Welcome to New Lecturer - Marc Joseph

I had the opportunity to talk to Mr. Marc Joseph several months ago about Choson Exchange. Marc contacted us as he was excited about our mission, and we are just as excited about his interest. Marc will serve us as a lecturer and advisor to our business and legal training programs in Pyongyang. Bio

Marc Joseph is a co-founder of Granite Ridge LLP, an investment and advisory firm. Mr. Joseph has over twenty years of high-level investment and businesss experience. At Templeton he managed international and global equity funds and had top-decile performing mutual funds. He served as the director of Templeton’s smaller companies research team, was previously responsible for Templeton’s Korea research coverage, and had direct responsibility for over $4 billion of assets. He was also a partner at Scudder where he managed all of the firm’s institutional international accounts and was directly responsible for over $10 billion of assets. Mr. Joseph has also served as chief investment officer of a registered investment advisor and has worked as a management consultant with McKinsey. Mr. Joseph sits as a judge pro tem in Los Angeles Superior Court. Mr. Joseph has a Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School (magna cum laude, Sears Prize, Law Review editor), an MBA from Harvard Business School (high honors, Baker Scholar, Loeb Rhoades Fellow), and a BS in Computer Science from the College of William & Mary (high honors, first in class). Mr. Joseph has recently served as faculty for corporate finance courses for McKinsey management consultants globally. Mr. Joseph holds a real estate broker’s license and is a member of the California bar.

Business Partnerships - Building Our Knowledge Base

We have been actively developing our partnerships with businesses that either operate in North Korea, once operated there, or are considering operating there. The purpose of this is to tap the advice of business leaders in building a knowledge base of key issues in North Korea that need to be overcome in order to promote economic development. This will help us contextualize the training we conduct and raise our impact in these sessions.

So far, we have been successful in reaching out to a broad stratum of businesses and have benefited greatly from their advice and feedback. As we move ahead, we will consider how we can more systematically build materials using this knowledge base.

If you know anyone who could serve as an advisor on this initiative, do email us at CEteam@chosonexchange.org.

Recruitment for Positions in Choson Exchange

A key constraint on our ability to build the organization is the lack of entrepreneurial, intelligent and dedicated individuals to lead our programs. We are looking for volunteers with a passion for our work to lead some initiatives on a part-time basis. Interested individuals should send an email with a resume or CV and cover letter to soojin.lim@chosonexchange.org and CEteam@chosonexchange.org. Economics & Business Training Coordinator:

We need a dedicated and entrepreneurial volunteer able to formulate and execute a strategy for our training programs in North Korea in the areas of economics and business. This will involve discussing with our advisors, North Korean participants and trainers topics for teaching and an appropriate pedagogy. The coordinator will also study the body of knowledge and translate it into actionable steps promoting economic growth that are implementable in the short-term. The coordinator will design our training seminars in ways that engages our audience and communicates this message.

As a side project, the individual should be able to work on a project studying other technical assistance programs to distill what works, what does not, and how we can increase the impact of such programs

Ideal candidate: Dedicated, entrepreneurial and able to transform knowledge into action points with an advanced degree in economics or background in economics and/or business. Strong understanding of North Korean economic situation and institutions as well as development trajectory and issues in transition/emerging economies. Korean and Chinese language skills are strong pluses. Strong interest in North Korean issues is a must.

Legal Training Coordinator:

Same as the above except that the candidate should have legal training. Knowledge of investment and trade laws as well as legal issues in transition economies or emerging markets would be a strong plus. We are looking at the possibility of launching something in this area next year possibly in collaboration with law schools in the US and one in the UK.

Business Development Manager

Given fluctuations in funding with political trends, we are looking at developing more stable sources of funding to support our work. This position entails developing our program organizing academically-oriented trips to universities and other academic institutions in North Korea. These trips should fulfill two purposes: one is to seek out academics or students with an interest in initiating academic collaboration or research with North Korea and provide them with a platform to explore these opportunities. The other is to support our training programs using surplus revenues from such trips.

Ideal candidate: Dedicated, entrepreneurial with the experience or ability to handle the various logistical, strategic and operational aspects of setting up a business unit. This will involve handling aspects from marketing to logistics to design. Ability to think creatively about travel itinerary is important. Korean and Chinese language skills are strong pluses.