Founder, Chairperson and Chief Visionary Officer of Sungjoo Group and MCM Holding AG
Sungjoo Group was founded in 1990 and has earned a reputation as Korea’s fashion leader having launched the prominent brands including Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Sonia Rykiel and Marks & Spencer. In 2005 Sungjoo Group acquired MCM, a German luxury fashion brand founded in Munich in 1976.
Mrs Kim was selected as a Global Leader of Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum in Davos in 1997 and received the Ethics in Business Award from the EU government in 2009. In 2012 she was listed in Forbes’ Top 50 Asian Business Women, selected as one of Asia’s 25 Hottest CEOs by Fortune and invited by the United Nations be part of “Innovation 101” at the Decide Now Act summit.
In the same year Mrs Kim was appointed as Co-Chair of the Presidential Campaign Committee for President Geun-Hye Park who became the first female president in Korean history. In 2013 Mrs Kim became the first female entrepreneur to be appointed as a member of ABAC, representing Korean business community to APEC (Asia-Pacific Economy Cooperation) in 2013. In 2014 Mrs Kim was inaugurated as the first female President of the Korean Red Cross and in 2015, received an Honorary Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her contribution to strengthening bilateralties between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Korea.