About Paul Kim
Nice to meet you and thanks for your interest. My focus is on how money works, and more interestingly, how capital intersects with society, politics, ethics, and morality. I believe that we're entering a new economic paradigm where externalities will be increasingly internalized, and the implications of this change will be profound and ultimately for the better.
I'm also very interested in systemic, structural solutions that mitigate and correct societal inequities. Human capital is the most valuable resource in the world and we're just beginning to realize the full potential of it. I co-founded a startup called know.careers that works with educational institutions, nonprofits, and for-profits to create better career opportunities especially for folks who are structurally disadvantaged and/or are looking to help others.
I'm also the co-chair of the board of directors of a nonprofit called Career Gear that helps men from underprivileged backgrounds achieve career success so that they can be better contributors to their families and communities. Additionally, I teach an experiential, project-based course titled Solutions for Societal Equity at The City College of New York, a very diverse school in an also very diverse family of colleges in the CUNY system, and I also teach a parallel class for select New York City public high schools.
Just another quick note on my background, I've had a twenty plus year career on Wall Street in well known hedge funds like SAC Capital (now Point72) and Omega Advisors, and in the equity research departments of investment banks such as Bank of America and PaineWebber (which was bought by UBS). My sector area of focus is primarily in technology, media, and telecom, and related sub-sectors such as leisure and certain consumer areas.
I'm also very interested in how capital markets and the asset management business can be a structural catalyst to help correct the socioeconomic wealth gap that has been rapidly widening in the past several decades, as I believe that this represents one of the biggest risks to our society and planet in the short and long term. Hedge funds are the most visible manifestation of this inequity and the way forward lies in changing their business models. Profit maximization cannot be the only goal; there is a price to pay for creating negative externalities and that bill is coming sooner than later.
Over the past decade or so, I've also focused more on incorporating data into a deep fundamental analytical framework to help make concentrated investments that generate outsized returns. I believe that this the future of fundamental analysis driven investment funds. Data has always been a commodity and it always will be. The difference is in how one analyzes the data and incorporates its interpretation into one's decision making process.
I went to New York University (NYU) twice and got a BS in marketing and management and an MBA in finance and international business at the Stern School of Business. I proudly played in the men's varsity tennis team for all four years of my undergraduate tenure and was ultimately voted co-captain. I'm also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder.
I'm looking forward to the many thought provoking discussions that I'm sure I'll have with all of you going forward.