Picture this: you are leaving a job at a multinational company, and your boss puts a farewell note on your desk thanking you for your hard work and complimenting you for your integrity. That happened to Brother Jerry Sandorf, one of the new faculty members who joined the Ensign College team this fall. His solid moral compass has set him apart in the business world over the years, and today it inspires students and fellow employees at our college. Brother Sandorf’s life experiences showcase a simple principle: being remembered for your moral attributes is a great indicator of success and one of the highest compliments.
When success is measured simply by profit or recognition, you may find many opportunities to compromise your principles in the pursuit of it. Brother Sandorf has always let his life be guided by a more meaningful definition of success. Aligned with Ensign College’s mission to develop capable and trusted disciples of Jesus Christ, he has found success in life by being capable in his profession while remaining true to his principles not only within the Church and his personal life but also in his career.
Brother Sandorf has worked in marketing and business his entire career. He worked with leading companies and helped build TimeShareWare, a successful software company designed to manage vacation resorts. One of his roles was to manage relationships with customers whose contracts specified monthly fees ranging from $300 to $60,000 for the right to use the software. Several times their clients in the Caribbean would be impacted by hurricanes that caused enough damage to force resorts to close on a temporary basis. “[As a business], we had an ethical decision to make,” he says. “Would we continue to demand the contracted monthly fee even with the resorts temporarily closed, or would we share the pain with the impacted clients and waive their monthly fees for a period, sometimes as long as six months?” Knowing TimeShareWare would also feel the impact of that decision, they decided that waving the monthly fees was the right thing to do. “Yes, our company was negatively impacted financially,” he says, “but those clients for whom we waived monthly fees have remained loyal to us for the long term.”
Experiences like this are not easy, but when you make the right decisions, especially when they are difficult, they can highlight your true character and commitment to living in authentic Christian discipleship. Several years ago, while contemplating retirement, Brother Sandorf found new inspiration watching an interview with President Kusch, who had just been appointed President of Ensign College. Learning about the college and the work that was being done here inspired Brother Sandorf to pursue a master’s degree and then look for a role in academia after he retired.
Pursuing that desire, Brother Sandorf started a service mission at Ensign College in March 2021 and, soon after, was invited to teach business and marketing classes in addition to his missionary responsibilities. He finished his service mission in August 2023 and has since worked as full-time faculty at Ensign College.
Whether in business, as a missionary, or as a faculty member, Brother Sandorf has always let his moral compass guide his life. Out of the many things he teaches his students, he says the most important is to be ethical above all. The example faculty members like Brother Sandorf set inspires students striving to become great professionals, never forgetting that success is achieved by never forsaking your principles.
As you study or work at Ensign College, the environment here will always demonstrate the school’s commitment to the principle of learning by study and faith. It will also highlight the faculty’s spirit of consecration that guides them in all they do. With so many opportunities to learn from the community, you will find out that you belong here, where we all strive to grow professionally and academically, never losing sight of what being a disciple of Jesus Christ truly means.