Robert Haight, executive vice president of the Huntsman Cancer Foundation in Salt Lake City, hand-picked Bak as his assistant when Haight was president of the Vancouver mission between 1999 and 2000 for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Bak demonstrated his versatility teaching people from various ethnic groups while handling the logistics behind the constant arrival and departure of missionaries by boat, bus, car and airplane, Haight said. In one day, he'd help transfer 100 missionaries over a combined distance of 25,000 miles. Haight expected Bak to work independently and "only to call him if somebody got lost," he said with a chuckle.

Managing large groups of people is a skill that has helped in his work at SDQ. The company (the name's an acronym for service, dependability and quality) has built a niche and is well-known for the low turnover among its cleaning crews.

"It's not a glamorous industry," Bak said. "It's a tough, dirty industry. No one wants to pay for cleaning ... the only time they see it is when it's not being done."

Bak entered the business at the very bottom, spending his high school summers working a cleaning route like any other employee. By his early 20s, Bak was handed responsibility for account retention, and told by his mother "he had one year to prove himself," he said. With upper management, Bak helped to create a Web portal with log-in access for customers to view contracts, invoices and a calendar of events.

Bak quickly moved through all other parts of the company, learning customer service, marketing, financing and operations inside and out.

He's also continued to build a strong relationship among his human resources. The Korean community, in particular, is a "staple" for SDQ, Bak said. To reward employees for their hard work and loyalty, the company helps their families find and finance homes, lends them company cars and provides tuition reimbursement.

Outside of work, Bak has volunteered for the past six years as a unit commissioner for the Boy Scouts of America, where he assists with sign-ups, and provides training for scoutmasters. Bak himself was an Eagle Scout as a youngster.

Much of who Bak is as a person can be revealed in his choice of a spouse, Haight said. Bak is 5'4"; his wife Evonne is 6'.
"Most men want to marry women who are the same height they are or shorter. But she could thump him on the head," Haight said. "What this tells me is Dirk is confident in himself."