Global CEO Excellence Awards 2020

CEO MONTHLY / GLOBAL CEO EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2020 25 , Global Capital Markets CEO of theYear(NorthAmerica):DHKim Based in Vancouver, Canada - Finhaven drives innovation in capital markets, leveraging blockchain technology. It is one of the leading companies in this field, closely working with securities regulators and central banks to guide the industry along a well-managed path. DH Kim saw this opportunity and articulated Finhaven’s belief that there will be a significant change in the capital markets within the next five years. The impact will be as big as the transition from offline trading to online trading with the convergence of wholesale and retail businesses in capital markets. DH Kim grew up in the business world. His father was a successful entrepreneur in South Korea. From a young age, DH was brought to be a fly-on-the-wall at corporate meetings. Afterwards his father would ask DH about his thoughts of the meetings, and his father took them seriously. DH came from that experience, understanding that people are the most important dimension of business and that building a business requires a foundation of like-minded people with a shared vision and purpose. The Asian financial crisis of 1997 was DH’s next major learning experience. While at middle and high school, he became immersed in ideologies and politics during the political turmoil of South Korea 2017witnessedhype and extreme speculation in the cryptocurrencymarkets. Particularly,many cryptocurrencyprojects aimed todigitize real-worldassets. However, a lackof regulatoryoversight and substantial newthreats of financial crime alarmed central bankers and regulators and raised concerns on the legitimacyof these digital securities offerings. DHKimwas amongmanywho sawthe intrinsic value, security and efficiency that the blockchain systemcanbring to capital markets. He also sawanenormous structural and commercial opportunity in thenascent, but undisciplined andunmanageddigital securities issuance industry. It promptedhimto launcha companydesigned tobring order, regulationand legitimacy to this untamed industry, applying blockchain technology to capitalmarkets for its newchapter - Finhaven. Jul20151 in the 1980s, which prompted him to study international affairs in the US. However, he had to return to Korea due to his father’s business being severely impacted by the Asian financial crisis. At the time personal liability was not insulated from corporate liability. His father’s business collapsed and in turn devastated his family’s wealth. DH returned to Korea to work and support the extended family. The learnings he took from this episode was that organizations must innovate to thrive, and the innovation must be timely. Because DH wanted to better understand the aspects of business and economy, he decided to return to Columbia University for his master’s in international finance and business. At Columbia, DH was influenced by Professor Michael Pettis’s debt restructuring course which helped him to formulate his ideas on business and investments. From Columbia, DH landed a job at Merrill Lynch at its global headquarters in New York. He thoroughly enjoyed his New York corporate life. However, the entrepreneurial experiences from his early days called him to start his own business. As an entrepreneur, DH led many cross-border deals and successfully restructured a number of businesses. He brought his innovative mindset learned in the Asian financial crisis to develop and operate several mines. He established a sustainable process that turned tailings and waste rocks from his mines to useful products. He also went through multiple go-public and go-private transactions. He taught business courses at Columbia University and Korea University while advising government officials in the development of capital market policies in South Korea. With the experience of several successful ventures, DH has positioned Finhaven to thrive. While building Finhaven, he became deeply entrenched in the fintech industry as a speaker and panelist at numerous international conferences in New York, London, Seoul, Berlin, Zurich, Dubai, and Tel Aviv. The first commercial application of DH’s vision is the Finhaven Investment Platform. This “Platform” is a self- serve, web-based investment portal that uses blockchain technology to provide greater efficiency, transparency, and security to capital markets. Private companies that don’t want to go through the lengthy and costly process of a traditional IPO on public exchanges can use this new platform to raise capital by issuing new digital securities under a regulated but prospectus- free process. Through this platform, private equity investors, who were previously trapped with securities with low or no liquidity, can now self-manage, invest in digital securities from private companies and trade the digital securities directly with other investors in the secondary market. The platform is anchored with a secure immutable blockchain ledger and offers reduced cost, greater transparency and direct instant trade settlement. The Finhaven Investment Platform is just the first step of a larger vision to transform capital markets to better serve investors, issuers and regulators alike. Finhaven technology is focused on making a profound impact on financial markets with products to support public capital markets and central bank digital currencies.