After graduating with a degree in business administration, Carl Dupper ’14 embarked on a management residency at Adventist Health System in Orlando, Fla., and simultaneously completed his MBA. “My residency was all about getting the most perspective on the Adventist health care system, so that I’d have a broad base of understanding,” Dupper says. “It set me up for the position I’m in today.”
He currently serves as director of operations at Centra Care in Altamonte Springs, Fla., where he oversees 18 urgent care facilities. Along with empowering the employees who report to him, Dupper finds the strategy of continual improvement exciting. “My job will never be done,” he said. “There’s always a way to integrate one more step or make it even better. I’ll never reach the finish line, and that constant process is remarkable.”
Dupper considers his time at Union integral to his daily success. “I attribute so much of where I am to Barry and Lisa Forbes and everyone in the business program,” Dupper said. “Just this week, we were trying to solve a problem, and I thought back to one of Barry’s lessons. Whether I’m creating processes or assessing the performance of our facilities, I’m continually using what they taught me.”
Although Dupper and his wife, Mollie Cummings Dupper ’14, live 1,500 miles from Union College, relationships they formed there impact them every day in their business and personal lives. Their closest friends are Union graduates, and they gather with them every Sabbath for lunch. “It’s a Union reunion every weekend,” Dupper said.
Their Union connection has also started them on a different journey. The Duppers joined fellow alums Tyler Morrison, Azriel Posthumus and Zack Posthumus in creating The Current, a ministry outreach for young adults that includes live ministry events, the weekly podcast Jesus Dates, and a daily Instagram devotional The Daily Brew. “Young adults are leaving the church at unprecedented rates,” he says. “We know what we like, but we don’t see a lot of it in churches. There’s a gap. We have a unique way of delivering messages and reaching young adults where they are.”
Dupper considers his career his calling. And through his career and ministry team, he’s fulfilling a dual dream. “My long-term goal is to be a leader and extend the healing ministry of Christ to as many people as I can in my lifetime,” he says. “If I do nothing else, I can be proud of doing that.”
By Lauren Bongard Swartz ’04 is a freelance writer in Bozeman, Montana.