Jessica Ku Kim

In her role as Vice President of Economic and Workforce Development, Jessica Ku Kim provides strategic direction and leads LAEDC’s collaborative efforts with business, education, and the workforce ecosystem to support a growing, equitable, sustainable and resilient economy. Leveraging her expertise in convening and engaging businesses leaders to understand and meet their operations and labor needs, Jessica leads one of the most effective small business assistance teams in the nation that has attracted, retained or helped create more than 245,000 direct jobs for LA County residents in firms directly assisted by LAEDC. She also directs LAEDC’s LA County Community Connectory, an online information and referral resource and technical assistance team created in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and dedicated to aggressively outreach to small businesses, nonprofits, and micro-enterprises and provide resources and assistance. Lastly, Jessica manages LAEDC’s workforce efforts, including the Center for a Competitive Workforce partnership with the region’s 19 community colleges, to strengthen the alignment of LA County’s workforce and education ecosystem and meet the changing labor market demands.