1998 VAN FLEET AWARD

JEONG H. KIM

President of Lucent Technologies' Carrier Network Group

CITATION

Jeong H. Kim is president of Lucent Technologies' Carrier Networks Group, where he is responsible for Lucent's worldwide offering of data networking products to service providers. Kim assumed this key position in May 1998 upon Lucent's $1 billion strategic acquisition of Yurie Systems, the high-tech communications equipment company that he founded in 1992. By 1997, Yurie Systems had been named by Business Week as America's #1 Hot Growth Company.

Kim came to America in 1975, at the age of 14. Throughout his education—from high school through his Ph.D.—Kim worked full-time. Nonetheless, he was able to earn his Ph.D. degree in two years. Notably, Kim served for seven years as an officer in the U.S. Navy, and credits this military experience for giving him the leadership and management skills he has so clearly demonstrated in his business career.

Earlier this year, Kim was told of the plight of many Koreans studying in the United States who are facing great hardships, and even the potential loss of the opportunity to complete their education in the United States, due to the financial crisis in Korea. Kim clearly recognized the vital role that Koreans who have been educated in America are playing in Korea's development, and in the strengthening of the Korean-American relationship. Once again, Kim demonstrated his capacity for leadership by making a donation of $250,000 to a scholarship fund The Korea Society is sponsoring to benefit Korean students impacted by the financial crisis.

This truly magnificent gesture of generosity, coming on top of his brilliant achievements in the field of technology, makes Kim an outstanding candidate for this year's Van Fleet Award. It also is worthy of note that Kim is the first Korean American to receive this award. So it is fitting that he is a beneficiary of the American educational system who has built his great success on what he has learned and acquired in the United States. We are delighted to honor his great generosity in helping others to do the same.