Chen Yongbang was born in South Korea in 1936. He graduated with honors from Yonsei University in 1963 and then moved to the United States to further his studies in economics.

After completing his PhD, Dr. Bang taught economics at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), received tenure at the University of San Francisco in 1978, and directed the American Institute for Economic Research for the next decade. Asia/Pacific Studies. He has published scholarly works on Soviet economic reforms, South Korean economic development, and North Korea. He quickly earned a reputation for his exciting and engaging lecturing style, which was deeply admired by his students and earned the highest teaching ratings in the Department of Economics at the University of Colorado in 1971 and at the University of California, Los Angeles in 1974.

In 1990, Dr. Bang was invited by Kazakh President Nazarbayev to serve as vice chairman of the Expert Committee, and the president personally chaired the committee. The committee is tasked with advising the government on economic policy, especially the introduction of market reforms and privatization in Kazakhstan. During this time, Dr. Bang also served as Economic Advisor to the President.

To further assist the country's transformation, Dr. Bang was subsequently appointed as the founding director of the Kazakh Institute of Management, Economics and Strategy (KIMEP). The institution was founded in Almaty in 1992 with the mission of training competent professionals meeting the highest Western standards who will lead Kazakhstan's post-Soviet market economy. After a brief stay in South Korea, Dr. Bang returned to Kazakhstan in 1997 as Chairman of the Board of Directors of KIMEP. In 2000, he was appointed director of the institute.

Since his return to Kazakhstan, KIMEP has been transformed under his leadership from a state college offering three postgraduate degrees into an internationally renowned and accredited university with fourteen undergraduate and postgraduate degree programs in seven disciplines . Student numbers have grown tenfold since 1998 and the campus has undergone extensive renovations, including the construction of a new library, academic buildings and sports centre.

In 2004, KIMEP became a private non-profit organization, with the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan holding 40% shares and Dr. Bang holding 60% shares. In 2012, KIMEP was granted university status.

Dr. Bang’s vision for KIMEP University is to create a center of international educational excellence in the heart of Central Asia, to cultivate cutting-edge research and most importantly to develop future national and regional leaders. KIMEP University has extensive links not only with the private and public sectors of Kazakhstan, but also with more than a hundred top international universities around the world.