photograph by Hojun Ji, 2008

Hoh Kim, the Founder & Head Coach of THE LAB h, counsels business executives and high-ranking professionals in government and medicine to positively influence their stakeholders.

With over ten years of experience in strategic communications consulting, executive media coaching, and crisis simulation & workshop design/facilitations, Hoh is one of the most sought after consultant, coach and speaker in the area of crisis communication management and crisis leadership. His client base ranges from local non-profit organizations to consumer electronic companies in Korea and multinational financial companies listed on Fortune Global 500.

He is the first and only Korean professional who is trained and certified to conduct Principle of Persuasion workshop by IAW (Influence At Work, Tempe, AZ), contents of which are based on the worldwide million-seller book, Influence, by Dr. Robert Cialdini. He is also certified by North America Simulation and Gaming Association (NASAGA) to facilitate the use of simulations and games based on the principles of interactive, experiential approaches to problem solving and decision making. As for the academia, he was an Adjunct Professor (2005-2006) at the Graduate School of Media Studies of Sogang University teaching classes on issues & crisis management. In 2008, he gives lectures on PR trends at Ewha Woman’s University, division of media studies, and on persuasion as leadership communication at KAIST(Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology), Bio & Brain Engineering Department. He also runs his own blog, "Cool Communication(www.hohkim.com)," and he was featured as a power blogger in the Korean version of "Blogging Heroes" (2008, by Michael A. Banks, Acorn, Seoul).

Hoh started his career in 1998 at Edelman while enrolled in the Ph.D. program in Communications at the University of Washington in Seattle. In 2001, he left Edelman with the mark of being the fastest growing professional within the firm and joined MSD (Merck) as communications manager. There, he restructured communications functions and provided counseling to the top management for the biggest litigation management in the company’s history. He was awarded the Top Achievement Award in recognition of his performance and distinguished contribution. Then he returned to Edelman as deputy managing director in December 2002 and launched two new practices for the Seoul office: issues & crisis management and healthcare communications.

As the Managing Director of Edelman Korea (2004-2007), he achieved record revenue each year and the headquarters awarded "Office of the Year" in his first fiscal year to the operation. He was also a member of HET (Health Executive Team), an executive team within the global operation for healthcare practice. Following the successful term at the world’s largest independent PR firm, he founded THE LAB h, a leadership & crisis communications coaching firm, and has been working as the Head Coach since June 2007.

While Hoh is a trainer to his clients, he is a trainee himself as well: he has completed various programs worldwide including Edelman International Summer School (2000, Paris), Edelman Crisis Management Seminar (1999, Singapore), PRSA International Conference (2002, San Francisco; 2007, Philadelphia; 2008, Detroit), Disclosure Training (Medical Malpractice Management) by SorryWorks! Coalition (St. Louis, 2007), North America Simulation and Gaming Association Conference (2007, Atlanta, GA), Executive Coaching Summit 2007 (Long Beach, CA; 2007), Neuro Linguistic Programming Training (Korea Leadership Center, 2007), Principle of Persuasion Workshop (2005, Tempe, Arizona), Cialdini Method Certified Trainer program (2008, Tempe, Arizona), and Global NeuroLeadership Summit (2008, New York).

Hoh served as Korean Air Force intelligence officer at Seoul Air Base and Korea Defense Intelligence Agency. He holds a B.A. in French (minor in Philosophy) from Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (Seoul, Korea), and Master of Arts from Marquette University (Milwaukee, Wisconsin), in Public Relations. Beginning in February 2008, he reinitiated his research interest by pursuing a Ph. D. in Culture Technology at KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejon, Korea) where he conducts research on corporate digital storytelling and neuroleadership (Advisor: Dr. Jaeseung Jung).