Majority owner
OL Lyon Féminin (pending approval)
OL Groupe board director
Eagle Football Holdings director
Yongmee Michele Kang[1][2] (born June 1959)[2] is a Korean-American businesswoman, philanthropist, investor and professional sports team owner. She is the founder and CEO of Cognosante, a medical technology company,[3] and Cognosante Ventures, a
venture capital firm.[1]
Kang was born in
South Korea and immigrated to the United States on her own as a student.[5] She earned a bachelor's degree in economics from the
University of Chicago and a master's degree in public and private management from the
Yale School of Management.[5][6]
The problem was that I have never been very good at accepting what I “should” or “should not” do, especially when it came to what a woman can or cannot do. With my father’s reinforcement, I believed I could do anything a boy could do. I wanted something different from the future than what was expected of me.
Kang was a partner with
Ernst & Young specializing in the high-tech and telecommunications industries.[8] She joined
Northrop Grumman in 2000 as vice president of their e-Business unit. She later worked as vice president and deputy general manager of the Global Information Technology Division. In 2003, she became vice president of their Health & Science Solutions unit.[8]
Cognosante
In 2008, Kang founded Cognosante "to disrupt and challenge the status quo in the U.S. healthcare system".[9] The corporation works with federal and state health agencies to "expand access to care, improve care delivery, address social determinants of health, and ensure safety and security through multi-faceted technology and customer experience (CX) solutions."[10] Kang has said that she is focused on developing a pipeline of opportunities that "will directly improve the lives of veterans, military spouses, persons with disabilities, seniors and residents in underserved communities."[11]
On 4/15/2024, Cognosante announced that it signed an agreement to be acquired by Accenture Federal Services.
On December 29, 2020,
Washington Spirit announced that Kang had joined the club's ownership group.[12] Later reports confirmed that the stake was 35 percent, equal to former majority owner Steve Baldwin's stake though Baldwin retained control over the team.[3] Following Spirit coach
Richie Burke removing himself from coaching duties in August 2021 and subsequent media reports
alleging abusive behavior by Burke toward players, Kang began pursuing majority and controlling ownership of the club.[13][14]
After a protracted negotiation process,[15][16] Baldwin and minority owner Bill Lynch agreed to sell the club to Kang.[14] Following league approvals, Kang officially became majority owner on March 30, 2022.[17][18] Kang became the first
woman of color to be the majority owner of an NWSL club.[13]
On May 16, OL Groupe and Kang announced the formation of a separate entity that would be composed of her stake in the Spirit and OL Groupe's Olympique Lyon Féminin. OL Groupe would retain a 48% stake in the resulting new entity, and Kang would become the club's majority owner and CEO, pending regulatory approval.[23][24][25][26][4]