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KEI Honors Korean American Leaders in Business and Entrepeneurship

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Washington, DC (PRWEB) January 13, 2014

The Korea Economic Institute of America (KEI) hosted its seventh annual Korean American Day celebration, a high-level gathering of public and private sector leaders from across the United States on January 13, 2014.

As part of the ceremony, KEI recognizes prominent Korean Americans that have made significant contributions to the United States and to the global community. At this year’s celebration, KEI President & CEO Donald Manzullo recognized 2008 Korean American Day Shinae Chun, former Director of the Women’s Bureau at the U.S. Department of Labor, who passed away in October 2013. KC Chun and Toby Chun, husband and son of Shinae, read the congressional resolution marking January 13 as Korean American Day.

This year’s celebration honored leaders in business and entrepreneurship:

Simon Lee, Founder of STG Inc.

Michael Yang, Co-Founder of mySimon.com and Become.com

Sarah Paiji, Co-Founder of Snapette

During a panel with ABC7’s Kathy Park, the honorees spoke about their background and experience as well as offered advice for aspiring entrepreneurs. While Simon Lee of STG discussed the importance of perseverance, and to “never give up”; all panelists agreed that in order to be truly successful, one must take risks.

The taking of risks was noted by Keynote Speaker Sean Mulvaney of the Export-Import Bank of the United States who stated:

“Each of today’s awardees have taken risks and overcome adversity. Each has demonstrated tremendous business acumen in generating ideas and taking them to market successfully. In short, you have modeled the way for your peers in the Korean American community.”

U.S. Congressman Mike Kelly also congratulated the honorees on their successes and highlighted how the Republic of Korea and the United States are so close not only as nations, but as peoples.

This was echoed by Republic of Korea Ambassador Ahn Ho-young who looked forward to learning from the three honorees and discussed how they are contributing towards the next cycle of the 60 years alliance between the United States and Republic of Korea.

While each of the honorees discussed their plans for the future, they also talked about the challenges that they faced.

After much personal tragedy, Simon Lee emphasized how he was able to draw strength from his hardship. Having lost his parents at an early age, he attributes his achievements to his older brother who provided funding for his early education. Discussing the importance of hard work, Mr. Lee said that when he first moved to the United States, he felt that eight hours a day of work was not giving enough and that is how he began to create STG.

As one of the first Korean Americans to create a successful dot com company, Michael Yang co-founded mySimon.com, later acquired by CNET, and also co-founded Become.com, an e-commerce website. Raising the challenges that potential entrepreneurs face, he noted just how difficult it is to succeed as a startup. Some of these challenges include raising capital and finding people with the right skills. Even then, successful startups are unlikely to either go public or be bought out.

Emphasizing how mobile technology and social media are changing the shape of business, Sarah Paiji brought up how she worked to build a company servicing an untapped market. While Yelp and other on-line sources help provide reviews for restaurants or other products, Snapette helps match consumer interests with available products and potential sales.

One interesting insight on how entrepreneurship is evolving is the growing role of social media in venture capitalism. While at Harvard Business School, Ms. Paiji was reached via Twitter by a prominent venture capitalist who had wanted to make her tweet a reality. After making a trip to Silicon Valley to meet with prospective investors, she decided to pursue her passion in what she described as “the best job I could ever have.”

Other attendees of the celebration included: Ambassador Glyn Davies, Deputy Assistant Secretary James Zumwalt and Herndon Council Member Grace Han Wolf.







California LASIK Eye Surgeon Chosen to Contribute to the Gary J. Sbona Honors Program

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El Cerrito, CA (PRWEB) April 18, 2007

Ellis Eye is proud to announce that laser eye surgeon Dr. William Ellis has been chosen by Bausch and Lomb and San Jose State University College of Business to contribute to a program with Professor Robert Vitale for honors students in the Gary J. Sbona Honors Program. This is a hands on opportunity to participate in an integrated marketing communications plan to increase awareness of laser eye surgery among 18 to 26 year olds. As one of the pioneers of LASIK surgery technology in California, Dr. Ellis will prove to be a valuable model and mentor to the College of Business students as they conduct market research, organize informative events for other San Jose State University students, and create a complete marketing plan specifically for the young adult demographic.

The program, coordinated by EdVenture Partners, affords business students an opportunity to work directly with successful industry professionals, providing valuable experience that must be gained outside a classroom setting. Dr. Ellis and his Northern California LASIK eye surgery practice will serve as a model in their marketing approach planning, and Dr. Ellis will serve as a guide to the honors students in increasing the awareness of laser vision correction as an alternative to wearing glasses and contacts, including understanding how LASIK works as well as the benefits and other details of laser eye surgery. Dr. Ellis, whose participation in this program is largely due to his widespread reputation as a premier California laser technology vision correction surgeon, says, “Marketing new products is the backbone of the American economy. We at Ellis Eye are proud to be chosen by Bausch and Lomb to help educate this group of business students.”

Ellis Eye provides safe, effective LASIK eye surgery in CA, and Dr. Ellis is one of the first surgeons to bring the freedom of laser vision correction to his patients. He provides valuable marketing advice as a skilled, knowledgeable LASIK eye surgeon hoping to expand recognition of laser eye surgery as a potential solution to poor vision. His teamwork with San Jose State University is recognition of his status as a top revolutionary in the field of laser vision correction in the Bay Area and Sacramento LASIK and provides the Northern California students with an opportunity to work directly with a successful medical practitioner with industry experience. Thanks to Dr. Ellis, these students can obtain real world marketing experience, and thousands of patients can experience the freedom from glasses and contacts that LASIK vision correction provides.

Ellis Eye is a laser eye surgery center was among the first in the nation to begin performing laser vision correction in 1995. Dr. Ellis is also noted for his expertise as a laser vision scientist who received a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from UC Berkeley prior to receiving his training in ophthalmic surgery. Ellis Eye is affordable and reliable, and offers skilled vision correction to patients with myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism. With a number of different types of procedures, Dr. Ellis’ practice provides custom solutions for poor vision, and his LASIK San Francisco practice services a wide area of Northern California with the highest quality laser vision correction. With over 30 years and 30,000 satisfied patients, Ellis Eye is on the forefront of laser technology and consistently provides California residents with outstanding vision correction results. For LASIK eye surgery, think Ellis Eye for superior results.

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