With more than 30 years of hybrid experiences in private, public and nonprofit sectors, Angela Joo-Hyun Kang is Founder & Executive President of Global Competitiveness Empowerment Forum (GCEF), a policy research & advocacy institute to promote CSR, CSV, ESG, sustainability, integrity, human rights, and women's empowerment, established in 2008, registered under the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy (MOTIE) based in Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Ms. Kang holds a bachelor's degree of English Language and Literature from Yonsei University and a Mid-Career Master's degree of Public Administration (MCMPA) from Harvard Kennedy School where she was an Asia Program Fellow of Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government (after under Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation) as well as a Mason Fellow of the Edwards S. Mason Program in Public Policy and Management.
Globally,
Ms. Kang was Senior Advisor of Arabesque S-Ray GmbH, a global ESG (Environment, Social, and Governance) data provider, powered by AI (Artificial Intelligence) supporting the South Korean business development, Private Sector Advisory Group (PSAG) member of the UK funded Fair Biz project of UNDP Bangkok Regional Hub, and Anti-Corruption Committee member of Business at OECD (Business and Industry Advisory Committee / BIAC). From April 2023 to June 2024, she supported member relations and activities of South Korea and APAC at UNEP Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), housed in the Resources & Markets Branch of the Economy Division of UNEP, as International Specialist Consultant, belonging to its Geneva HQ and working remotely in Seoul to advance ESG, climate, and sustainable finance policies and actions of banks and insurance companies.
At G20's official policy engagement groups, Ms. Kang was a 2016 Business 20 (B20) China Infrastructure Taskforce member, 2017 B20 Germany Financing Growth & Infrastructure Taskforce member as well as Responsible Business Conduct & Anti-Corruption Cross-Thematic Group member, and Integrity & Compliance Taskforce member during 2018 B20 Argentine, 2020 B20 Saudi Arabian, and 2021 B20 Italian, and 2022 B20 Indonesian presidency years.
For women's empowerment, Ms. Kang was 2022 B20 Indonesia's Women in Business Action Council (WIBAC) member and 2021 B20 Italy's Women Empowerment Initiative member at B20. At Women 20 (W20), G20's official policy engagement group for women's empowerment, she has represented South Korea since 2017, as a South Korean delegate of 2017 W20 Germany, 2018 W20 Argentina, and 2019 W20 Japan and Co-Head of South Korean Delegation in the 2020 W20 Saudi Arabian, 2021 W20 Italian, 2022 W20 Indonesian, and 2023 W20 Indian presidency years. Especially, she was the elected Chair of its Digital Inclusion Working Group during the 2020 W20 Saudi Arabian presidency year and served as the appointed Co-Chair of Climate Change Taskforce during the 2023 W20 Indian presidency year consisting of 29 delegates from 16 countries (G7 except Canada: UK, US, France, Germany, Italy, Japan + BRICS except China: Brazil, Russia, India, South Africa + MIKTA - Mexico, Indonesia, Korea, Turkey, Australia + Argentina) of W20.
For women entrepreneurship, she was an Asia Pacific jury member of Cartier Women's Initiative (CWI) Awards invited by Cartier HQ in Paris, France (2012-2014) and also served as a jury of Preserving the Planet category of the Impact Awards, the special award category celebrating CWI's 15th anniversary (2021-2022). Also, she was the Seoul Chapter Lead of Harvard Kennedy School Women's Network (HKSWN) covering South Korea and served as the inaugural Chair of HKSWN Seoul Chapter (2020-2023).
Originally, Ms. Kang started her career in 1992 and worked in the private sector for a decade, including a Korean subsidiary of a French multinational corporation, Clarins, and KOSDAQ listed IT venture companies in PR, international sales and marketing fields. She developed global IT software distribution partner networks from zero to eleven countries in Asia Pacific, Europe and North America. From 2002 to 2003, she was Founder and CEO of Hands & Feet Co. Ltd., an IT marketing company.
She has integrated her business experiences with her work in the nonprofit sector as the Strategic Alliance Manager of the Korean partner of International Youth Foundation (IYF) in 2003, and then moved into the realm of CSR.
Corporate philanthropy was her first CSR career, by working at Nsyscom, a Korean CSR consulting company. After Harvard, she worked at the Korean Corporate Citizenship Center and the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship as a research associate for South Korean corporate clients in Boston, US. Then, she advanced her corporate responsibility experiences including various research projects for National Human Rights Council of Korea for human value centered management from 2007 and following years in the area of business and human rights.
As a home-coming project, she worked as an individual contractor of UNDP Korea as the Coordinator of Global Compact Network Korea for the joint trilateral conference of UN Global Compact HQ in New York, UN Principles for Responsible Investment HQ in London and UNEP Finance Initiative HQ in Geneva in 2008. After GCEF's establishment in 2008, with GCEF's position, she served as a judge of health enhancement category of Asian CSR Awards by AIM-Ramon V. Del Rosario Sr. Center for CSR in Manila, Philippines (2011), an advisor of Firm of Endearment Forum of POSCO (2012), and a non-executive CSR advisor to the new integrated Samsung C&T Corporation's CSR committee (2015).
In order to improve business integrity and compliance of South Korean companies, she initiatied, designed, and co-implemented of two South Korean collective action projects of Siemens Integrity Initiative of Siemens AG and World Bank as a project leader - NABIS (Northeast Asia Business Integrity School) with FKI-IMI (Federation of Korean Industries-International Management Institute) as the South Korean Integrity Partner and GCEF as its partner organization (2011-2014) and Fair Player Club with Global Compact Network Korea as its South Korean Integrity Partner and GCEF as the partner organization (2015-2018). She was a Business Ethics Trainer of the Korea Specialty Contractors Association, appointed by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport (2016-2021).
With GCEF's position, Ms. Kang served many roles in the public sector in South Korea including an advisor to the Presidential Council of Nation Branding (2009-2010), an evaluation group member of leadership and responsible practices of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and governmental organizations appointed by the Ministry of Strategy and Finance (2012-2014), a regulation reform committee member of the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy (2012-2016), an advisor to the Global CSR Committee of Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) (2013-2018), a advisor and a central management committee member for the social entrepreneur incubation project of Korea Social Enterprise Promotion Agency under the Ministry of Employment and Labor (2012-2016), and a mentor for a young woman mentoring program appointed by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family (2017-2019).
[Publication]
She authored "Global Competitiveness of Innovative Leaders - CSR Strategy and CSV Talent (2015/ Seoul/Starbooks)" and the South Korea chapter of “The World Guide to Sustainable Enterprise: Asia Pacific Volume (2015/UK/Greenleaf Publishing).
She co-authored "The Fourth Industrial Revolution and Its Impact on Ethics - Solving the Challenges of the Agenda 2030", the Book Series of Sustainable Finance (2021/Switzerland/Springer), “The Warriors: Rural Women Around the World: 28 Enlightened Voices" (2018/Costa Rica/Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture: IICA), the South Korea chapter of “The World Guide to CSR (2010/UK/Greenleaf Publishing)”, and “Trends and Strategies of CSR(2010/Seoul/Community Chest of Korea)”.
She translated Korean versions of “Beyond Good Company - Next Generation of Corporate Citizenship (Palgrave Macmillan)” by FKI media(2008/Seoul), “Corporate Community Involvement (Greenleaf Publishing)” by Saeng-Gak-Bi-Hang(2011/Seoul), and “Social Innovation Inc. (Wiley)” by Young Idea(2011/Seoul).
[Speaker/Panelist/Moderator Experiences]
2024 The 21st anniversary ceremony of the opening of the Incheon Free Economic Zone (IFEZ)
on the topic of ESG and Sustainable Development of IFEZ
2024 SMART-C Women Project for a sustainable maritime transport sector by International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, Pusan, South Korea
2023 The Climate Change Session of 2023 W20 India Inception Meeting in Aurangabad, India
2022 A closing remark speaker of the 4th International Conference on Action with Women and Peace hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Korea
2022 <Challenges for Female Leadership in an Era of Uncertainty & Complexity> session of the 55th Pacific Basin Economic Council (PBEC) Annual Dialogues Summit
2021 The Asian and African editions of International Summer Schools co-hosted by
International Anti-Corruption Academy (IACA) and UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
2021 OECD Business Integrity Roundtable of the Global Anti-Corruption and Integrity Forum (GACIF)
2021 The joint launching event by ISO, ITC, and SIS for ISO IWA 34:2021 on Women's Entrepreneurship
2021 The High-Level Panel for Gender D&I for a Fair Biz Environment by UNDP Bangkok Regional Hub
2021 Harvard Kennedy School Women’s Network (HKSWN)'s online conference's W20 session
2020 W20 Saudi Arabia Virtual Summit's session on Women's Role in Fighting Corruption as Change Makers
2020 UNDP Webinar on Integrate Approach to Socio-Economic Response to Covid-19
2020 The 19th International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC)'s workshop sessions on <Moving from Commitment to Action> organized by UNDP Global Program on Anti-Corruption, Anti-Corruption for Peaceful and Inclusive Societies (ACPIS) as well as <Beyond Compliance: Innovative Approaches to Business Integrity and Responsible Business Conduct in Southeast Asia> co-organized by OECD and UNDP Bangkok Regional Hub
2020 Harvard Kennedy School Women’s Network (HKSWN)'s Global Coffee Chat Series (GCCS) webinar
2019 The 10th Regional Conference of Anti-Corruption Initiative for Asia-Pacific by ADB, OECD and UNDP in Hanoi, Vietnam
2019 The 26th World Road Congress' session on Promoting a Culture of Transparency and Integrity in Transport Administrations in Abu Dhabi, UAE
2019 The 4th Industrial Revolution & Ethics: 4IRE conference by European Women Lawyers Association (EWLA) in Madrid, Spain
2019 Philippine CSR Research Conference Policy Forums at Management Association of the Philippines (MAP), Mandaue Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Philippine Military Academy Alumni Association Inc., University San Carlos, and University of San Jose-Recoletos in Manila and Cebu, Philippines
2018 The 9th National Conference on Collective Action against Corruption in Bangkok, Thailand
2017 The master class and the session at the CSR Conference & Expo in Dhaka, Bangladesh
2016 The 4th International Conference on Government and Business against Corruption in Public Procurement hosted by the Moscow Government in Moscow, Russia
2016 Collective Action Conference's research panel session on Evidence of Effectiveness, Results, and Advocacy in Basel, Switzerland
2016 CSR Session of the Knowledge Exchange Roundtable of Enhancing Private Sector Partnerships, co-hosted by ADB, Ministry of Strategy and Finance (MOSF), and Export-Import Bank of Korea (KEXIM)
2016 CSR Lecture to HQ executives of Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. in Osaka, Japan
2015 International Workshop on Governance of State Owned Enterprises co-hosted by Department of Public Enterprises of the Government of India and the World Bank in New Delhi, India
2014 The 4th Philippine Conference on Research in CSR co-hosted by Asian Development Bank and Benita & Catalino Yap Foundation in Manila, Philippines
2014 CSR Forum with UN hosted by Global Compact Network Korea and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the government of South Korea in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
2013 Women's Forum for the Economy & Society's session on Women's Rights as an Essential Cooperation: What We Can Do in Deauville, France
2012 & 2013 & 2015 CSR Forums of Canon Institute of Global Studies in Tokyo, Japan
2012 CSR session at the Joint Presentation for Korea-Shaanxi Economic Cooperation event, hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MOFAT), Republic of Korea, in Xian, Shaanxi Province, China
2011 World CSR Symposium in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2011 Kuwait CSR Conference in Kuwait
2011 UN Global Compact CJK Roundtable in Tokyo, Japan
2011 Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) HQ and KOTRA Manila in Philippines
2009-2012 Asian Forum on Corporate Social Responsibility in Manila, Philippines (2009 & 2011), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (2010), and Bangkok, Thailand (2012)
2009 CSR Luncheon, European Chamber of Commerce Korea & Europe Korea Foundation in Seoul, South Korea
2008 Asia Business Conference at Harvard Business School in Boston, US
2008 CJK Workshop of Corporation 20/20 in Boston, US
Other various sessions hosted by Federation of Korean Industries (FKI), Global Business School of the FKI-International Management Institute (FKI-IMI), Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), SMBA (Small and Medium Business Administration), various universities in South Korea, headquarters of South Korean corporations including Samsung Group and its think tank, Samsung Economic Research Center (SERI, currently, Samsung Global Research, SGR), etc.