Lee Dong-won, President of COEX, Appointed as Chairman of Korea Exhibition Industry Promotion Association

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Yoon-joo] Lee Dong-won, CEO of COEX, will be inaugurated as the 14th President of the Korea Exhibition Industry Promotion Association.

The Korea Exhibition Industry Promotion Association held an extraordinary general meeting at COEX in Samseong-dong and announced on the 31st that Lee Dong-won, CEO of COEX, was appointed as the successor to the current president. Accordingly, Lee will begin his term as president of the Korea Exhibition Industry Promotion Association on September 1.

The Korea Exhibition Industry Promotion Association, established in 2002, is an organization entrusted by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy to carry out policies to strengthen competitiveness and promote the exhibition industry. Its main projects include supporting and evaluating domestic exhibitions, supporting the overseas expansion of domestic exhibitions, and building the foundation of the exhibition industry. Additionally, it carries out projects such as supporting sales exhibitions for small business collaboration under the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, exhibition-related education projects under the Ministry of Employment and Labor, and exhibition support projects under the Seoul Metropolitan Government, actively working on the front lines to promote the exhibition industry in Korea.

Its member companies consist of 60 organizations including trade promotion agencies such as KOTRA, the Korea International Trade Association, exhibition facility operators like COEX, KINTEX, and EXCO, exhibition organizers, exhibition design and installation companies, and exhibition service providers.

The new president emphasized that to overcome the crisis faced by the exhibition industry during the COVID-19 pandemic, he will strengthen active cooperation and mutual growth through open-minded communication with the four major business groups in the exhibition sector. He also stated that he will actively work with the government and the National Assembly to communicate the realities of the exhibition industry suffering in the long tunnel of COVID-19 and to support damage relief and normalization of exhibition events.

President Lee graduated from Sungkyunkwan University with a degree in Political Science and Diplomacy and completed graduate studies at Korea University’s Graduate School of Media and Communication. He worked at LG Ad (now HS Ad), serving as director of the New York branch, executive director of the global headquarters, and executive vice president of the AS division. Since 2018, he has been serving as CEO of COEX. He was awarded the Prime Minister’s Commendation and the Presidential Industrial Medal in 2010 and 2017 for his contributions to the promotion of the advertising industry.