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Thank you professor Cavusgil and Professor Park for your kind introduction.

Good evening, distinguished guests and esteemed members of the Academy of International Business.

I would like to extend a special thanks to the professors who led this wonderful event with much dedication; President Peter Leisch, professor Tamer Cavusgil, professor Seung- Ho Park, professor Catherine Welch, professor Geon-Cheol Shin, and many professors and staff worked hard for this conference. Thank you very much!

First of all, please allow me to congratulate Professors Ed Freeman and Frank Bournois, the 2024 recipients of the Eminent Scholar and the International Educator of the Year Awards, respectively.

I am so thrilled and deeply honored to have been named the 2024 AIB Fellows International Executive of the Year. I could never have imagined I would receive such a prestigious award. My sincere gratitude goes to the AIB Fellows and board members for their generous recognition.

It is truly humbling to look back on my journey. Though I rarely discuss stories of my past personal struggles, I feel compelled to share some of the experiences that led me here to this moment.

I grew up in a rural area in southern Korea surrounded by mountains and rivers. It was there that the beauty and simplicity of nature, experiencing the changing seasons, allowed me to nurture an imagination that would influence my perspective on life and shape my way of thinking.

As I was immersed in this inspiring beauty, my heart and mind were filled with inspiration. I would oftentimes walk the empty countryside roads and think to myself: I want to play a leading role in this path of life.

Some say that adversity is a catalyst for growth. When I entered high school, my father suddenly passed away. I struggled to keep up with my studies, so to cope with the loss, I turned to reading books and stories about leaders.

The experiences and histories of leaders of businesses such as Korea’s visionary founders of Samsung, Hyundai, SK, LG and Posco, Thomas J. Watson, founder of IBM as well as leaders of nations such as John F Kennedy, Mahatma Gandhi, and Deng Xiaoping, further sparked my interest in becoming a leader and an entrepreneur myself.

After taking a finance lecture at the university, I became interested in participating in the actual stock market. I started investing in stocks with my tiny allowance and fell in love.

This was in 1979, still very early stages of the Korean stock market.

I aspired to become an entrepreneur in finance because I was confident I could make a positive impact on both clients and myself, and most importantly, because I was passionate about the work.

However, starting a financial company from scratch was quite unthinkable during that time and the capital required was out of my reach.

So, I laid out a ten- year plan to achieve my goal of becoming a financial entrepreneur. I decided to work as an employee for a local securities firm.

Eventually, at the age of 31, I became Korea’s youngest branch manager and then general manager.

After nearly ten years, and with the help of some investors, I was finally able to launch my own company with a capital of about 7.2 million dollars.

Back then, in Korea, it was extremely rare for a mere salaried employee to establish their own company, let alone in financial services - needless to say, it was a very challenging journey.

In 1997, the Asian financial crisis hit Korea hard. Just as I had launched Mirae Asset’s first business in venture capital. I was truly shocked by its impact because I believed Korea was well positioned with its competitive manufacturing industry. It was surreal to witness the economy crashing and the stock market plummeting to such lows.

But I had conviction that the Korean economy would recover. I worked to turn the crisis into bigger opportunities and maintained a contrarian view as an investor.

The aftermath of the 1997 financial crisis led to new asset management licenses being granted and an opportunity to take advantage of the low stock market valuations. So I launched Korea’s very first equity mutual fund. The fund was immensely successful and our tagline appealed to investors: "Believe in only what you can see."

We were not just selling them products but great valuations with transparency.

This unexpected success led me to review the Korean stock market within the global landscape.

Three years after Mirae Asset was established, I went abroad to learn English and enrolled in an introductory English language class in Berkeley, California. I was in my 40s and felt awkward and out of place as the oldest student.

I was the oldest student among teenagers, you can imagine!

However, I dedicated myself to studying at least ten hours each day because my goal was to progress my career from a fund manager to eventually a capable CEO.

Let me tell you, it is not easy to learn a brand new language in your 40s!

After completing the language school course, I continued to pursue my education abroad and enrolled in the Advanced Management Program at Harvard University. Through this program, I could study strategies of great companies examining their successes and failures.

This was an invaluable source of inspiration for me, fueling my passion for continuous learning during my transition to a leader of a large organization.

I made a concerted effort to read at least 5,000 pages of materials in English each year including books, the analyst reports covering economic data and innovative companies. This is a routine I continue to do so to this day.

As a leader, over the course of 2 years, I went back and forth 12 times between Korea and the US, and lived 6 months in Hong Kong right after that. Those were all valuable eye-opening experiences.

I always thought long and hard about how asset diversification in the fund industry could benefit investors. Korea's economic contribution to the world GDP was less than one percent, so focusing on a Korea-only portfolio seemed a suboptimal strategy for our clients.

Reflecting on inspiring global businesses led by adventurous founders in Korea, I found myself pondering, 'Why not in finance?

I then launched fund strategies covering Asia, China, and India.

This shift was crucial for me to move from focusing solely on the domestic market to developing a more global perspective.

Even though I have always had the big picture in mind, the decisions I had to make after establishing Mirae Asset were difficult.

Basically, the market was volatile, and at the time, there were three leading incumbents and many financial institutions owned by the conglomerate "chaebols." Moreover, there were competitive foreign asset management companies to contend with, and strict regulations.

It seemed impossible that a single individual could enter the global market and become a formidable challenger.

When most people think about business expansion, they tend to focus on the "what." Personally, I've always put an emphasis on the "how."

So, I would like to explain how I expanded Mirae Asset from a small startup to the company that it is today.

We didn't have enough capital or a longstanding reputation. We could only say to the public that talented fund managers would manage their funds with honesty and integrity.

This approach led to some amazing outcomes. We eventually emerged as one of the major players in the equity mutual fund market in Asia as well as in Korea. From there, we started diversifying our portfolio of offerings to fixed income and alternative investments.

After our establishment. I worked endless hours every day I remember waking up extra early in the morning around 3 AM on Sunday as I really wanted to get to the office before 6 AM. I felt like a long long weekend. And I used to think, why do employees’ payday come so quickly? Those were crazy times.

Not everything was perfect. There were certainly times when we were caught off guard by market fluctuations and volatility. As a financial services firm, it can be challenging to maintain one’s composure and confidence when facing concerned clients.

However, we have always understood that short-term market movements do not define our success or the value we provide. Our focus has remained on delivering consistent, high-quality investment management and financial advice to help clients achieve their long-term goals.

While market volatility may cause temporary embarrassment or discomfort, we have embraced it as an opportunity to demonstrate our resilience, professionalism and commitment to the market.

Simultaneously, our decision to emphasize diversification using global markets rather than only emerging markets has helped reduce our overall portfolio risk.

This concept of diversification applies not just to portfolios of securities but also to businesses as a whole.

When I decided to push for overseas expansion, many people reacted negatively and were highly skeptical. They asked, "How can you compete with global companies?"

At times, I was discouraged but thought that even if we didn't achieve as much as we hoped, the next generation of our leaders would be able to achieve it one day. So, I decided to pursue overseas expansion aggressively.

This seemed impossible with the current capital available at that time. Given the constraints, I decided to invest in a limited number of the most attractive assets and view the world with a long-term perspective.

I spent almost ten years accumulating capital. This was done to expand through M&A and build our brand awareness overseas.

During the times of adversity, we embraced the mindset of permanent innovation, transforming challenges into opportunities and constraints into expansive pathways.

I pursued organic growth and made strategic transactions with a keen eye towards the future. After 16 successful acquisitions, we have significantly expanded the scope of our business and strengthened our investment capabilities.

Starting in 2003, we now have an established global network spanning 19 countries, and have become a meaningful player in the global financial markets, managing or advising over 600 billion dollars across all strategies.

Our ETF platform has gained a leading status in the global market thanks to a series of successful acquisitions and rapid growth in North America. Our assets are over 125 billion dollars and we are the 12th largest ETF provider in the world, and growing.

We now embark on the next 20-year chapter of our global expansion with the recent acquisitions of Sharekhan securities in India, GHCO - a liquidity provider to ETFs in the UK, and with Stockspot, an AI Robo advisor in Australia.

As long as the direction was strategically sound, I have not shied away from bold investment decisions, whether organic growth or strategic acquisitions.

Making the right decisions at opportune times have been the cornerstone of our evolution at Mirae Asset.

This transformative voyage has been a testament to the company's resilience, foresight, and commitment to excellence. We continue to hold contrarian views and have delivered impressive outcomes while maintaining a disciplined approach to risk management.

Now, we must ask ourselves.

What are the key traits that define a successful entrepreneur?

There are several factors needed to become a successful entrepreneur, but I believe that strategic thinking and adaptability for the future are the most important. Honest and passionate leadership is also essential for cultivating an innovative corporate culture.

The name of our educational institute, "an eye for the Future," embodies our commitment to foresight and innovation. We actively encourage all employees to envision and shape the future. We need to be the unique one rather than the best one.

What should a risk management system be based on?

Although there will always be challenges, I believe that ESG can be the starting point for risk management and improve the sustainability of all companies.

We remain dedicated to integrating ESG principles as a cornerstone in our decision-making process and effective risk management systems since the company's founding.

Establishing Mirae Asset was my first step towards positively impacting society through job creation and financial wealth generation.

As the company grew, fueled by the tremendous support from our clients and communities, I felt a profound responsibility to give back. We did this by providing educational opportunities to nurture the next generation of leaders.

Our journey began with establishing our first Foundation in Korea just three years after our launch.

As the founder of a small company, Despite facing countless challenges and dilemmas, I stayed true to my vision and followed my heart to provide opportunities for global talents.

Through the Mirae Asset Park Hyeon Joo Foundation, over 6,900 students have been supported with scholarships to attend top educational institutions in 50 countries over the past 17 years.

We have recently expanded these efforts by setting up local foundations to empower deserving students in India and Vietnam.

The social aspect and the sound governance have been core values driving both as an organization and myself. We strive to uphold sustainable development practices, which we hope may contribute positively to our corporate culture. We're grateful if our efforts inspire other organizations, and we continue to learn from and collaborate with peers in any industry.

In the world of finance, moments of success and failure are inevitable. However, a company's core values ultimately determine its fate during such pivotal moments. Countless enterprises have failed by losing sight of these fundamental principles.

In contrast, companies committed to sound and robust ESG principles resist the temptation of prioritizing short-term gains and focus instead on long-term value creation. Only by adhering to these basic principles can any financial company serve as a guiding light for our society. And they should.

I would say again, Long-term success for any company can only be achieved through systematic leadership based on solid core principles rather than an over-reliance on one individual or discriminatory decision-making.

As a financial investor, we must also build a robust financial services ecosystem without being distracted by unrelated business ventures.

Even our investments in the hospitality assets like Four Seasons in Seoul and Sydney and Fairmont hotel in San Francisco and Big Island are purely financial investments in real estate that do not require us to get overly involved in operations.

We must focus on our core financial expertise to deliver the best outcome for our clients. Everyone should guard against reckless expansion.

Since the founding of Mirae Asset, I have realized that the most significant vulnerability for any company is not workforce constraints, regulatory hurdles, or even competition it is losing sight of creative innovation.

I feel deeply frustrated when our organization becomes stagnant, so I constantly strive to find the next innovative step forward. As we look ahead to the future of finance, identifying and effectively capitalizing on the "next big thing” could prove to be a major disruptive driving force for innovation.

Technology has radically transformed financial services, yet investors, from individuals to pension plans, continue paying significant fees for many investment products and services. This is why we need to continuously explore new ways of delivering greater value to our clients and society.

In this regard, artificial intelligence has emerged as a powerful potential solution to transform the future of finance.

However, the critical question of "how" to innovate and connect those innovations to the benefits and the development of society is often the most difficult to solve.

If we focus too narrowly on AI itself and business growth, we might risk missing the bigger picture. We should embrace a holistic view - connecting the dots, lines, and planes to illuminate the complete picture.

With this in mind, much of our work will roll out globally over the coming years.

Our goal is to implement an intelligent organization-wide AI platform while at the same time being committed to ensuring transparent and responsible adoption of this powerful technology.

At Mirae Asset, we have laid the foundation for our global AI expansion by establishing Wealthspot in the United States this year and acquiring Australia's leading robo-advisor, Stockspot last year.

This marks just the starting point for our next major business transformation targeting improved client outcomes at much lower fees.

While this kind of technological disruption presents both opportunities and challenges for organizations and society at large. We must carefully consider these dual aspects as our organization continues to evolve.

Two of the most significant concerns facing the world today appear to be the potential exacerbation of wealth inequality and the worsening climate crisis. We have a responsibility to reflect on our role with the goal of positively impacting both of these critical issues.

Now, I would like to wrap up my speech with the following:

"Our journey has been one of perseverance, vision, and an unwavering commitment to doing what is right”.

As we forge into an era of rapid technological disruption, let us be guided by the timeless values that have brought us this far - honesty, transparency, and always putting our clients and society first.

Let’s always support entrepreneurship.

let’s always strive to be unique.

The future belongs to those who can deliver responsible, sustainable entrepreneurship permanently.

Success is a journey, not a destination.

Once again, I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to the Academy of International Business for making this an unforgettable and memorable experience.

Your dedication and contributions have made a significant impact on making the world a better place. I am proud to be part of this great organization. I will continue to carry on your legacy and mission.

I would also like to share this honor with my mother who always inspired me, allowed me to dream big, and taught me honesty, my loving family who watched over me, and Mirae Asset’s clients and colleagues who brought me to this position.

I wish everyone an amazing and rewarding experience during the visit to Korea.

Thank you very much.