Jeong Kim
| Jeong H. Kim | |
|---|---|
Kim in 2016
|
|
| Born |
Jeong Hun Kim August 13, 1960 Seoul, South Korea |
| Alma mater |
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| Occupation |
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| Military career | |
| Allegiance |
 United States of America
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| Service/branch |
 United States Navy
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| Years of service | 1982-1989 |
| Rank |
 Lieutenant Commander
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| Awards | |
Jeong Hun Kim (Korean: 김종훈; born August 13, 1960) is a Korean-American technology entrepreneur, businessman, and philanthropist. Kim served as the president of Bell Labs from 2005 to 2013.
Born in Seoul, South Korea, Jeong Kim is a product of a broken home. His parents divorced when he was very young, and he was raised by different relatives while his father went to find work. He immigrated to the United States with his family in 1975 at the age of 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 the age of 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.
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. During his seven-year stint in the U.S. Navy, Kim also earned a master's degree in technical management from Johns Hopkins University, and, after returning to civilian life, earned a Ph.D. in reliability engineering from the University of Maryland – in only two years and while working full-time. His was the first doctorate to be awarded by the university in that discipline.
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).
As Digitus fell victim to the accelerating consolidation of the computer industry, Kim resolved that on leaving the Navy he would start his own business and avoid the mistakes Digitus had made. Unable to obtain financing for his own start-up, however, he signed on as a contract engineer for AlliedSignal at the Naval Research Laboratory (1990-1993), where he became aware of the asynchronous transfer technology used to link different modes of electronic communication. He saw the need to bridge the gap between the integrated technology of the future and the many differing systems in use today. The military, for one, had a need to link its divergent systems of voice, video, and data, especially from remote areas lacking communications infrastructure.
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