Adrian Hong , Director , The Pegasus Project
Mr. Hong is co-founder and former Executive Director of Liberty in North Korea, or LiNK, an international NGO devoted to human rights in North Korea, and the protection of North Korean refugees all over the world. In December of 2006, Mr. Hong was arrested along with 2 LiNK field workers and 6 North Korean refugees in the People's Republic of China and imprisoned before being released and deported.
Mr. Hong currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Mirae Foundation, and was chosen as a 2007 Asia Society Asia 21 Young Leader, a group of the top 200 leaders under 40 from Asia and the US, a 2007 NetKAL Fellow at the University of Southern California's School of Social Work, a "Distinguished Asian American Leader" by the Japanese American Citizens League in 2007, and a "Top Ten Korean Hero" by Radio Korea in 2005. He recently received the JACL's "Vision Award", and was a Visiting Lecturer in 2008 teaching "America, Human Rights and Foreign Policy" at Korea's Ewha University. He was recently selected as a TED 2009 Fellow, and a 2009 Arnold Wolfers Fellow at Yale University.
He currently serves as Director of the Pegasus Project. Read moreHannah Song , Executive Director , LiNK | Liberty in North Korea
Hannah Song is the Executive Director of LiNK, or Liberty in North Korea, an international NGO devoted to human rights in North Korea, and the protection of North Korean refugees. Ms.Song joined LiNK in 2004 as Deputy Director, dividing her time between managing day to day operations and coordinating overseas programs, safe houses and shelters, underground railroad activities, and fact-finding missions. Focusing on refugee needs, Ms. Song established LiNK's first shelter in Southeast Asia and implemented LiNK's refugee resettlement initiative, Liberty House, in the U.S. and in South Korea. In 2008, Ms. Song became Executive Director, now managing the organization out of the headquarters office in California. She continues to direct all overseas, underground and field operations while working closely with her exceptional staff to build an unprecedented movement that will advocate for freedom for the North Korean people.
Prior to joining LiNK, Ms. Song's background was in television and then advertising, working with digital media and emerging technologies at OgilvyOne and Mindshare Interaction. She enjoys volunteering in her community with children with autism, and frequently travels abroad working in development in third world nations. Ms. Song was a 2008 NetKAL Fellow at the University of Southern California's Center for Asian-Pacific Leadership.
Read morePaul Kim , Executive Director , Kollaboration
Stand up:
PK was the host of Asian Nights at The World Famous Laugh Factory in Hollywood for three and half years. (Watch ) During that 175 week run, he brought over 10,000 people to the club, many of them seeing stand up comedy live for the first time.
He has performed stand up comedy in over 30 universities across the United States. His passion is laughing really loud with friends and making good memories. Some of his comedic inspirations: Brian Regan, Conan O' Brien, Eddie Murphy, Jerry Seinfeld, Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock, Tony Rock, Cedric The Entertainer, George Lopez, Jo Koy, Dane Cook, Bobby Lee, Russell Peters, Ellen Degeneres, Margaret Cho, Daniel Tosh, Jim Gaffigan, & countless others,
For two years he hosted a weekly show on AM Radio with a low budget and less than 10 confirmed listeners. He also was a first round winner on the rapidly cancelled, Ed McMahon's ‘Next Big Star.'
Showing Up
He was the Grand Prize Winner of the 2007 Uncle Clyde's Comedy Cup at The Pasadena Icehouse sponsored by H2F Productions, which featured 360 comedians and he took first place.
Growing up
PK stands for Paul Kim and Preacher's Kid. (Preacher's Kids = Problem Kids) He was born and raised in the rough streets of south central Burbank, California. Burbank is Johnny Carson's hood, his earliest inspiration in comedy.
Following Up
He is the founder and Exec. Director of an annual Asian talent show called Kollaboration, which now in its ninth year, draws over 10,000 people annually in LA, Chicago, NY, Toronto, Atlanta, and Washington DC.
www.prokreation.com Read moreMichael Park , AVP of Structured Finance , NCB
Michael Park is Assistant Vice President of Structured Finance at the National Cooperative Bank (NCB). His areas of focus are Renewable Energy, Non-Profits, New Markets Tax Credits, Historic Tax Credits, and Investment Tax Credits. He covers underwriting,relationship management, and portfolio management.Prior to this, he served as Assistant Vice President at NCB in the commercial real estate underwriting department. Here, he underwrote commercial real estate transactions for both portfolio and secondary market (conduit) placement
Prior to joining NCB, he was a finance analyst at The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) where he conducted credit and financial due diligence analysis, negotiation, and documentation of various project financing transactions, for restaurant franchise expansions in Russia, Latvia and the Czech Republic, as well as agricultural food distribution facility expansions in Russia, and an airline service startup in Afghanistan.
Previously, Michael was a Vice President at The Corporate Finance Institute where he screened over 140 early-stage companies, assessed their product/service concepts, milestones, funding needs and management teams to make funding recommendations to private venture capitalists.
Michael obtained his BA in International Relations with a concentration in East Asian Studies from Johns Hopkins University and an MBA from George Washington University with a concentration in International Business and Finance. While a college student, Michael was on the executive board of KASCON XI in Washington D.C.
Michael lives in Fairfax, VA with his wife, Abigail, and two children, Tyler and Sydney.
Read moreJoseph Kim , Executive Vice-President/Professor , Christ Bible Seminary
Joseph Kim is Executive Vice-President and Professor of Philosophical Theology and the Philosophy of Religion at Christ Bible Seminary (CBS) in Nagoya, Japan. He will also serve as the founding president of Nagoya International University, an English language international university offering degrees in Christian ministry and Business/English Communication that will launch in the next 3-5 years. He has taught philosophy for the University of California, Hope International University, and Arizona State University. His areas of academic expertise include epistemology, the philosophy of religion, and philosophical theology. He is the author of “Christian Belief and the Problem of Religious Diversity”.
He is also an ordained minister with more than a decade of pastoral ministry experience serving diverse congregations in the USA and has lectured on leadership, missions, theology, and pastoral ministry in both Asia and Africa. He serves as a Co-Director of the Korean-American Ministry Resources. He and his wife have two sons.
Read moreRichard Lee , Management & Program Analyst , U.S. Department of Education
Richard is a Management & Program Analyst in the Office of Postsecondary Education with the U.S. Department of Education. Richard’s work involves monitoring and program evaluation of Teacher and Student Development Programs. Before joining the Department of Education Richard taught Economics and United States history for seven years at a high performing blue ribbon high school just outside of Chicago. During his time teaching Richard also did work for a non-profit as a field liaison serving underprivileged hill tribe orphans in Southeast Asia. Richard also has a background in management and benefits consulting, spending two years in the industry out of college.
Richard holds a Masters of Education in International Education Policy from Harvard University, a Masters of Education in Curriculum & Development from the University of Illinois, and a Bachelors degree in Finance from the University of Illinois.
Richard’s other activities include serving on the Board of the Elijah Foundation, a non-profit that provides funding and support to orphanages in Southeast Asia, as well as serving on the Local School Council of Peterson Elementary school in Chicago Illinois. Read more