J.S. Choe, Country Manager, Korea

J.S. Choe is the Country Manager of MRI China Group, Korea. Prior to joining MRI, he worked in an executive search firm in Korea as Senior Partner for five years, where he led the semi-conductor, industrial, finance and government practices.

J.S. began his executive search career as a partner of Heidrick & Struggles in Korea in 2000, responsible for IT, Industrial and Private Equity sectors. During his tenure, J.S. assisted many of his key clients to acquire, assess and amplify key leadership talents effectively and successfully.

Before crossing over to Executive Search, J.S. was Country General Manager of Cable & Wireless HKT in Korea for seven years and Sales Director of AT&T Korea for five years.  Prior to that, he was the Purchasing Manager at Daewoo Group and before that, he had worked at a joint-venture company in the Middle-East  for overseas business development. 

J.S had earned global recognition and awards from his former employers such as Daewoo Employee award in 1987, AT&T’s Asian Sales Championship Award in 1994 and Cable & Wireless Federal Award in 1996.  Furthermore, he was co-chairman of the Telecommunications Committee at the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea and served as Secretary General of Korean CEO’s Association of Multinational Corporations where leading Korean executives of Fortune 500 firms gather on a monthly basis. 

J.S. is certified by the State Board of Accountancy of Delaware as CPA (Certified Public Account) and is senior consultant of MBTI® and STRONG®.  He was also accredited as executive coach and facilitator by renowned HR entities such as Hay Group, Lore International Institute, Marshall Goldsmith and MDS.

JS expects to receive his PhD in Finance Management and H.R. Management from Soongsil University in the summer of 2008.  He graduated from Seoul National University with double B.A. degrees in English and Economics then completed the M.Ed. course at the Graduate School of Seoul National University.  He earned his MBA from Yonsei University and was summa-cum-laude student upon graduating Advanced Program of Information and Communication Policy at the Graduate School of Public Administration of Seoul National University.

In 2005, he published two self-coaching guide-books entitled “Now or Never (co-authored)” and “Stare Carefully, You will find Money”.  He lectures career management courses to MBA students at the Seoul School of Integrated Science and Technology (aSSIST) and also teaches at Hanyang University, Chung-Ang University and Seoul National University.