‘Reward where there is success’ … Lee Jae-yong raises future CEO candidates

Vice President Seung-Hwan Ko, Vice President Kang-hyup Lee, Vice President Bang-seop Choi and Hak-sang Kim (from left)

Samsung’s unique principle of performanceism has been reaffirmed, but there have been no breakthroughs. Instead, the candidates for the next generation of CEOs have been strengthened to lay the foundation for the new Samsung. ‘It’s a feature of Samsung Electronics’ regular executive staff who came out on the 4th. It is an analysis that reflected the tone of the staff of the 2 CEO, who chose the “change of stability”.

214 people were promoted in this executive salute. 111 people were promoted to CEOs and new “stars” added and 55 people were promoted to CEOs. 31 Vice Presidents were produced, candidates for the position of next-generation CEO. The number of executives (214) is the third largest since 2014 (227) and since 2018 (221). In the aftermath of the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19), the three axes of semiconductors (DS), consumer electronics (CE) and mobile devices (IM) were evaluated as reflecting the unique “ performance principle ” from Samsung.

Interestingly, 31 people have been promoted to vice president who are candidates for the next generation of CEOs. It is the largest since 27 vice presidents were promoted during regular greetings in 2018. Last year there were 14. Inside and outside Samsung, it is interpreted that “Vice President Lee Jae-yong strengthened the candidates. to future CEOs to lay the foundations for the ‘new Samsung’. ”

Obviously, the principle “where there is performance, there is compensation” was applied to the greetings from the vice president. A representative example is Seung-Hwan Ko (58), who was promoted to Vice President, Head of the Video Display (VD) purchasing team. Samsung Electronics announced the background to the promotion, saying, “With the introduction of a big data-based panel price prediction system, we have resolved the uncertainty in the operation of parts supply by country due to Corona 19.” Kang-Hyup Lee (58), head of the appliance division’s strategic marketing team, was promoted to vice president in recognition of his achievement of the highest annual sales in the appliance division. Bang-seop Choi (57), Head of Mobile Business at SEA Corporation (USA), Seok-joon Lee (55) Vice President of System LSI Division, Seungbeom Choi (56) Vice President of Samsung Research’s Technology Strategy Team, Haksang Kim ( 56) Vice President of NC Development Team, Wireless Business, etc. Lifted up.

Regardless of age or year, there are 25 people who have been promoted at high speed. Samsung Electronics is increasing the number of recruits every year, including 18 in 2018 and 24 last year. The most striking person is Junhee Lee, born in 1969. Vice President Lee, who holds his master’s and doctoral degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), is a wireless communications technology expert who has led virtualization technology Samsung Electronics’ 5G Base Station (vRAN). Vice President Lee Ki-soo (56), who helped develop Grande AI bespoke refrigerators and washing machines, was also selected and promoted.

Ten foreign and female executives have been promoted. One more person than last year. Among the new female executives, Yoon-kyung Lee, born in 1979, is the youngest CEO of Samsung Research’s Data Analysis Lab. Promotion of software executives has also increased. It’s gone from 7 to 15 people in the last four years to 21 this year. Yoon Jang-hyun (52), who oversees wireless software development, was promoted to vice president and Lee Jong-yeol (50), who helped develop Solid State Drive (SSD) products, and Lee Jong-yeol, respectively. (50), respectively, were promoted to vice president. A Samsung Electronics official explained: “It aims to secure the key software-centric future growth drivers.”

Reporter Kim Tae-yoon [email protected]