William Oberlin '65 Elected President of South Korea's AMCHAM

December 9, 2002

December 9, 2002, Greencastle, Ind. - William Oberlin, president of Boeing Korea and a 1965 graduate of DePauw University, has been elected the new president of the American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM) in Korea, the Asia Times reports from Seoul, South Korea. Oberlin defeated David Richardson, country manager for Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS), in the annual election. "I am deeply honored and humbled to be chosen to follow [outgoing AmCham President] Jeff Jones," Oberlin said. "I will do my very best to continue the direction he set for the Chamber as a partner to Korea. I feel leading AMCHAM is an enormous responsibility and I look forward to working closely with our members, the board, Korean industry, the Korean public and the Korean government to continue our efforts to make Korea the best place in Asia to do business."

AMCHAM is the largest US business organization in South Korea. The president is elected by 550 AMCHAM member companies with voting rights. The 59-year-old Oberlin was named president of Boeing Korea in April 2000. "AMCHAM will maintain our cooperative attitude with the Korean government and local industry to improve Korea's business environment for all firms operating here, both domestic and foreign," Oberlin said. "All firms in Korea contribute to improving this economy and deserve the very best business climate we can create to ensure the Korean economy is as strong as possible."

The article in the Asia Times notes that "Oberlin holds a bachelor of arts in political science from DePauw University and a master of science from the University of Southern California. He has more than 30 years' of experience in aviation and the aerospace industry, 16 of which has been in South Korea. He is married to a Korean and they have one daughter."