Jeong H. Kim

Jeong Hun Kim (; born August 13, 1960) is a South Korean-born American academic, businessman, and entrepreneur in the technology industry.

In 2004, Kim was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering for contributions to national defense and security through improved battlefield communication.

He served as the president of Bell Labs from 2005 to 2013.

Early life Born in Seoul, South Korea, Jeong Kim is a product of a broken home. His parents divorced when he was very young, and different relatives raised him while his father went to find work. He immigrated to the United States with his family in 1975 at 14. Speaking little English, he found the transition to a foreign culture difficult, but he found teachers who recognized his ambition and appetite for work and took a personal interest in him. Kim left home at 16, at one point sleeping in the basement of one of his high-school teachers. He worked the night shift at a 7-Eleven to support himself until he finished school.

Education Kim attended public schools throughout his K-12 education, graduating a semester early from high school. Having won a scholarship to Johns Hopkins University, Kim earned his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering and computer science in three years.

Career Early career While still in college, he began to work for a start-up tech firm called Digitus (1980-1982). He became a partner in the company and believed he was well on his way to realizing significant financial returns from his stake in the enterprise. But upon graduation, he determined that it was time to repay his adopted country for the opportunities it had given him, so he left Digitus to join the U.S. Navy, where he served as a nuclear submarine officer (1982-1989). In 1998, Kim sold the company to Lucent Technologies for $1.1 billion. Kim personally received over $510 million after the sale.

Lucent Technologies (1998-2001) At age 37, having sold Yurie, he stayed on with Lucent, serving first as president of carrier networks (1998-1999), then as president of the optical networking group (2000-2001), where he orchestrated a multibillion-dollar business turnaround that propelled Lucent's worldwide market share position from #4 in the optical space to #1 in four fiscal quarters.

In 1999, Kim co-founded Taconic Capital Advisors LLC, an event-driven and multi-strategy hedge fund firm, along with Kenneth Brody and Frank Brosens.

Post-Lucent Technologies (2002-2005) Kim took a hiatus from Lucent in 2002 to join the University of Maryland faculty, with joint appointments in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Department of Mechanical Engineering. While teaching, Kim assembled a group of investors to purchase Cibernet, a provider of cellular billing exchange services, and served as chairman from March 2003 until July 2005.

Bell Labs (2005-2013) In 2005, he rejoined Lucent (which later became Alcatel-Lucent after its merger with the French telecom giant, Alcatel; Alcatel-Lucent has since been acquired by Nokia) to serve as president of its Bell Labs division. He was the institution's 11th president – and the first recruited from outside the Labs in its 80-year history. In the last two years of his eight-year tenure as the head of Bell Labs (2005-2013), Kim also served as Alcatel-Lucent's chief strategy officer.

Kiswe Mobile (2013-Present) Kim left Alcatel-Lucent in 2013 and co-founded and became executive chairman of Kiswe Mobile Inc. – a start-up focused on interactive mobile video.

Other activities Kim currently serves on the boards of Samsung, Arris Group and the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI). He was previously on the boards of Schneider Electric SA (France), McLeodUSA, MTI MicroFuel Cells, In-Q-Tel, Bankinter Foundation of Innovation (Spain), Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, among many others. He also enjoys his position as a minority owner of Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which owns the National Hockey League's Washington Capitals, the National Basketball Association's Washington Wizards, the Women's National Basketball Association's Washington Mystics, the Arena Football League's Washington Valor, the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., and manages the Kettler Capitals Iceplex and George Mason University's EagleBank Arena.

Kim served on the boards of Johns Hopkins University, Georgetown University, the University of Maryland, and the Freeman Spogli Institute of International Studies at Stanford University. The Stevens Institute of Technology honored him by conferring an Honorary Doctor of Engineering, as did Postech University in Korea with a Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa. In 2009, he was honored with the Chinese Institute of Engineers' Lifetime Achievement Award.

Kim was one of the founding partners of Venture Philanthropy Partners, an investment organization that provides money, expertise, and personal contacts to improve the lives and boost the opportunities of children and youth of low-income families. He also joined the board of DC2024, a group that attempted to bring the 2024 Summer Olympics to Washington D.C.

Kim served on the U.S. Presidential Commission on Review of U.S. Intelligence, the External Advisory Board of the CIA, and the Award Committee for the U.S. National Medal of Technology and Innovation. He currently serves on the board of the Nuclear Threat Initiative.

Awards and recognition 2023: National Medal of Technology and Innovation 2016: Horatio Alger Award, Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans 2013: Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur, French Government 2012: Honorary Doctor of Engineering, Stevens Institute of Technology 2010: Alumni Hall of Fame, University of Maryland 2010: Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa, Postech University, Korea 2007: Maryland Chamber of Commerce Business Hall of Fame 2007: Washington Chamber of Commerce Business Hall of Fame 2006: 5 Sectors Award, State of New Jersey 2005: President's Distinguished Alumnus Award, University of Maryland 2005: 10 Most Influential Asian American in Business, U.S. Pan Asian American Chamber of Commerce 2001: CIA Director's Award 2000: Civil Merit Medal, Republic of Korea 1999: ICAS Liberty Award 1999: Ellis Island Medal of Honor 1999: Distinguished Alumnus Award, Johns Hopkins University 1999: American Immigration Law Foundation Immigrant Achievement Award 1999: BETA Award (Baltimore's Extraordinary Technology Advocate) 1999: KPMG Peat Marwick High Tech Entrepreneur 1998: University of Maryland Distinguished Engineering Alumnus 1998: KAA Businessman of the Year 1997: Maryland High Tech Council Entrepreneur of the Year 1989: Defense Meritorious Service Medal, USA 1987: Navy Achievement Medal, US Navy