Councilmember Tammy Kim

Tammy is a mother, a nonprofit leader, educator, community advocate, small-business owner, and former corporate executive who has lived, worked, and raised her son in Orange County for the past two decades. She was elected to the Irvine City Council in November 2020 in a historic win, beating out 13 other candidates to take first place. She won her seat with more than 43,700 votes, the highest vote count for any City Council candidate in the City’s history.

Born in Korea, Tammy’s family immigrated to America as an infant and went on to a successful career as a business executive in Fortune 500 and venture-backed technology start-ups resolving highly complex business and management issues managing multinational teams.

Raised in difficult economic circumstances, Tammy has always been driven by a desire to help others improve their circumstances. After successfully climbing the corporate ladder, Tammy chose to invest her own resources to create an Irvine-based nonprofit to serve our local immigrant community as the founder and Managing Director of the Irvine based nonprofit Korean American Center as a way to build bridges between intergenerational Korean Americans and the greater community. The center then merged with KCS Inc, becoming one of the largest social service providers serving the Asian American community throughout Orange County. 

Tammy is a well-respected civic and community leader who has served as Chair of the Language Access Committee for the Orange County Registrar of Voters, Orange County Complete Count Committee for the 2020 Census, and on the Steering Committee for the Irvine Global Village Festival. 

Tammy currently is on the boards of the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG), Orange County Council of Governments (OCCOG), Irvine Community Land Trust, Orange County Public Libraries, Orange County Mosquito and Vector Control, where she is chair of the Policy & Personnel Committee, League of California Cities, Orange County Division Board of Directors as the Large City Representative, the Orange County Power Authority, Cities Advisory Committee, and Orange County Fire Authority

(rev. 02-17-2023)