Pyeung Ho Choi serves as Chairman of K Wave. Mr. Choi is the co-founder and Chairman of K Enter Holdings Inc. and the founder and CEO of Solaire Partners LLC, one of the leading Korean content VC firm and one of the pioneers in the Korean entertainment industry. Prior to Solaire Partners LLC, Mr. Choi was the President Fund Manager of the Union Global Contents Investment Fund at Union Investment Partners Inc. Before joining Union Investment Partners, Choi was the Chief Executive Officer of Sidus FNH at Korea Telecom Group, where he oversaw the company’s film financing, production, and distribution operations. He spearheaded the aggregation and digital distribution of content through multiple new media platforms that Korea Telecom Group owned and operated.
Mr. Choi began his entertainment industry career at CJ Group, where he was one of the founding members of CJ Entertainment (CJENM). He served as Executive Vice President at CJENM. He played a critical role in shaping CJ Group’s film business portfolio, including: the inception of CJ Entertainment through the CJ Group’s investment in DreamWorks SKG. He also launched the filmed entertainment, music licensing, TV drama series, animation, and cable broadcasting businesses. Prior to CJ Entertainment he worked at the Samsung Group in business planning at CJ CheilJedang Corporation
Mr. Choi holds a Ph.D. in holographic engineering, a Master’s degree in 3D contents from Kwangwoon University, and a Bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Youngnam University.
Ted Kim serves as Chief Executive Officer and a member of the board of directors of K Wave. Mr. Kim founded Global Fund LLC, a US-based private equity firm and has been serving as its Managing Partner ever since. Global Fund LLC is also the managing member of Tribeca Global SPAC Fund I, III, and IV LLC.
Mr. Kim has successfully launched and closed multiple U.S.-based private equity funds. Mr. Kim has also been a member of the Korea-America Business Summit, Washington D.C., since 2019. He co-founded Global Star Acquisition I LLC, the sponsoring entity for the US Nasdaq listed SPAC “Global Star Acquisition Inc.”, and served as its Managing Member. He also co-founded K Enter Holdings Inc. Mr. Kim is also an Attorney at Law focusing on mergers and acquisitions and cross-border transactions. He was a Guest Lecturer at Tsinghua University in 2005 on American venture capitalism.
Mr. Kim received his Juris Doctor degree from the Pennsylvania State University’s Dickinson School of Law. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Finance and Politics, a double major, from the Catholic University of America.
Young Jae Lee serves as a member of the board of directors of K Wave. Youngjae Lee co-founded K Enter Holdings Inc. and Solaire Partners LLC. respectively. He is currently the CEO / Head of Investment Division at Solarie. Previously, Youngjae Lee worked at KT where he oversaw subsidiaries such as NTC and Mongol Telecom, handled mergers and acquisitions planned by KT, led business developments of KT, and was responsible for various in-house consulting tasks. While overseeing KT’s Russian telecommunications subsidiary NTC in Vladivostok, he contributed to its growth and exit strategy and made it the largest telecommunications operator in the Far East region. He also served as the Chief Financial Officer and the Chief Information Officer at Sidus FNH, a movie production company acquired by KT as its strategy to enter the Korean content media industry. Mr. Lee was also responsible for overseas subsidiaries and international telecommunications operators within KT’s in-house consulting department.
In 2017, Mr. Lee founded Solaire Partners, a venture capital firm specializing in content investments. Solaire Partners has amassed assets under management (AUM) amounting to USD $112 million and secured investments of USD $44 million from the South Korean government for four distinct funds, with Mr. Lee taking on the role of manager for three of these funds.
Mr. Lee received a degree in Business Administration from Chungbuk National University. He also participated in the Global MBA program at Sungkyunkwan University and attended Indiana University’s Kelly Business School as an exchange student. He also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) qualification, and serves as an instructor for the Cultural Content segment of the Korean Venture Capital Association’s Venture Capitalist program.
Hyeng Seok Cho began his career at Between Corporation which was formed by former members of the DVD team of Samsung’s content division. Next, he worked at SBS, one of the leading Korean broadcasting channels. He oversaw the division that produced DVDs of Korean dramas and movies as well as K pop artists. Building on his experience working with K pop artists he founded Play Company (Play) in 2012. He currently serves as its CEO. Play works with Korea’s top tier K pop talent agencies and pioneered a full service end-to-end solution of designing, producing, and distributing video merchandise. This model has allowed talent agencies and artists to see meaningful sales and profits from video merchandise products. Under his leadership Play has broadened the offerings of merchandise products and has even expanded to creating merchandise for popular Korea actors such as Lee Joon-gi, Park Bo-gum, and Kim Seon-ho.
Cho Hyung Seok is a graduate of Kwangwoon University and holds a Bachelor’s degree in chemistry.
Tae Woo Kim is currently the CFO of Play Company Co., Ltd. managing the financial planning, budgeting, forecasting and the financial operations of the company. He brings with him a diverse set of experience primarily in the content industry. He has worked in strategic planning at JTBC, a major broadcasting network in Korea known for its entertainment, drama and variety shows. He also worked in strategic planning in T-broad holdings, a large cable operator. In addition to his experience in the content industry he also worked in strategic planning at Boryung holdings, a holding company of Boryung, a KOSDAQ listed pharmaceutical company. He has also worked in strategic planning in SF Innovation, a Korean fast food restaurant operator.
Tae Woo received a Bachelor of Arts degree in business from Korea University.
Jaekeun Kim (Jason Kim) serves as a member of the board of directors of K Wave. Jason Kim is a seasoned investor and private equity specialist and he currently owns and operates Naviator Global Holdings LLC in Abu Dhabi, taking on the role of Founding Partner. Prior to that, he founded and operated Innocus Global Group Pte, a Singapore-based investment firm, during which time he provided key regional strategies and investments across multiple assets. He has also maintained the CEO position of “EQ Investment Inc.” a private equity fund based in Seoul, Korea. Jason also served as a Regional Director at JD Capital in Beijing, focusing on investment opportunities in South Korea and Japan. Following this, Jason ascended to the role of Chief Executive Officer at EQ Investments Inc. in Seoul. Jason Kim embarked on his professional career as an Equity Research Intern at Mariners Investment Advisory Group in New York. Shortly thereafter, he moved to Bloomberg Japan LLC in Tokyo, where Jason worked as a Credit Analyst.
Jason earned a Bachelor of Arts and Sciences in Economics and Sociology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Master of International Affairs from Columbia University School of International Affairs, where he specialized in International Finance with an East Asia focus.
Yang Kan Chong is a member of the board of directors of Global Star, serves as a member of Global Star’s board of directors and as Chairman of Global Star’s Compensation Committee. Mr. Chong brings expertise in the areas of energy, oil, gas, power, and infrastructure in the international arena. He is experienced in senior management in multi- and crossed-cultural environments. Mr. Chong previously served as Managing Director of Asia Petroleum Technology Pte Ltd, President and CEO of the U.S.-listed China New Energy Group Company, Group Deputy CEO of the Singapore-listed China EnerSave Limited, and several U.S. energy giants and Singapore Government-linked companies. More recently, Mr. Chong works as an Investment Committee Member and Equity Partner of Global Fund LLC, a sponsor affiliate.
Mr. Chong holds a Master of Science Degree (Mechanical Engineering) accredited by the National University of Singapore and a Bachelor of Engineering Degree (Mechanical and Production) accredited by the University of Singapore.