Cholsoo Lho
Chairman & CEO
Amicus Group

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Charles Lho is chairman & CEO of Amicus Group, a private investment holding company. Amicus is family owned and has diversified investments in distribution and marketing, real estate development, electronics, media services, and internet start-ups. Concurrently, he retains his role as founding editor of SERI Quarterly at the Samsung Economic Research Institute (SERI), South Korea’s leading private think tank and is also the designated publisher and CEO of JoongAng Daily, Korea’s leading English newspaper, in partnership with the International Herald Tribune. Charles’ interests include corporate strategy, international management, the global talent pool, and Korea’s transition towards a knowledge economy.

Born in Seoul, Charles pursued all of his education abroad, completing his AB Honors in international relations at Stanford University (1975–79) and MPPM as a Fulbright Scholar at Yale University’s School of Management (1983–85). His D. Phil from Oxford University examined the Korean government’s unprecedented $3 billion loan to Moscow and the political and economic foundations upon which Russian-South Korean relations were established (1990–1996). He was also a visiting fellow at the Tuck School of Business Administration in Hanover, New Hampshire (1996–97), and an Executive Committee member at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in London (2000–2002).

Married to a family of three energetic women, Young is the deputy director general of the Samsung Museum and is responsible for the Samsung Group’s art interests and its close relationships with various leading museums worldwide. Heesun ’08, M. Ed ’09 and Jackie ’11 are both at Stanford University.

The second son of a career diplomat and former foreign and prime minister, Charles was raised in six different countries and is fluent in several languages. He enjoys golf, tennis, basketball, and most sports as well as backgammon, reading, and foreign films.