Americans for admission. Although Mok spoke English fluently, he found that his standardized scores were too poor to be competitive at most schools.
“I took the SAT but did not understand American culture,” Mok explained. “Tests are culturally biased because sometimes questions were based on baseball and things uniquely American.”
Mok decided to enlist in the army instead and spent five years mixing with people from many different socio-economic backgrounds. In the army he learned to eat different foods such as knishes and grits, played games like scrabble and “drank beer and learned to curse like an American,” he said.
“At the time I felt like I was suffering but looking back, it was a great experience for me,” Mok said. “It taught me leadership, what America was about, discipline and to work with different groups under pressure, how to motivate them and the subtle differences between people.”
After the army, Mok took various jobs such as being a messenger boy on Wall Street, a courier, a laundry delivery person and other odd jobs. He thought he could work his way up but realized that most people with high paying jobs had advanced degrees. With that in mind, Mok applied and was accepted to Fordham University. He worked three jobs to pay tuition, as well as help his family’s financial situation. After Fordham, Mok also received a degree in accounting from Catholic University in Washington D.C.
Currently, Mok is a resident of Potomoc, Md., married to Nancy H. Sing, has two grown children who are lawyers and several grandchildren.
Looking back on his life, Mok feel energized and motivated about his challenges and points out that he has made his mark.
His advice for a good life?
“Make some money, have some fun, leave some footprints and don’t give up.”
Reach Ji Hyun Lim at jlim@asianweek.com.
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