Elected 2003
Dr. Kihwan Kim's distinguished career bridges academia, public service and the business world. Following his graduation from Grinnell College in 1957, Kim earned an MA in history from Yale, and a PhD in economics from the University of California, Berkeley.
Before his return to the Republic of Korea in 1976, Kim taught economics at a number of universities in the U.S., including the University of California, Berkeley. Since his return to Korea, he has held many important positions in government. He was Vice Minister of Trade and Industry, Chief Economic Policy Coordinator and Trade Negotiator, and Chief Delegate to the North-South Inter-Korea Economic Talks. In the late 1980s he was a consultant to the World Bank and the OECD. In the early 1990's, Kim returned briefly to the academic world, serving as a visiting scholar at the University of Tokyo and a visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley.
For most of the 1990s, he was a Senior Advisor at Kim and Chang, the largest and most prestigious law and management-consulting firm in Korea. During the1997-98 Asian financial crisis he was called into government service again to serve as Ambassador-at- Large for Economic Affairs. In this capacity he played key roles in securing timely assistance from the international community to help overcome Korea's crisis. From 1999 to 2002, Kim served as chairman and CEO of Media Valley, Inc., a private and public sector joint initiative created to accelerate the development of information-technology industries in Korea. From 1999 to 2008 he was an International Advisor to Goldman Sachs, Asia and from 2003 to 2005 International Chair of the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council. Currently he is Chair of The Seoul Financial Forum and a Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Korea Development Institute.
In May 2000, Kim received an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from Grinnell College.
