By Renee Park

Executives from some of the world’s top multinational companies donned waiters’ uniforms on Tuesday evening for the 8th AMCHAM CEO Servers’ Night, to serve a four-course dinner to their employees, friends and family members.

Held at the Banyan Tree Club & Spa Seoul, the eleven executives, from companies such as Boeing Korea, Fidelity Worldwide Investment and Costco Wholesale Korea, raised about 30 million won to go toward scholarship assistance for Korean university students from difficult backgrounds. About 120 people were in attendance. 

The funds, after deducting for minimum costs, will be sent directly to the Partners for the Future Foundation, a local non-profit organization that serves as the charity arm of AMCHAM.

Most of the money came from wine sales at the event, in addition to a fixed-price dinner menu and a 1 million won participation fee from CEOs, according to the AMCHAM spokesman Daniel Bae.

Chairman of the Partners for the Future Foundation, Jeffrey Jones said that he first came up with the idea eight or nine years ago.

“I decided it would be kind of fun because (executives) are used to giving orders rather than taking orders. And I wanted them to enjoy the feeling of giving and serving,” Jones said.

Most of the CEOs said they were participating for the second, third or even fourth time. Repeat participants included Boeing Korea president Pat Gaines, Chevron country chairman Bob Edwards, and ADT Korea general manager Bradley Buckwalter.

(renee@heraldcorp.com)