Park Hyeon-Joo

In 1985, at the age of 27, Park established an investment advisory services company on his own. He, then, entered to Tongyang Securities in 1986. In 1988, Park left for Hanshin Investment Advisory Services company, which has changed its name into Dongwon Securities[3] in April 1996, and acquired by Korea Investment Holdings in June 2005. Park managed the portfolio and recorded the highest return out of all the portfolio during the year. He, however, had been relocated to one of the branches at the time where the KOSPI rallied record-high of 1,007.77 pt and continuously down-turning afterward leading to recession. Despite having gone through hardship, he soon became a director of the branch at the age of 33, the youngest director in the company, and demonstrated the highest result out of 1,000 branches.

He recognized how important it is to trust and support each of the colleague's capability when managing a team, an organization, and this teamwork has become one of Mirae Asset Financial Group's core value. The vision of the branch has been “go forward in order to spin the pinwheel although there are no winds”, and this is how Park could have had overcome hardship at his first experience of being a head of a branch. Park received numerous offers proposing a remarkable salary, however, he cannot but reject all the offers in order to achieve his long-cherished dream and goal.[4]

Hyeonjoo Park founded Mirae Asset Global Investments and Mirae Asset Capital in June 1997 right after leaving the previous company.  Within 6 months after the foundation, Mirae Asset suffered from 1997 financial crisis of South Korea, however, showed a tremendous investment performance by believing in South Korea's economy to rebound with contrary investment insights where Park is notable for his adherence to long-term and value investing.

In December 1998, Park launched the first retail mutual fund, “Park Hyeon Joo No.1” in South Korea and The Journal of Investment & Pension described that this fund was a great success.[5]

Park has grown Mirae Asset Financial Group into an independent financial conglomerate in South Korea by successfully acquiring a number of financial companies with his contrary investment philosophy and insights.

• 2004.02 Acquired SK Investment Trust Company, an affiliates of SK Group
• 2005.06 Acquired SK Life Insurance, an affiliates of SK Group[6][7]
• 2011.11 Acquired Horizon ETF,[8] a major ETF player in Canada
• 2011.11 Acquired BetaShares, a major ETF player in Australia
• 2016.12 Merge and acquisition of Daewoo Securities and Mirae Asset Securities[9][10][11][12]
• 2016.12 Acquired KDB asset management company,[13] formerly owned by Korea Development Bank
• 2017.07 Invested Vietnamese life insurance company, PRÉVOIR[14]  
• 2017.12 Acquired Korea-based PCA Life Insurance[15][16]
• 2018.07 Acquired GlobalX,[17] US ETF company

Founder Park always has in mind to expand the business globally since the early stage, and is regarded as a global forerunner in South Korean financial industry.[18][19]

• 2003.12 Established Mirae Asset Global Investment HK
• 2006.09 Established Mirae Asset Global Investment Vietnam (Hanoi)
• 2006.11 Established Mirae Asset Global Investment India
• 2007.01 Established Mirae Asset Securities HK
• 2007.03 Established Mirae Asset Global Investment UK
• 2007.07 Established Mirae Asset Global Investment Beijing
• 2007.12 Established Mirae Asset Securities Vietnam
• 2008.02 Established Mirae Asset Investment Advisory Beijing
• 2008.04 Established Mirae Asset Global Investment US
• 2008.04 Established Mirae Asset Global Investment Brazil
• 2008.08 Established Mirae Asset Securities US
• 2008.08 Established Mirae Asset Investment Advisory Shanghai[20][21]
• 2010.08 Established Mirae Asset Securities Brazil
• 2012.10 Established Horizons ETFs LatAM[22][23]
• 2016.01 Established Mirae Asset Global Investment Australia
• 2017.10 Established Mirae Asset Daewoo India
• 2019.09 Formed GlobalX Japan joint ventured with Daiwa Securities[24][25]

Park led to achieving notable global investment activities of noteworthy landmarks in primary cities.

• 2011.08 Acquired major shares of Titleist[26][27][28]
• 2013.09 Acquired Four Seasons Hotel, Sydney[29][30][31]
• 2014.12 Acquired major shares of FRB building (1801 K St.), Washington DC, US[32]
• 2015.05 Acquired major shares of The Fairmont Orchid, Hawaii[33][34]
• 2015.12 Acquired major shares of Fairmont San Francisco[35]
• 2016.07 Acquired major shares of Amazon head office, Phase VIII[36][37]
• 2016.09 Acquired major shares of Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach Resort & Spa[38]

Park has been donating all his dividend payouts of shares to the foundation.[39]

Park founded Mirae Asset Education Foundation in 1998 and Mirae Asset Park Hyeon Joo Foundation in 2000 in order to fulfill his corporate social responsibility of 'Building a Caring Capitalist Society,’.[40][41] He occasionally mentioned that he would like to become a successful philanthropist instead of becoming a successful magnate, and thinks that investing in the talented people is how the corporate is fulfilling the social responsibility in return of what the corporate has gained from the clients and the society as stated in his essay, ‘Money is beautiful flower’.

Mirae Asset Park Hyeon Joo Foundation has continuously provided scholarships and economic education programs to the potential talented youth which has accumulated to 269,476 students for 18 years since the foundation (as of February 2019).[42] The detailed programs are as follows:

• Mirae Asset domestic college scholarships:3,391
• Mirae Asset global exchange student scholarships: 5,117
• Mirae Asset global investment experts undergraduates/graduates scholarships/internship:
• Mirae Asset Shanghai camp support of children of the clients: 12,700
• Mirae Asset Shanghai camp support of underprivileged students: 1,839
• Mirae Asset other outreaching programs educating on the economy, finance, finance career path, etc.: 246,307

The scholarship programs of Mirae Asset Park Hyeon Joo Foundation founded in 2000 with his own wealth of USD 6.5 million[43] has become one of the largest non-profit organization in South Korea.

Park has been donating all his dividend payouts to the foundation every year since 2010.[39]

Park once again donated his entire 2018 dividend from the stakes of Mirae Asset Global Investment.[44]

In 2015, Park Hyeon Joo who is deeply interested in job security of young people donated KRW 2 billion from his own wealth to Korea Youth Foundation.[45][46]

Park has also engaged in establishing Mirae Asset Foundation in Mumbai, India in order to facilitate qualitative educational environments and more opportunities for young people in India. Its incorporation date is January 3, 2018.[47][48]

The successful story of Park and Mirae Asset Financial Group in such a short period of time within a decade was the first Asian financial company to be selected by Harvard Business School as a case study.

Mirae Asset: Korea's Mutual Fund Pioneer[49][50][51]

Mirae Asset: A Disruptive Innovator in the Korean Financial Industry[52]

• Money is a beautiful flower, Park Hyeon Joo, Kim Young Sa, 27 August 2007, ISBN 978-89-349-2580-4
• Park Hyeon Joo, creating a better future, Chan-Sun Hong, Young-Am Park, Sung-Ju Oh, Sung-Ho Kim and Byung-Yoon Chung, Olim, 5 October 2007, ISBN 978-89-958839-8-3

• Long-term investments requires trust, Nomura Research Institute, 12/10/2010[53]
• For asset manager Mirae, a future beyond Korea, The Wall Street Journal, 01/10/2007[54]
• 24 years of financial industry, Mirae Asset Park Hyeon Joo, Shin-dong-a, 08/11/2004[55]
• Interview of Park Hyeon Joo, a founder of Mirae Asset Financial Group, Hankyung, 24/12/2015[56]