Min Kim is a trailblazer – and it’s no accident. As a college student in the early 1980s, she decided that she would become the first female chief executive of a Korean-American bank, an unheard-of notion in the male-dominated Korean-American community at the time. Despite meeting resistance every step of the way – even being told directly by superiors that she would fail – Kim kept pushing. She finally achieved her ultimate goal in late 2006 when she was appointed chief executive of Nara Bank, one of Koreatown’s largest institutions. Late last month, Kim turned heads with the abrupt decision to step down from the bank that she steered through some of the most turbulent waters the banking industry has ever seen. A tireless worker, the 50-year-old executive said it was just time to take a break from the career that she has been dedicated to night and day for nearly three decades. Now, she’s looking forward to spending more time with her family and at Everyday Church in Northridge. Kim recently sat down with the Business Journal during one of her last days at her Nara office to discuss the early struggles she faced in her career, the successes later on and why she finally decided to leave an industry she loves so dearly.

Question: Why did you step down?

Answer: I’ve been working for the last 28 years without a break. I’m pretty much burned out, and I feel that I need to recuperate. For now, I just want to take some time off.

The decision seemed awfully abrupt. How long had you been thinking about this?

A while; I (couldn’t) find the same level of energy and passion, so I thought, well, I need some time off. There is no good time to exit from your career, but I thought this was the best time. In terms of timing and the condition of the bank, this is best.

Some analysts have openly speculated that this decision was not made by you. Were you forced out?

It was solely my decision. It was a voluntary resignation. I was just waiting for the right time and I thought that this was the best time.

How was your relationship with the board?

I had a very good relationship (with) and very strong support from the board. They were a little surprised and shocked, but it was my decision to resign, so they respectfully accepted it.

Chief Financial Officer Alvin Kang was chosen to succeed you as chief executive. Is the bank in good hands?

I’ve been working with him for the last five years and he is an excellent executive officer with a high level of integrity and professionalism, and a knowledge of banking. He gets a lot of respect from our management. I think he’s the best qualified successor.

What’s next for you?

I will be doing more traveling and be more involved with church activities.

Are you very involved with your church?

Yes. My husband is director of the youth ministry at the church. I prepare meals for church members who need it – every Saturday morning, a couple of us gather and we prepare some dishes to be provided for needy families. And I sing in the choir.

How long have you been in the choir?

Since I was in college, so I guess more than 30 years.

It sounds like church keeps you pretty busy.

We also go on mission trips every year.

Where to?

So far we were in Cambodia, China, Guatemala, Costa Rica. This year we just came back from Panama.

How long do the trips last?

It ranges from one week to two weeks. We serve the local people. We (participate in) Bible studies, kid’s ministries, also hair-cutting.

How many kids do you have?

Two children. My son is 25 and my daughter is 24. They are both still in school. My son is in UCLA Law School and my daughter is in the UCLA master’s program for social welfare.

Did you ever think your children would follow in your footsteps and go into banking?

No, no, no. My daughter has a very good heart and she wants to become a social worker to help elderly people and needy children. She wants to contribute her talent to help out the community. My son always wanted to become a lawyer. I think he had a strong influence from his dad; my husband is a criminal attorney.

Over the course of your career, did you get to spend much time with your family?

The majority of my banking career, I worked long hours. When I had a family that I had to raise, I would take a lot of my work home.

Did you have any strong female role models while growing up?

I don’t think I had any external influence. It just developed within me. I just wanted to be different. I wanted to be a role model for other women. I wanted to become a successful career woman, but at the same time have a family. I think I achieved both.

What did your parents do?

My father was a pathologist – he worked at Cedars-Sinai Hospital. Now he is retired. My mother worked at a factory in downtown until we were grown up.

How old were you when you came to the United States?

I came into this country when I was 15 years old. I came with my family. My parents wanted to give better opportunities to their children.

What did you think about America?

It was a completely different environment. I saw a lot of opportunity, freedom, flexibility. But at the time I was not able to speak English, so that was a challenge.

How did you learn the language?

At school. Also a lot of self-study, reading books and looking at the dictionary for new words. Mostly you learn from your non-Korean friends.

When did you decide to go into banking?

When I was a sophomore in college. The reason I chose banking is that I wanted to be well-balanced between my family and career. I knew that I would have a family, so I wanted to have a career where I can do both.

Did you consider any other career paths?

Initially I wanted to become a CPA, so I started the accounting major. I wanted to become the first Korean female CPA. I always wanted to be different from every other Korean-American woman. I still want to be different; I think it’s in my blood. However, during my sophomore year, there was the first Korean-American female CPA. So from that day, I lost interest because I don’t want to be second, third, fourth. It just loses the whole meaning. The next area I was interested in was banking. I wanted to become the first Korean woman (bank) CEO. I always targeted the highest level.

That’s quite a goal.

I set certain goals that I would like to accomplish within certain time frames. I had a very specific time line that I established. As I first joined the bank, I was only 22 years old after college. I wanted to become branch manager before age 35. At 45, I wanted to become chief credit officer. Before age 55, I wanted to become CEO. The ultimate goal was to become the CEO of any community bank in the future.

Was it easy to find a job in the industry right out of college?

At the time, the economy was also going through a very serious recession and it was very difficult to get a job, especially if you were fresh out of college and had no prior experience in banking. So I started out my banking career at Wilshire State Bank back in 1982 as a teller.

Were you satisfied being a teller?

I didn’t like the way I started my banking career because teller was a very clerical position and I wanted to participate in some kind of officer training program, but they did not have that type of program.

Were you able to work your way up the ladder anyway?

I made my way up to assistant operations officer at Wilshire State. But I didn’t want to get stuck in operations because I always wanted to pursue lending. But I had an opportunity to work as assistant treasurer at Hanmi Bank in 1985.

Did you like it?

I was not satisfied with the repeated day-to-day assignments. I always look for challenges. So I was so bored and there wasn’t any challenge that I was thrilled about. I wanted to become a loan officer.

How did you break into lending?

I asked to change my job position to loan officer. However, it was an unheard of request by a junior female officer at the time. The Korean banking space was very, very conservative and heavily populated with male officers. I was very disappointed at first, but I’m not the kind of person to take no for an answer.

What did you do?

I kept knocking on the door of the CEO’s office and said, “Just give me a chance; I can do this.” Later on, he was so bothered by my repeated visits that he said, “I will let you try, but I’m sure that you are going to fail.”

That’s harsh. Why was he so certain?

At the time, in the early to mid-’80s, it was such a male-dominant society, especially in the banking industry, that it was just not acceptable to Korean men to discuss their financial matters with women, especially a younger woman.

How did it go?

They put me in there as a loan officer but nobody trained me – they just expected me to fail and a couple of days later I would raise the white flag saying, “I’m sorry.” But I’m not a person that will give up easily. For the first three months, I had no assignment. I was just observing what other male lending officers were doing.

What did you learn?

They were not keeping their promises to the customers. They were so overloaded with many credit requests and had credit files piled up. Over the phone or in face-to-face conversations they promised that they would get back to them by a certain date, but then they couldn’t. They repeatedly apologized for not keeping the date.

How did you set yourself apart?

I promised three things at the time: I would be very friendly to the customers, I will provide fast service and I will keep my promises no matter what. Regardless of credit, I am going to give an answer in three days.

How did you get your first customers?

I asked my colleague who was overloaded with credit files, I said, “I know that you are very busy and as you can see, I’m not busy; I have no customers, so let me help you. Just transfer any files that you don’t want to deal with and I will be your underwriter.” He started transferring a couple of files he didn’t want to deal with. I was happy to at least have something to do.

That must have been a pretty good deal for him.

He kept on transferring me files – and he got all the credit from his boss; he didn’t say it was written by me.

Did it pay off?

That’s how I started building relationships – one customer after another. It started to build my reputation among Korean customers, and they referred their friends. After 12 months or so, I had more working files than the male officer that I used to give the credit to.

Someone must have seen the promise in you.

Mr. Ben Hong has been my mentor. He is the one who really raised me up to where I am today. He was CEO of Hanmi Bank. He had a very Westernized mind-set. Gender was not an issue and age wasn’t an issue for him as long as they can prove they can do the job.

Tell us about your decision to join Nara.

In terms of position, it was an advancement. But in terms of financial condition and size of the bank, it was not a positive career move – I was joining the problem bank.

Problem bank?

At the time, Nara Bank was in a lot of trouble in terms of financial condition, and total asset size was under $100 million. It was even smaller than the branch that I used to operate at Hanmi Bank. It was a big change for me. It was a big career move because I was doing so well at Hanmi Bank as a branch manager. I was one of the top performing branch managers.

That must have been a scary change.

I thought to myself, “This is it; this is my opportunity.” Knowing what I could do and what I could deliver, I had faith. If I fail, too bad.

But you didn’t fail.

After close to eight, nine years (as chief credit officer) I was moved to chief operating officer to oversee all business operations. I served as acting CEO for about eight, nine months and I was appointed CEO about three years ago.

Do you know Joanne Kim, who was appointed chief executive of Wilshire State Bank, a few years after you were named CEO at Nara?

She is a very good friend of mine. I have known her since 1982, so we go back about 30 years. She always followed my career path. It’s very interesting.

What do you mean?

When I resigned from Hanmi Bank, I was the branch manager, and she took over. She was my successor at that branch. I was the first Korean-American female branch manager in the Korean-American banking space, and I was the first female to become chief credit officer and CEO, and Joanne always followed my career path trailing about two, three years behind. She was always very appreciative that I opened the door for other women.

Do you think you’ll ever come out of retirement?

For now, I just want to take some time off. Afterward, whatever opportunity comes I will consider. It’s open.

Could you see yourself back in banking?

Hmm, it’s possible.

Min Kim

TITLE: Former Chief Executive

COMPANY: Nara Bancorp Inc.

BORN: 1959; Incheon, South Korea

EDUCATION: Bachelor’s in finance, USC

CAREER TURNING POINT: Leaving Hanmi Bank in 1995 to join then-struggling Nara Bank

MOST INFLUENTIAL PERSON: Ben Hong, former CEO of Hanmi and Nara

PERSONAL: Lives in Northridge with husband Keith; has a son and a daughter in college

ACTIVITIES: Church activities, annual mission trips, community service