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I'm pleased to announce the addition of nine new members to the Council of Korean Americans.

They represent the breadth of who we are as Korean Americans. American-born, Korean-born. East Coast, West Coast, and in between. 1st, 1.5, 2nd generation.

They work in areas as diverse as: health care advocacy, surgical medicine, fast fashion, community banking, nuclear policy in East Asia, government litigation, commercial real estate, asylum for refugees, and clinical drug testing. 


This is the face of our community and its leadership. Read more below, and let us know what you think.

Sam Yoon  
Sam Yoon, President
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Dr. Sophia Chang
Vice President of Programs
California HealthCare Foundation

Brings real-world public health experience to a California foundation that invests in improving health care for all

Dr. Sophia Chang is vice president of programs at the California HealthCare Foundation (CHCF), where she leads programmatic and grantmaking activities.

Chang returned to CHCF in May 2014 from Accretive Health, where she was vice president and medical director of population health solutions for the Chicago-based health care improvement company. She had been the director of CHCF's Better Chronic Disease Care program from 2003 to 2013...
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Dr. Daniel Riew
Mildred Simon Distinguished Professor of Orthopedic Surgery
Washington University

Practices and teaches spinal surgery at Washington University and all over the world

Dr. Daniel Riew has developed one of the largest cervical spine practices in the world. He is also active in research and has published over 160 peer-reviewed papers, and over 70 chapters and other manuscripts. He has won outstanding research paper awards multiple times from the Cervical Spine Research Society and the North American Spine Society, as well as the Hibbs Outstanding paper award from the Scoliosis Research Society. 

He has operated in several countries and has served as a Visiting Professor, Grand Rounds Speaker, Key or Named Lecturer, over 90 times in over 19 countries on six continents.....
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Alex Ok
President
Forever 21

Manages a rapidly expanding global company that is the industry leader in fast fashion

Alex Ok has played an integral role in making Forever 21 one of the most recognizable apparel retailers worldwide. Beginning in 2002, Alex has helped lead the company from 117 stores to over 600 stores worldwide and over 40,000 employees. With his guidance, Forever 21 has grown into a leading fashion empire, opening department store locations carrying a wide range of merchandise for women, men, and children.

Alex Ok grew up in Busan, Korea where he graduated from high school and soon moved to Seoul, Korea to further his education and graduate from Seoul National University with a major in Economics...
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Kevin Kim
Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer 
BBCN Bancorp / BBCN Bank

Leads the largest Korean American-owned bank and the nation's eighth largest minority-owned bank

Kevin Kim is Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of BBCN Bancorp and BBCN Bank. He has been President and Chief Executive Officer of BBCN Bancorp since March 2013 and of BBCN Bank since April 2014. He has been Chairman of the board of directors of BBCN Bancorp since May 2012 and of BBCN Bank since December 2011. 

Mr. Kim is formerly a director of Center Financial Corporation and Center Bank from 2008 until the merger between Nara Bancorp, Inc. and Nara Bank, completed on November 30, 2011. Mr. Kim was the lead negotiator from Center resulting in the creation of BBCN...
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Duyeon Kim
Associate, Nuclear Policy Program
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Writes and speaks about nukes, security, and achieving peace in Korea and East Asia



Duyeon Kim is an associate in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. An expert on nuclear nonproliferation, nuclear security, and Asia, her research currently focuses on nuclear and security issues on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia. 

Prior to joining Carnegie, Kim worked as a senior fellow and deputy director of nuclear nonproliferation at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation in Washington, DC. Kim has written for major publications including the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, World Politics Review, and the New York Times. She has also been interviewed by CBS, BBC, AFP TV, South Korea's KBS, and China's Xinhua News Agency...
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Richard Park
Assistant United States Attorney
United States Attorney's Office for the Central District of California

Represents the United States as an Assistant US Attorney


Richard Minsik Park is an Assistant United States Attorney in the United States Attorney's Office for the Central District of California. As an AUSA, he represents the interests of the United States in the federal courts on a variety of matters involving civil rights, constitutional torts, employment laws, mortgage fraud, and the Federal Tort Claims Act. Prior to joining the U.S. Attorney's Office, Richard was an associate at Sidley Austin LLP.

Richard graduated from the UCLA School of Law in 2004, where he was a member of the Public Interest Law and Policy Program. Before law school, he completed graduate work at Seoul National University, where he served as an assistant to Professor Tae-Ho Bark. He graduated from Pomona College in 2000 with a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics and served as its student body president his senior year...
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Dr. David Lee
Founder and President
Jamison Services, Inc.

Invested in Koreatown and downtown LA after the riots and is now a major player in LA's commercial real estate market


Dr. David Y. Lee is founder and President of Jamison Services, a privately managed company engaged in ownership, management, development and acquisition of commercial real estate. Headquartered in Los Angeles, it manages and leases over 100 commercial buildings comprising 22 million square feet. 

Born in Korea, Dr. Lee came to the U.S. at age 17. He trained in internal medicine at Northwestern University, but began investing in real estate after the LA Riots, or Saigu, in 1992...
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Ted Kim
Deputy Chief of USCIS Asylum Division
US Department of Homeland Security

Oversees US Government programs and policies on treating persecuted and vulnerable populations worldwide


Ted Kim's career in public service has been focused on protecting some of the world's most vulnerable populations-refugees fleeing persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group. 

In his capacity as Deputy Chief of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Asylum Division, Ted manages an organization of over 800 individuals in eight Asylum Offices across the country that interview and offer protection to qualified asylum seekers from over 150 countries. Ted oversees a budget of $50 million as well as the Asylum Division's Washington-based headquarters component, which is responsible for policy development, quality assurance, and overall management of the asylum program...
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Dr. Kenneth Kim
Founder and CEO
WCCT Global LLC

Rapidly growing a global drug-testing company in an industry dominated by big players

Dr. Kenneth Kim is the founder and CEO of WCCT Global LLC, an early phase drug development clinical contract research organization, based in the United States with two clinical pharmacology units with 180 beds and five research site locations. Dr. Kim has served as a medical monitor, consultant, or investigator on over 500 clinical trials, having published over 30 research articles and 50 abstracts in peer reviewed journals. . 

A summa cum laude graduate of Harvard College, he received his MD from Harvard Medical School. Following a fellowship at the MIT Sloan School of Management, he completed his internal medicine and allergy/immunology training at UCLA...
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CKA is a national, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization of Korean American leaders. 
Our mission is to assert a strong, clear voice on issues of critical importance to Korean Americans and to support their full participation in all aspects of American life.