Page 46 - Southern Oregon Magazine Spring 2018

neck of the woods | in the biz

Their newest product in
development for the gen-
eral market exemplifies that
vision. “We have learned a
tremendous amount from
working in the clean room area,”
says Newman. “Dr. Kim has chal-
lenged us with creating a product
that will take any room and cre- Dr. Tae Yun Kim is Sen-
ate a safe, healthy space.” It had ior Advisor to the National
been through several prototypes, Unif ication Advisory Council,
striving for the reunif ication
admits Newman, but the product of the Korean Peninsula.
became a company priority when
the team realized how hazard-
ous air quality can be after being
in the Rogue Valley during the
worst of the forest fire season in
2017.

A HISTORY OF CHANGE Scott Salton, President and co-Founder, Paul Newman, Executive Vice President,
You can’t look at Lighthouse for Lighthouse Worldwide Solutions Lighthouse Worldwide Solutions
very long without encountering
its colorful and dynamic CEO
(see sidebar). Dr. Kim has been
the driving force behind the
company since it was founded in
1982. Then a martial arts instruc-
tor in Vermont, Kim remembers
going to one of her students, an
engineer at IBM, and telling him,
“‘I need to start a computer com-
pany.’ He thought I was crazy.”

Scott Salton, that student and
eventual co-founder and presi-
dent of Lighthouse, agreed. “I
did. I thought she had totally lost
her marbles. But,” he recalls, “she
had so much energy, so much
enthusiasm” that they eventually
began by producing two video Pictured here at the Korea Military Academy, the
games based on Bible stories on “West Point” of S. Korea, Dr. Kim motivates all
a Commodore 64. “There was with her trademarked motto, “He Can Do, She Can
Do, Why Not Me!”
a revolution going on,” reminds
Salton. It was the early days of
the PC and the technology indus-
try was going through massive
changes. “We put it together
out of pure energy.” And, he also
admits, “We didn’t know any-
thing about business.”

After a few false starts, Kim
realized that California was the
hub of technology research and
convinced her team to relocate.

44 www.southernoregonmagazine.com | spring 2018