IN PROFILE: Ning Su

“When I was little, I liked how things worked. Things like cars,” Su says. “I was interested in technology.”

So when he turned 18, and began undergraduate studies at Fudan University in Shanghai, China, he chose to major in the workings of the computer. “At that time, it was seen as the technology that could dramatically change the world,” says Su, who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in computer science in 2003.

That year, he enrolled in a master’s program in the same field at the University of Toronto. Graduate studies exposed him to co-ordinating teams working on software engineering. Su wanted to “learn more about how human organization works,” so management studies seemed the next logical step.

Upon completion of his master’s degree in 2005, Su entered New York University’s Stern Business School. He left in 2010 with a PhD in business administration. For his doctoral thesis, Su researched global outsourcing of information technology. His work in that area is ongoing.

“I study how companies from different countries collaborate in knowledge-intensive kinds of work, like software development, to create value together,” he says.

Value, Su explains, means things like jobs. Su focuses mainly on how businesses in developed economies transfer part of their work to firms in countries like India and his birthplace.

Su was born in China’s city of Chengdu province. His journey from his hometown to Canada was influenced by a world-famous landmark he learned about as a youngster.

“I saw a TV program about the CN Tower,” he says. “Back then it was the tallest building in the world, so I really wanted to go there.”

An opportunity came in his final undergraduate year. Fudan University had an exchange program with Queen’s University in Kingston. Su spent the winter semester of 2003 at Queen’s. That experience convinced him to return to Canada for his master’s.

Toward the end of his studies in New York, he accepted an offer from The University of Western Ontario.

“Western picked me and I picked Western, because it’s a reputable school with very strong faculty,” Su says. 

Asked for a single word that describes him, Su chose “hardworking.”

However, Alessandro Previtero, his Ivey colleague and friend, thinks there’s more to Su than just work. “He works hard and lives life intensely,” says Previtero, an assistant professor of finance at Ivey, and Su’s office neighbour. “But he knows how to socialize. He is very well adjusted – an extrovert.”

Su is a repeat dinner guest of Previtero and his wife. In between social life and Ivey duties, Su exercises regularly.

What Su has devoted chunks of his day to since joining Western is preparing for his classes. He began teaching in January the course Leveraging Information Technology. This allows him to enjoy one of the things that made him pass over other offers in favour of Ivey.