Agenda Setters: Where are they now... Kun-Hee Lee

On tour in the US...

As the countdown begins to silicon.com's seventh annual Agenda Setters poll of tech's 50 most influential individuals, it is time to look back at those who held top 10 positions in 2005. Today we catch up with last year's number seven, Kun-Hee Lee.

Last year Kun-Hee Lee, chairman and CEO of Samsung Electronics, earned a spot in the top 10 of the Agenda Setters for running a company that's "head and shoulders above everyone else", including IBM, Microsoft, Philips, Siemens and Vodafone, according to one Agenda Setters panellist.

Under his leadership Samsung has made inroads into the communications equipment and mobile spaces and has seen rapid profit growth.

Fluent in English, Japanese and Korean, he's also one of the richest men in the world and so personally holds a great deal of power.

The last year has seen little change to his high status. Samsung continues to churn out new technologies and products in all areas including mobile, where it claims it has cracked 4G speeds of 100Mbps. It is also taking part in the innovative telecoms environment in Korea by developing technology for 1GB broadband.

Lee has focused in particular on the US. He will spend September touring the country and was given an award by think tank the Korea Society for helping to improve relations between Korea and the US.

He's certainly the calibre of individual to win an Agenda Setters seat. But has Samsung done enough to lead the way in the IT space this year to win a spot in the top 10? The jury's still out.

silicon.com's Agenda Setters panel, made up again of CIOs, analysts, VCs, consultants, lawyers, academics and other experts, convenes in September with the results revealed at the end of the month. If you want to pass on your comments for our experts - about Kun-Hee Lee or any other contender - drop us an email at editorial@silicon.com.