Category: Business & Economics

Seung Bak    is the CEO and co-founder of DramaFever, the leading online destination for international television shows and movies. Seung led the company since its inception in 2009, including a sale to SoftBank in 2014 at greater than 10x invested capital.  Prior to founding DramaFever, Seung was Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for Capital IQ, a leading provider of information services to the global financial community. Seung served a variety of marketing, sales, strategy, finance, and operational roles in helping Capital IQ grow from a seed stage startup to a $400+ million revenue business. Previously, he was an investment banker at CapitalKey Advisors, the precursor to Capital IQ, where he advised venture-stage and middle-market companies. Seung is a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization NYC Chapter. Seung earned a BA in Economics from the University of Rochester.

David Yung Ho Kim  is the Lead Entertainment Attorney at The Hollywood Lawyer in Los Angeles, and practices in the areas of film, television, music, new media, licensing and talent representation. After graduating from the University of California, Berkeley as a Regents’ & Chancellor’s Scholar, with cum laude honors in History, he then moved to study law at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law (Yeshiva), the nation’s premiere Jewish institution with one of the top-ranked entertainment and IP law programs in the nation, where he served as the school’s first non-Jewish student body president. With an eclectic background of employment and experiences in litigation, copyright law and in-house counsel work as an entertainment attorney for past employers such as the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, CJ Entertainment America, and East West Artists, David now spends most of his time negotiating deals, drafting contracts and advising companies and talent in areas related to media and entertainment. When he’s not working, David loves meditating, doing yoga, playing the piano and loving on people, be it family, friends, or strangers.

Brian Lee  is a Partner at SKIG, a NYC-based accelerator focused on helping early- stage companies scale audience and revenue. Prior to SKIG, Brian was General Manager and Vice President at Maker Studios, the worlds premiere multi-channel network. At Maker Studios, Brian led the Music and Merchandise divisions from conception all the way through to its eventual $500M acquisition to Disney in 2014.  As Head of Music, Brian oversaw all of its departments including, network partnerships, original programming and audience development. His success as GM was rooted in his ability to converge traditional music industry stars such as Snoop Dogg, Will.i.am , and Far East Movement with up and coming YouTube talent such as Christina Grimmie, Mike Tompkins, and the Epic Rap Battles of History.  Prior to his role at Maker Studios, he was founder and CEO of Knocksteady, a digital content and social merchandising company based in Los Angeles. Knocksteady served as the precursor to both Maker Music and Shop.Maker.Tv and was acquired by Maker Studios in 2012. Brian earned a Bachelors of Arts in both Political Science and International Relations from the University of California Irvine.

Of Interest:

Warner Bros. to Acquire Korean Soap Opera Site DramaFever

Donald Manzullo is currently the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Korea Economic Institute of America.

Representative Manzullo is well-known as a staunch advocate for small business, manufacturing, and trade between the United States and Asian economies. For 20 years, Congressman Manzullo represented the 16th District of Illinois in the U.S. House of Representatives, serving on the Foreign Affairs, Financial Services, and Small Business Committees. For six years, he served as Chairman of the House Small Business Committee and for another six years, he served as the top Republican on the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, including chairing this pivotal subcommittee during his last two years in the House. Mr. Manzullo also served on two other subcommittees dealing with international economic, trade, and monetary policy.

The Speaker of the House appointed Chairman Manzullo to serve as a Commissioner on the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, which monitors China’s human rights practices, and as a member of the House Task Force on the Hong Kong Transition. Mr. Manzullo was also appointed by the Speaker to serve as Chairman of the Canada-U.S. Interparliamentary Group and the U.S.-China Interparliamentary Exchange.

Congressman Manzullo co-founded and co-chaired the bipartisan House Manufacturing Caucus and also served as a co-chair of the House Automotive Caucus. Mr. Manzullo has been recognized for his leadership on various legislative issues, including receiving the Distinguished Service Award from the Small Business Exporters Association, the Leadership Award from the Coalition for Employment through Exports, and the prestigious Wings of Liberty Award from the Aerospace Industries Association.

Prior to his congressional service, Mr. Manzullo practiced law as an attorney in Oregon, Illinois. He holds a Juris Doctor from Marquette University (1970) and a B.A. from American University (1967). Mr. Manzullo is married to Freda Teslik and is the father of Neil, Noel, and Katie Manzullo.

Alex J. Pollock is a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he works on policy issues relating to mortgage finance, banking, the Federal Reserve, government-sponsored enterprises, retirement finance, corporate governance, and the role of uncertainty and risk in financial systems. Immediately before joining AEI, Pollock was president and CEO of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago from 1991 to 2004. A prolific writer and speaker, he has also testified before Congress on numerous financial issues. He is the author of “Boom and Bust: Financial Cycles and Human Prosperity” (AEI Press, 2011) and, in 2007, created a one-page mortgage information form to help borrowers understand their mortgage obligations.

Pollock is a director of the CME Group, the Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation, and the Great Books Foundation (where he was chairman of the board from 2006 to 2014). He is a past-president of the International Union for Housing Finance and a member of the Business Advisory Council of the Graham School of Management at Saint Xavier University.

He has an M.P.A. in international relations from Princeton University, an M.A. in philosophy from the University of Chicago, and a B.A. from Williams College.

Marc Stocker is a Senior Economist at the World Bank’s Prospect Group and one of the lead authors of the “Global Economic Prospects” report, which presents twice a year the institution’s macroeconomic forecasts and analysis. Prior to joining the World Bank in 2013, Marc has held various positions in academia, central banking, private sector and international institutions. He was an economist at the European Central Bank in the early 2000s and was subsequently Chief Economist of the main European employers’ federation, BusinessEurope. His main areas of expertise are fiscal & monetary policy, labor and capital market reforms.

Thomas J. Byrne (Moderator) joined The Korea Society as its President in August of 2015. He came to the Society from Moody’s Investor Services, where he was Regional Manager, Spokesperson, and Director of Analysis for the Sovereign Risk Group in the Asia-Pacific and Middle East regions. Before moving to Moody’s in 1996, he was the Senior Economist of the Asia Department at the Institute of International Finance in Washington DC. Mr. Byrne has an MA degree in International Relations with an emphasis on economics from The Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Before his graduate work, he served in South Korea for three years as a US Peace Corps volunteer.

John Day opened the Seoul representative office for the First National Bank of Chicago in 1974 and helped convert it to a branch in 1976 when he became Japan country head. Before retiring in 2006, John’s banking career spanned 17 years with First Chicago with international, project finance, branch management and large corporate relationship positions in Chicago, New York, Tokyo, Seoul and San Francisco, 9 years with the Bank of Montreal heading its Chicago and New York offices, and 13 years with Salomon Smith Barney and Citigroup in credit risk management (Hong Kong and New York).

Since retiring John assists his wife, Judith, a leading private dealer in contemporary Vietnamese art. Committed to endangered species conservation, he met the co-founder of the International Crane Foundation while in Seoul and served on ICF’s board for over 25 years as well as on the boards of the American Bird Conservancy and several other organizations.

Born in Wisconsin, he lives on the upper West side, holds a B.A. from the George Washington University, a M.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, attended the University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, and Northwestern University’s advanced management program in Switzerland.

Philip D. Sherman was the Country Corporate Officer for Citibank in Korea from 1974 to 1978, and served during those years as Chairman of the Foreign Bankers Association and a Vice President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea. He received Korea’s Order of Diplomatic Merit Sung Yi in 1978 for his contributions to Korean finance and economic development during his tenure in Korea.

Mr. Sherman, a graduate of the University of Michigan and the Harvard Business School, joined the then First National City Bank’s Overseas Division in 1965 and worked in Asia between 1966 and 78, including tours in the Philippines, Thailand, Japan and Hong Kong, where he organized Asia Pacific Capital Corporation, Citibank’s Asian international investment bank was active in syndication of Korean international loans during the 1970’s and 80’s totally well over $1 billion. Subsequently , Mr. Sherman was head of Citibank in Italy and Germany, and prior to retirement in 1996, Glob al Business Manager of Citibank Global Asset Management. After Citibank, Mr. Sherman was the founding CEO of Asian Securitization and Infrastructure Assurance Pte Ltd, Singapore, Asia’s first financial guarantee insurance business led by Asian Development Bank, The Government of Singapore Investment Corporation and Capital Markets Assurance Corporation. Korea Long-Term Credit Bank was one of the other institutional shareholders. He subsequently worked in Singapore as a financial industry consultant and continues activity in New York to which he returned in 2007, where he is a member of The Korea Society.

Mr Whitely opened the representative office for Marine Midland Bank in Seoul in 1972, the first of the American banks to follow B of A, Citibank and Chase. He served as VP/Representative in Korea for four years. Prior to his banking career, he spent two years in Korea (Seoul and Pusan) working for CARE, the American relief organization.

He has retired from JP Morgan Chase after a 37-year career in banking, including assignments in southeast Asia, Canada, the chairman’s office, as well as in corporate and middle market commercial banking.

He currently serves on several non-profit boards, as a governor of the Old Asia Hands Society, and as a member of the US advisory board of Ai Kwang Won, a Korean social welfare foundation.

Jeffrey J. Schott joined the Peterson Institute for International Economics in 1983 and is a senior fellow working on international trade policy and economic sanctions. During his tenure at the Institute, Schott was also a visiting lecturer at Princeton University (1994) and an adjunct professor at Georgetown University (1986–88). He was a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (1982–83) and an official of the US Treasury Department (1974–82) in international trade and energy policy. During the Tokyo Round of multilateral trade negotiations, he was a member of the US delegation that negotiated the GATT Subsidies Code. Since January 2003, he has been a member of the Trade and Environment Policy Advisory Committee of the US government. He is also a member of the Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy of the US Department of State.

Schott is the author, coauthor, or editor of several books on trade, including Local Content Requirements: A Global Problem (2013), Understanding the Trans-Pacific Partnership (2012), NAFTA and Climate Change (2011), Figuring Out the Doha Round (2010), Reengaging Egypt: Options for US-Egypt Economic Relations (2010), Economic Sanctions Reconsidered, 3rd edition (2007), Trade Relations Between Colombia and the United States (2006), NAFTA Revisited: Achievements and Challenges (2005), Free Trade Agreements: US Strategies and Priorities (2004), Prospects for Free Trade in the Americas (2001), Free Trade between Korea and the United States? (2001), NAFTA and the Environment: Seven Years Later (2000), The WTO After Seattle (2000), Restarting Fast Track (1998), The World Trading System: Challenges Ahead (December 1996), The Uruguay Round: An Assessment (1994), Western Hemisphere Economic Integration (1994), NAFTA: An Assessment (1993), North American Free Trade: Issues and Recommendations (1992), Economic Sanctions Reconsidered: History and Current Policy (second edition, 1990), Completing the Uruguay Round (1990), Free Trade Areas and U.S. Trade Policy (1989), and The Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement: The Global Impact (1988), as well as numerous articles on US trade policy and the GATT.

Schott holds a BA degree magna cum laude from Washington University, St. Louis (1971), and an MA degree with distinction in international relations from the School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins University (1973).

Of Interest:

 South Korea, China Agree on Outline of Free-Trade Deal

 It’s Official: China, South Korea Sign Free Trade Agreement

Charles Kimball was previously Chief Investment Research Consultant for Bosera Asset Management in Shenzhen, China (2006-09).  Before that he worked for J. P. Morgan Investment Management (1971-2000) in equity research; in economic, fixed income and public policy research; as Head of Research for Morgan Trust Bank in Tokyo (1987-1990); and as Head of International Investments for the JPMorgan Multi-Market Special Investment Funds (1990-2000).  Mr. Kimball also serves on the Planning Committee and as Head of Evening Programs for the Foreign Policy Association’s Great Decisions chapter in Katonah, New York.  He received a BA with honors in economics from Harvard (’67) and an MBA from Stanford (’71).

Thomas J. Byrne joined The Korea Society as its President in August of 2015. He came to the Society from Moody’s Investor Services, where he was regional manager, spokesperson, and director of analysis for the Sovereign Risk Group in the Asia-Pacific and Middle East regions. Before moving to Moody’s in 1996, he was the Senior Economist of the Asia Department at the Institute of International Finance in Washington DC. Mr. Byrne has an MA degree in International Relations with an emphasis on economics from The Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Before his graduate work, he served in South Korea for three years as a US Peace Corps volunteer.

Prior to joining Citigroup, he worked as an economist at the International Monetary Fund (1999-2005), working primarily in Indonesia and Japan. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.