The White House and California State University Channel Islands have something in common; both institutions now appear in Dr. Sung Won Sohn’s biography. Sohn recently joined the University as the Endowed Professor for the Martin V. Smith School of Business & Economics.

Sohn, a world-renowned economist, quietly arrived at the University with two distinct objectives: one, to teach again and to learn from his students; and two, to use his 33-year career in the corporate banking sector to bring recognition to the MVS School and the University.

“Young people have stimulating and fascinating ideas about our changing world. Getting back to education has been part of my design all along,” explained Sohn. “I want to help put Channel Islands on the map.”

While he and his students discuss Harvard Business School case studies in the classroom, Sohn is getting the University’s name into the mainstream, though the vehicle that’s driving attention his way—the recent economic meltdown and $700B bailout—was not part of his design for publicity. Sohn’s time as Chief Economic Officer and Executive Vice President of Wells Fargo Banks and as Chief Executive Officer of Hanmi Financial Corporation have kept him on the short list for media outlets worldwide, and has him fielding calls from national and international media on a near daily basis.

“The Smith School is delighted that Sung Won Sohn is on our faculty. In addition to being a friendly and professional colleague, he brings great exposure to the Smith School and our programs,” said William P. Cordeiro, Senior Associate Dean and Director of the MVS School.

Sohn’s connection to CSU Channel Islands is through University President Richard R. Rush and dates back long before the University opened in 2002. Sohn met Rush while Rush was serving as President of Minnesota State University, Mankato. At that time, Sohn was working for Wells Fargo Banks.

Sohn stayed with Wells Fargo Banks for years. He traveled widely— from Tierra del Fuego to Tibet— setting limits for his firm’s credit exposure in many countries.

“It took me 31 years to realize they weren’t going to let me run Wells Fargo,” Sohn said jokingly. Sohn had spent years with the Minnesota-based Northwest Corporation, the firm that purchased and assumed the Wells Fargo name in 1998. Shortly after leaving Wells Fargo in 2005, Sohn became the Chief Executive Officer of the Hanmi Financial Corporation, a Los Angeles-based bank with more than $4 billion in assets. He retired from Hanmi in 2007.

Long before Sohn met Rush or was at the helm of Hanmi, he was a tenured faculty member in the Pennsylvania State University system. It was from there that he was chosen to serve on the President’s Council of Economic Advisors in the White House during the Nixon-Ford Administration.

Once in Washington, D.C., Sohn brought with him a vast knowledge of theoretical economics, having earned his doctorate in Economics at the University of Pittsburgh, but his work in the White House dealt with the real world. That’s one of the reasons why it is important for him to teach his CSU Channel Islands students by using examples and situations from the real world.

“We should be teaching economic theory and practice. That’s why I use the Harvard case studies in my class,” Sohn explained. “My role is like that of a conductor of an orchestra. I lead the discussion but the idea is to learn from each other.”

Sohn teaches the Economics of Entrepreneurship this semester. In Spring 2009, he will teach a special course that will allow undergraduate students to participate in his economic research.

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