Keynote Speaker
&
2012 Van Fleet Award Honoree
ROBERT H. BENMOSCHE
PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL GROUP, INC
Robert H. Benmosche joined American International Group, Inc. as President and Chief Executive Officer in August 2009, when he was also elected to the AIG Board of Directors. Mr. Benmosche retired as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of MetLife, Inc. in 2006 after an eleven-year career during which he led the transition of MetLife from a mutual to a public company in April 2000. Since then, MetLife has risen to be the largest life insurer in North America. During Mr. Benmosche’s tenure, MetLife acquired General American and Traveler’s Life and Annuity. He joined MetLife as an Executive Vice President in 1995 to direct the merger of New England Mutual with MetLife, and to head MetLife’s Individual Sales force and Retail Product Development. Mr. Benmosche was President and Chief Operating Officer from 1997 until he was named Chairman of the Board, President, and Chief Executive Officer in 1998.
Before joining MetLife, Mr. Benmosche spent more than 13 years at PaineWebber Group Incorporated, where he served in several capacities. These included Senior Vice President of Marketing, CFO of the Retail Brokerage Division, and as Executive Vice President from 1989-1995, serving as the head of Operations and Technology and Director and Sales Manager for over 1,500 retail investment advisors. He also directed the merger of Kidder Peabody into PaineWebber in 1994. Earlier in his career, Mr. Benmosche was a Chase Manhattan Bank Vice President and a staff consultant with Arthur D. Little.
Mr. Benmosche received his bachelor’s degree from Alfred University and served in Korea as a Lieutenant in the United States Army Signal Corps. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Credit Suisse Group AG. He has also served on the Boards of Directors of the New York Philharmonic and Alfred University. He is a native of Brooklyn, New York.
2012 Van Fleet Award Honoree
HAN DUCK-SOO
CHAIRMAN AND CEO
KOREA INTERNATIONAL TRADE ASSOCIATION
FORMER PRIME MINISTER
AND
FORMER AMBASSADOR EXTRAORDINARY AND PLENIPOTENTIARY OF THE
REPUBLIC OF KOREA TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Han Duck-soo is Chairman and CEO of Korea International Trade Association, Korea’s largest trade organization with over 70,000 member companies.
Prior to his current role, Chairman Han was appointed by President Lee Myung-bak as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the United States of America in January 2009. He presented his Letter of Credence to President Barack Obama in May 2009. From 2007 to 2008, Chairman Han served as the 38th Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea after his nomination was approved by the National Assembly.
Chairman Han has held numerous high-ranking positions in the Korean government. In 2006, he was named Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Facilitating KORUS FTA, following his service as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Economy. Before being named Minister of Government Policy Coordination in 2004, he worked as President of the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade.
As Korea’s Permanent Representative to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Chairman Han went to Paris in 2001 before returning to Seoul later that year to serve at the Blue House, first as Senior Secretary to the President for Policy and Planning and later as Senior Secretary to the President for Economic Affairs.
During his distinguished career in government, Chairman Han has made many contributions to the development and modernization of the Korean economy. Deregulation, market opening, and strengthening of the market economy have been the three pillars of his philosophy and framework for the economic policy of Korea.
Chairman Han earned a B.A. in economics from Seoul National University, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University. He has been awarded two Order of Public Service and Merit Medals. Chairman Han is married to Choi Ah Young.
2012 Culture Award Honoree
LEE SOO MAN
FOUNDER, CHAIRMAN & PRODUCER
S.M. ENTERTAINMENT CO., LTD.
Soo Man Lee is the founder and Chairman of SM Entertainment, the largest entertainment company and record label in Korea. He is one of the most renowned Asian producers, coined the term “Korean Wave,” and produces such Asian stars as H.O.T, S.E.S., SHINHWA, Fly To The Sky, BoA, TVXQI, Super Junior, Girls’ Generation, SHINee and f(x).
After emerging as a top singer, MC, and DJ in Korea, SM Lee travelled to the U.S. to study in 1981 where he witnessed the birth of MTV. Certain that a global music market would develop, he returned to Korea in 1985 to start his own entertainment business with the goal of showcasing Korean culture to the world by developing new global artists.
Soo Man Lee established SM Entertainment in 1989, and introduced a structured system for the first time in the entertainment industry’s history. He developed market-leading content by analyzing music, fashion, and cultural trends while also establishing a unique casting, training, and production system. SM Lee revolutionized the entertainment industry with his “Culture Technology” strategy and was instrumental in growing K-Pop into a global phenomena.
In 2010, SMTOWN LIVE 2010 World Tour in LA played to a sold out LA Staples Center and was ranked on Billboard’s Top 10 performance entertainment chart. In June 2011, SM Entertainment sold out tickets for SMTOWN LIVE World Tour in Paris and, when unhappy fans who could not obtain tickets formed a flash mob in front of the Louvre Museum, SM Entertainment held an additional sold-out concert the next day. Last October, SM Entertainment held SMTOWN LIVE World Tour in NY, Madison Square Garden’s first concert featuring Asian artists. Flash mobs have also emerged in other countries in Europe, Latin America, and the US requesting SMTOWN concerts in their areas, which demonstrates just how popular the SM Entertainment brand is globally.
As a music-industry pioneer and with a reputation as the top Korean Wave strategist, MBA students from Harvard Business School, Johnson Business School at Cornell University, and MIT Sloan School of Management have visited SM Entertainment in order to learn the global Korean Wave business strategy from Soo Man Lee.
Soo Man Lee graduated from Seoul National University in Korea and obtained his Master’s Degree in computer engineering from California State University, Northridge.
