Van Fleet Award Honoree 
Chey Tae-won
Chairman & CEO, SK Holdings
Chairman, Korea Foundation for Advanced Studies

Mr. Chey Tae-won serves as the Chairman and CEO of SK Holdings. He oversees and orchestrates 95 companies (as of March 1, 2017) that comprise the SK Group.

Mr. Chey began his career at SK Group in 1991 and was appointed Chairman of the Board and CEO in 1998. With his innovative and dynamic leadership, the Group has steadily expanded over the years. SK Group consists of 95 companies across many strategic industries in Korea, including energy, chemicals, telecommunications, semiconductors, and trading/services.

Mr. Chey has been a key contributor to numerous business and civic organizations, including the World Economic Forum and the Boao Forum for Asia. Furthermore, as a strong advocate of the comprehensive UN goal of responsible corporate citizenship, he served on the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) Board. He has also been an important member of the Brookings Institution’s IAC (International Advisory Council) and the Advisory Board for the RAND Corporation’s CAPP (Center for Asia Pacific Policy).

In recent years, Mr. Chey has been deeply committed to strengthening the presence of Korea and its competitiveness in the global economy. In November 2010, he was appointed a Convener of the Working Group on Renewable Energy at the Seoul G20 Business Summit. In February 2016, he was named President of the Korea Handball Federation.

Mr. Chey has been serving as the Board Chairman of Korea Foundation for Advanced Studies (KFAS) since 1998. KFAS has been a major locomotive for fostering human resources in Korea through its generous scholarship programs including the Overseas PhD Scholarship. Through such programs, KFAS has supported 697 individuals to earn PhDs at leading universities over the past 43 years. Furthermore, Mr. Chey drastically diversified the support and exchange programs of KFAS to reflect his global vision for the 21st century. KFAS now operates 18 Asia Research Centers in China, Mongolia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, and Iran; invites fifty scholars from all over Asia every year for a research fellowship in Korea; and co-hosts more than a dozen major international academic forums in China and Southeast Asia.

In February 2015, Mr. Chey authored a book titled Social Enterprises: Building a Better World. The acclaimed book shares his long belief in—and passion for—socially responsible business management of commercial enterprises.

Mr. Chey holds a BA in Physics from Korea University and completed the PhD program in Economics at the University of Chicago.

Keynote Speaker 
The Honorable John Negroponte
Former Ambassador, Deputy Secretary of State and
Former Director of National Intelligence

Ambassador John D. Negroponte, Vice Chairman of McLarty Associates, has enjoyed a distinguished career in diplomacy, national security, and the private sector.

Ambassador Negroponte held government positions abroad and in Washington between 1960 and 1997 and again from 2001 to 2008.

He has been Ambassador to Honduras, Mexico, the Philippines, the United Nations, and Iraq. In Washington he served twice on the National Security Council staff, first as Director for Vietnam in the Nixon Administration and then as Deputy National Security Advisor under President Reagan. He has also held a cabinet-level position as the first Director of National Intelligence under President George W. Bush. His most recent position in government was as Deputy Secretary of State, where he served as the State Department’s Chief Operating Officer.

While in the private sector from 1997 to 2001, Ambassador Negroponte was Executive Vice President of the McGraw-Hill Companies, with responsibility for overseeing the company’s international activities. During those years he was also Chairman of the French-American Foundation.

Ambassador Negroponte serves as Chairman Emeritus of the Council of the Americas/Americas Society. He is also co-chairman of the US-Philippines Society. He has also served as chairman of the Intelligence and National Security Alliance.

Ambassador Negroponte has received numerous awards in recognition of his more than four decades of public service, including the State Department’s Distinguished Service Medal on two separate occasions, the highest award which can be conferred by the Secretary of State, and on January 16, 2009, President Bush awarded Ambassador Negroponte the National Security Medal for his outstanding contributions to US national security.

CHAIR

SK

BENEFACTOR

Hyundai Motor Group

SPONSORS

FILA

GS

KUMHO ASIANA

POSCO

SPECIAL ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Mr. Seung Hoon Lee
Chairman of Lee International

Ambassador Sung-Jun Yim
Senior Advisor of Lee International

Mr. & Mrs. Woo Hyun Lee
President & CEO of OCI Company Ltd.