VIVIAN KIM
Chief People Officer; General Counsel
Hanmi Bank
Vivian Kim began her law career as an associate at Dykema Gossett, LLP in 2011 where she managed a wide range of complex business and intellectual property litigation matters, including patent, copyright, trade secret and right of privacy claims, class action defense, and real estate disputes. After five years at the firm, she was approached by an acquaintance from the Korean American Bar Association of Southern California to apply for an opening at Hanmi Bank, where today, she serves as general counsel and chief people officer.
Kim has grown her skillset with the bank over the last seven and a half years. She joined the bank as a vice president and corporate counsel and is now its general counsel, corporate secretary, and chief people officer for the $7.4 billion-asset bank.
Kim has taken a leadership role in advancing the company’s public profile and philanthropic initiatives. In the last 24 months, she has spearheaded the bank’s ESG efforts, led the company in transforming its communication efforts, organized and orchestrated Hanmi’s 40th-anniversary celebrations including the NASDAQ bell ringing ceremony in December 2022, launched the Credit Trainee Program (now in its second year) to help train the next generation of bankers, revamped the annual employee evaluation process, enhanced employee benefits offerings (including health benefits and vacation policies), improved the on-boarding and off-boarding process and led projects to comply with new pay transparency regulations. Additionally, Kim was also actively involved in Hanmi’s Payment Protection Program during the COVID-19 pandemic.
