SK Group reshuffles execs, but not very much

SK Group shied away from any major changes in this year’s annual reshuffle, with the chief executives at all of its major affiliates remaining in place.

The group said it avoided a drastic overhaul to ensure stability in management and instead opted for a generational shift among executive-level employees in charge of major departments.

A total of 117 executives were promoted or newly appointed.

SK Innovation CEO Kim Jun, SK Telecom CEO Park Jung-ho and SK Holdings CEO Jang Dong-hyun, all of who are in their 50s, kept their positions.

Smaller affiliates did see some changes at the top, with all newly appointed CEOs also in their 50s.
Park Sung-ha, head of the strategy support team at SK Supex Council, the group’s central planning unit, was appointed CEO of SK Holdings C&C, the group’s IT service unit.

Park, according to SK, specializes in strategy planning and making investment decisions. The group is expecting him to find future growth engines for SK Holdings C&C, which focuses on artificial intelligence and cloud-related businesses.

Cha Gyu-tak, head of the base oil business division at SK Lubricants, was appointed CEO of the lubricants company. Cha has abundant experience in the oil industry and will focus on tackling new markets for the lubricant company.

Choi Jin-hwan, CEO of security company ADT Caps, was appointed CEO of SK Broadband, the group’s IPTV service unit.
He built his career in a global consulting firm and, as the media industry is due to face tough competition due to services like Netflix, he will focus on keeping SK Broadband’s overall media and IPTV business competitive.

Lee Young-wook, head of investment center 2 at SK Holdings, was appointed CEO of SK Materials, a gas and IT materials provider. Lee will focus on finding future growth engines for SK Materials. He built his career in the legal, human resources and business strategy teams at SK Innovation and SK Holdings.

In this reshuffle, SK Group said it appointed seven new female executives. It said it is the largest number of female executives it has ever promoted at one time, taking the total number of female executives to 27.

As SK has been stressing social value and transforming the company into one where employees and customers are happy, the group said it will establish teams dedicated to promoting the organization’s happiness level.

In Supex Council, SK Innovation CEO Kim Jun will head the energy and chemical committee, while SK Holdings CEO Jang Dong-hyun will head the communication committee.

“This year, we went for stability in making reshuffle decisions and increased the number of executives focused on finding future growth engines and female executives,” a spokesperson from SK Group said.

Major SK affiliates also announced organizational changes along with the reshuffle.

SK Telecom said it will establish special teams dedicated to digital advertisement, game and cloud to foster those businesses as future cash cows. To make a more flexible corporate culture, the mobile carrier will also flatten its organization hierarchy.

BY KIM JEE-HEE [kim.jeehee@joongang.co.kr]