Herb Kim, the founder of TEDxManchester and the founding chair of Tech North, has been awarded an Honorary MBE (the equivalent to an MBE, but for non-British/Commonwealth citizens) for services to technology in Northern England.
Kim, originally from New York, moved to the UK in 1997 and relocated to the North in 2002, quickly becoming a catalyst in helping shape and grow the region’s technology and digital sector. He founded TEDxManchester in 2009 as one of the very first TEDx events in the world. In 2015, he was named the founding chair for Tech North, also based in Manchester.
Following the success of TECxManchester, Kim also went on to found TEDxLiverpool, TEDxNewcastle, and the Thinking Digital Conference.
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His initiatives saw him recognised as part of the MediaGuardian’s Top 100 noteworthy people of 2010, the Wired Magazine Top 100 in 2011 and one of the Top 100 Asians in UK tech in 2019.
More recently, TEDxManchester was identified as one of the global Top 20 TEDx events in 2024, and in 2025 Kim was credited for producing the No 1 TED Talk of the year at TEDxManchester – visual artist Amie McNee’s treatise on “The case for making art when the world is on fire.”
Kim said: “I am truly humbled to receive this award. As a person born in Brooklyn, New York to Korean parents, never did I think I’d be accepting an Honorary MBE from His Majesty, the King.
“It is the honour of my life that my work is considered to have made an impactful contribution to the communities of technologists and innovators across the North. My deepest gratitude to all the companies, universities, organisations and colleagues who have collaborated with me across my 24 years working in the North.”
Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, a previous speaker at TEDxManchester, said: “Congratulations to Herb on receiving an Honorary MBE. It’s a well-deserved recognition of the time and energy he’s put into building the North’s tech and digital community. Through TEDxManchester and beyond, he’s helped bring people together, spark new ideas and create opportunities across the region.”
