Young-Chul Hong

Personal Biography:

Young-Chul Hong is a business and industrial leader in Korea who built and manages a world-class company, KISWIRE, that competes in global markets in Korea, the United States, Malaysia, Japan, China and affiliated companies in Europe. He is equally well known, however, in both Korea and among friends in the United States as a man completely dedicated to his community, his family and his friends. After earning an MBA from Utah State University, Mr. Hong returned to Korea to work for KISWIRE, a company his father founded in 1945. When he assumed the leadership role, he grew the company from $100 million in sales in 1988 to a projected total of $700 million in 2006. In 1995, Mr. Hong was awarded by the Korean president the Gold-Tower Industrial Contribution Decoration, the highest honor given by the Korean government for contributions to the economic welfare of the country. In addition to his business leadership, Mr. Hong’s deep and enduring commitment to higher education is reflected both in his engagement with Pohang University of Science and Technology In Korea and his ongoing involvement with and support of educational initiatives at Utah State. His generosity to USU programs and scholarship funds has enriched the educational experiences of students in the College of Business and in the Department of Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology. He has helped strengthen stronger ties between past and potential Korean students and USU programs, and he has facilitated professional interactions between USU faculty and faculty at a variety of Korean universities. He is widely admired and respected by peers, government officials, educators and employees for his kind and respectful demeanor and his principled management style.