The Korea Society’s 2011 Annual Dinner was held on Tuesday, July 19. As we moved toward approval of the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement, we celebrated the economic ties between the U.S. and Korea. Kathleen Stephens, U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Korea, was the evening’s keynote speaker and awarded the 2011 Van Fleet Award to the business councils in both countries.
Program
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
His Excellency Ban Ki-moonSecretary-General, United Nations
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The Honorable Kathleen StephensUnited States Ambassador to the Republic of Korea
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Van Fleet Award Honorees
The Waldorf=Astoria
301 Park Avenue
New York City
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Reception • 6:00 PM
Dinner • 7:00 PM
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black tie/traditional attire
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Speaker & Honorees
Keynote Speaker
The Honorable Kathleen Stephens
United States Ambassador to the Republic of Korea
Kathleen Stephens is U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Korea. She arrived in Korea on September 23, 2008, and presented her credentials to President Lee Myung-bak on October 6, 2008.
Ambassador Stephens is a Career Minister in the U.S. Foreign Service. Since joining the Foreign Service in 1978, she has served in numerous posts in Washington, Asia, and Europe. From 2005 to 2007 Ambassador Stephens was Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs (EAP), responsible for overall bureau management and public diplomacy and for management of U.S. relations with Japan and Korea. She was Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs (EUR) from 2003 to 2005, where she focused on post-conflict and stabilization issues in the Balkans. Other Washington assignments included Director for European Affairs at the National Security Council during the Clinton Administration, Senior United Kingdom Country Officer in the European Bureau, and Director of the State Department’s Office of Ecology and Terrestrial Conservation in the Bureau of Oceans, Environment and Scientific Affairs.
Ambassador Stephens’ overseas postings have included Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Lisbon, Portugal (1998-2001), and U.S. Consul General in Belfast, Northern Ireland (1995-1998) during the consolidation of ceasefires and negotiation of the Good Friday Agreement. Earlier foreign assignments included consular and public affairs officer in Guangzhou, China (1980-1982), chief of the internal political unit in Seoul (1984-1987), principal officer of the U.S. Consulate in Busan, Korea (1987-1989), and political officer in the former Yugoslavia in the early ‘90s.
Ambasasdor Stephens is the recipient of numerous State Department Superior and Meritorious Honor and senior performance awards, and in 2009 received the Presidential Meritorious Service Award. She was named the Department of State’s Linguist of the Year in 2010. In 2010 she also received the Korean YWCA’s Korea Women’s Leadership “Special Prize” Award. In 2011 she received the Pacific Century Institute’s Building Bridges Award, and the Outstanding Achievement Award from the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea.
Ambassador Stephens was born in El Paso, Texas and grew up in New Mexico and Arizona. She has longstanding family ties to Montana. She holds a BA (Honors) in East Asian studies from Prescott College and a master’s degree from Harvard University, and honorary doctoral degrees from Chungnam National University and the University of Maryland. While an undergraduate Ambassador Stephens spent a year studying at the University of Hong Kong and was also an instructor at the Outward Bound School of Hong Kong, 1972-1973. Ambassador Stephens was a Peace Corps volunteer in Korea from 1975 to 1977. Her foreign languages are Korean, Serbian and Chinese. She has one son, a robotics engineer working in Boston.
Van Fleet Award Honorees
| U.S.-Korea Business Council Accepted by |
Korea-U.S. Business Council
Accepted by |
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| Bill Rhodes is president and CEO of William R. Rhodes Global Advisors, LLC, and professor-at-large at Brown University. He is also Senior Advisor for Citi, having most recently served as Senior Vice Chairman, Citigroup and Citibank. Mr. Rhodes gained a reputation for international financial diplomacy in the 1980s as a result of his leadership in helping manage the external-debt crisis that involved developing nations and their creditors worldwide. During that period and in the 1990s, he headed the advisory committees of international banks that negotiated debt-restructuring agreements for Argentina, Brazil, Jamaica, Mexico, Peru, and Uruguay. In 1998, when the Republic of Korea experienced liquidity problems, he chaired the international bank group that negotiated the extension of short-term debt of the Korean banking system. Among his many roles, Mr. Rhodes serves as Chairman of the U.S.-Korea Business Council, a Director of The Korea Society, and as a member of President Lee’s Council of Global Advisors. | Hyun, Jae-Hyun is chairman of Tong Yang Group, a South Korean conglomerate primarily engaged in financial services and cement manufacturing, in addition to production and sale of home appliances, construction, industrial engineering, information technology, textiles and leisure. In executive capacities with Tong Yang, Hyun spearheaded the Group’s radical transformation from a cement-based manufacturer to a finance-based service provider which now includes investment banking, asset management and life insurance. Prior to joining Tong Yang in 1977, Hyun served two years as public prosecutor at the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Busan and three years as judge advocate officer in the Korean Navy. Hyun holds a number of civic and professional appointments that include, among others, chairman of Korea-U.S. Business Council, vice-chairman of the Federation of Korean Industries, and member of the Trilateral Commission Pacific Asia Group. From 1996 to 2008, Hyun served as one of three members on the Korean delegation of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Business Advisory Council (ABAC). In 2005, he was appointed chairman of ABAC when Korea was host economy to APEC and duly chaired the APEC CEO Summit that year. Alongside his dedication to work, Hyun is committed to serving his community as chairman of the Youth Hope Foundation, a non-profit organization providing education to underprivileged children. Hyun received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in law from Seoul National University. He earned his MBA, Class of ’81, from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Hyun currently lives in Seoul with his wife and four children. |
Dinner Committee
Chair
Yoon-Woo Lee
Vice Chairman
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
Vice Chair
Joon-Ryeol You
President & CEO
Tong Yang Securities Inc.
Benefactor
Spencer H. Kim
Chairman
CBOL/Celltron
Michael K. Wirth
Executive Vice President, Global Downstream
Downstream & Chemicals
Chevron
Hollis Hart
Head of International Franchise Management
Citi
Byung Mo Ahn
Group President and CEO
KIA Motors America and KIA Motors Manufacturing Georgia
Wayne Park
North America Regional Representative
President, LG Electronics U.S.A.
Bill Hwang
Founder and CEO
Tiger Asia Management LLC
Patron
Jeffrey Hayman
CEO, Global Consumer Business
Chartis
Dong-Soo Hur
Chairman & CEO
GS Caltex Corporation
Keh-Sik Min
Chairman
Hyundai Heavy Industries
William Toppeta
President
MetLife International
Jin Roy Ryu
Chairman & CEO
Poongsan Corporation
Sponsor
Chang-Soo Huh
Chairman
The Federation of Korean Industries
Larry A. Klane
President & CEO
Korea Exchange Bank
Jeong Hwa Lee
President & CEO
SK USA, Inc.
Soon Woo Lee
President and CEO
Woori Bank
Dinner Supporters
Chair
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
Vice Chair
Tong Yang Securities Inc.
Benefactor
CBOL/Celltron
Chevron
Citi
Kia Motors America
LG Electronics USA
Tiger Asia Management LLC
Patron
Chartis
GS Caltex Corporation
Hyundai Heavy Industries
MetLife International
Poongsan Corporation
Sponsor
The Federation of Korean Industries
Korea Exchange Bank
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
SK USA, Inc.
Woori Bank
Donor
Ernst & Young
Korean Consulate General in New York
KPMG LLP
One Equity Partners
The Warren Companies
Contributor
Asiana Airlines, Inc
Gale International
Korea International Trade Association
Korean War National Museum
McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP
McLarty Associates
Special Acknowledgement
Additional support provided by Hong Seok Eum; Kathleen Hennessey; Stewart Kim, PGP Capital Advisors, LLC; Alexandra Munroe, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum; Daniel Yun, Belstar Group; Korea Local Promotion Foundation; Sulwhasoo