Councilor Sam Yoon will address Boston and Korea's common scientific and technological pursuits, and lessons we can learn from the Korean approach. The Korean government has identified biotechnology as an industry of the future and seeks to make Korea a world leader in the field. Similarly, Massachusetts has been a center of biotechnology research, and a key piece of Governor Patrick's legislative agenda is the Life Sciences Initiative to boost the biotech industry. While the US government pays lip service to a laissez-faire free-market policy that keeps government out of industry, derived from 18th century political economist Adam Smith, the Korean government aggressively assists the development of key industries. The Korean government's approach may be better suited to the economic realities of the 21st Century, when basic research is enormously capital intensive and technological development requires cooperation, rather than competition, among industrial, financial and regulatory players.  

Since being sworn-in to the Boston City Council in January 2006, Councilor At-Large Sam Yoon has helped shape public policy across the city, serving as Chairperson of the Housing and Human Services committees on the City Council.  With a commitment to public education, affordable housing, community development, and public safety, Sam is dedicated to making Boston a safer, stronger, more affordable place to live. 

Born in Seoul, South Korea Sam made history as the first Asian American to be elected to any public office in Boston. The first of three children, Sam emigrated from South Korea to the United States when he was ten months old.

Sam attended college at Princeton where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy as well as a teaching license through a teacher preparatory program.  From Princeton, Sam went on to teach in the New Jersey public schools for two years.  Sam then decided to pursue his interest in government, moving to Boston to attend Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government where he received a Masters Degree in Public Policy. 

Before coming to the city council Sam was well prepared for dealing with the everyday concerns of Boston residents through his work at numerous community-based, non-profits. During his time at The Community Builders, the nation’s largest non-profit developer of affordable housing, Sam was the Finance Project Manager for the Chauncy House, an 88-unit affordable elderly project in Chinatown.  In his time at CASCAP, a non-profit housing and mental health services agency Sam served as the Director of Housing Development.  Most recently, Sam was the Director of Housing at the Asian Community Development Corporation working to create affordable housing in Chinatown.

In addition to his work for non-profits throughout the City, Sam is a founding member and core steering committee member for the New Majority, a coalition of African Americans, Latinos, and Asians who work to advance a common agenda for communities of color in Boston. He is also on the board of Viet-AID, which serves the Vietnamese community in Dorchester; a deacon and elder at Bethany Presbyterian Church and a member of the Fields Corner Main Street Association.

Sam lives with his wife Tina, their four year-old son Nathan and one-year-old daughter Naomi in the Fields Corner neighborhood of Dorchester.

 (source: http://samyoon.com/aboutsam6.html )