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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-high school through 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.
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