We are actively recruiting for our inaugural Executive Board. Please reach out to board@pkaa.org if you are interesting in joining the Board!
Executive Board
Mindy Kordash-Shim ‘11/SoCal, Acting President
Mindy was born in Seoul, South Korea, then moved to Southern California, then to Portland, Oregon, and headed to the University of Pennsylvania. At Penn, majored in PPE and Hispanic Studies and could be found singing with PennSori A Cappella. She then found herself back in California where she taught for seven years in Los Angeles, worked with several elected officials and served on the Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council. Currently, she is living and working in Orange County with her husband Chris and daughter Isabel.
Meehyun Esther Kim ‘12/Greater NY, Acting Vice President
Meehyun was born in NYC and was raised in Jersey before attending the University of Pennsylvania. She has over a decade of experience in the fashion industry. She married her college sweetheart and lives in Jersey with her husband and son. Meehyun claims the self-appointed title of party planner among her friends and family.
Advisory Board
Yikwon works at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives and Records Administration, as a senior museum exhibits specialist and public education programmer. He received a BFA from Meadow School, Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas in 1991 and an MFA from Penn, where he worked as an exhibition coordinator for the Graduate School of Fine Arts and Department of Fine Arts in undergraduate program upon graduation.
He serves the city of Buena Park as a commissioner for Arts and Cultural Commission and Park and Recreation Commission.
Recently, he was invited to Kyung-Bok University Art and Media Department, Daegu Korea to give a lecture as a visiting Artist. He served in the U.S. Army active duty from 1991 to 1995 during Bosnia and Somalia conflicts.
Yikwon enjoys traveling with his family. His art practice is based in Los Angeles and Philadelphia.
Yikwon Kim, ‘98/SoCal
Dave Min represents California State Senate District 37, which is located in Orange County and includes the communities of Anaheim, Costa Mesa, Foothill Ranch, Huntington Beach, Irvine, Laguna Beach, Laguna Woods, Lake Forest, Newport Beach, Orange, Tustin, and Villa Park.
He is Chair of the Select Committee on Cybersecurity and Identity Theft Prevention, and a member of the Senate Committees on Banking and Financial Institutions; Budget; Budget Subcommittee #1 on Education; Business, Professions, and Economic Development; Energy, Utilities and Communications; and Transportation.
Prior to his election to the Senate, Dave was a University of California Irvine law professor and a former economic policy staffer in the United States Senate and for the Center for American Progress. He began his legal career at the Securities and Exchange Commission to protect the retirement security of seniors, turning down high paying jobs to serve the public interest. Dave and his wife Jane live and work in Irvine, where they are raising their three young children.
Dave Min, ‘99/SoCal
Chris currently is the Director of Corporate development at Neowiz, a renowned gaming company based in Korea.
His professional journey commenced after his graduation from Penn in 2008 (majored in chemistry) when he embarked on a career in New York, joining CGI, an IT consulting company. Seeking new challenges and opportunities, Chris moved to Korea and was a co-founder of Ticketmonster, which has now evolved into one of Korea's foremost ecommerce platforms, boasting remarkable growth and success from 2010 to 2015, where he left to found Althea, the number one K-beauty startup in Southeast Asia.
Chris currently resides in Seoul with his beloved wife and two children.
Christopher Cynn, ‘08/Seoul
On-Campus Liaisons
Mira Kwon is a rising junior at the University of Pennsylvania from Los Angeles, CA studying Cinema and Media Studies and Consumer Psychology. She is the president of Penn's Korean Student Association and has been with the organization since her freshman year. Before Penn, she founded Marlborough School's Korean club, SEOUL, and spearheaded the creation of a Korean Language and Culture curriculum which ultimately resulted in the first ever accredited Korean language course in the school's history. She is passionate about promoting Korean culture and community and is looking forward to continuing to do that at Penn and beyond.
Mira Kwon, KSA President
Financial Analyst at Nomura
University of Pennsylvania Class of 2023
Koreans at Penn President 2022-2023
Hobbies: Golf & Squash