Samsung Electronics, 2022 Regular Executive Personnel Changes
[Asia Economy Reporters Heungsun Kim, Hyeyoung Lee] Young leaders, diversity, and top technology.
These are the keywords of Samsung Electronics' regular executive appointments for 2022, announced on the 9th. The company accelerated generational change based on meritocracy grounded in capability, strategically positioning talents with creativity and a spirit of challenge. By also emphasizing technology experts who will underpin innovative products such as artificial intelligence (AI) and software, it is evaluated that Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Jaeyong Lee has completed the foundation of the 'New Samsung' he emphasized.
New Vice Presidents Double Compared to Last Year... 15% of Promotees Selected in Their 40s
Record-Tying Most 30s Directors
This appointment promoted a total of 198 executives, 16 fewer than last year's 214. However, following the organizational restructuring on the 29th of last month, which merged the vice president and executive director ranks into vice president, the number of new vice presidents more than doubled compared to last year (31). The number of newly appointed directors also increased by 2 from last year's 111.
Among the new directors, four are in their 30s, tying the record for the most 30s directors promoted in a single year since 2012. Seongbeom Park (37), Director of the SOC Design Team at the S.LSI Business Unit in the Device Solutions (DS) division, was the youngest promotee this year. As a mobile processor design expert, he was promoted to executive at an early age by contributing to improving the completeness of GPU design based on his high understanding of processors such as central processing units (CPU) and graphics processing units (GPU).
Other 30s executives include Saemin So (38), Director of the Advanced Development Group in the Visual Display (VD) Business Unit of the Set division; Woochul Shim (39), Director and Head of Security Lab 1 at Samsung Research; and Kyungryun Kim (38), Director of the DRAM Design Team in the Memory Business Unit of the DS division. Ten vice presidents in their 40s, including Bongjun Ko (49), Vice President of the VD Business Unit, were appointed from the Set and DS divisions based on their achievements.
The youngest vice president this year is Chanwoo Kim (45), Head of the Speech Processing Lab at Samsung Research. Approximately 15% of all vice president promotees are in their 40s, highlighting the bold selection of those with growth potential regardless of seniority. Samsung Electronics explained, "Under the principle of meritocracy, we have made significant promotions to strengthen leadership for sustainable future growth."
17 New Foreign and Female Executives
Creative and Challenging Talents Positioned Forward
Securing Core Growth Engines for Future Businesses
In this appointment, as part of efforts to enhance diversity and inclusion aimed at organizational innovation and sustainable management, 17 new foreign and female executives were appointed. This nearly doubles last December's 10 foreign and female executives. Yesoon Yang, Director who contributed to the success of the customized home appliance 'Bespoke' in the Home Appliances Business Unit, was promoted to vice president. The number of foreign and female executives increased not only in the Set division, including mobile and home appliances, but also in the DS division, which showed remarkable performance improvement.
To secure core growth engines for the future, outstanding personnel in software and customer experience (CX) fields were also appointed as executives in large numbers. In the software field, Vice President Dooil Kim and five directors were included in the list of promotees. In the CX field, key positions related to the area, including Vice President Yongil Ahn of the Design Management Center, were promoted to solidify their position as market leaders.
Samsung Electronics also appointed 1 Fellow and 16 Masters this year. Since 2017, it has consistently emphasized about 15 technical experts annually. The Fellow position, introduced by Samsung in 2002, is awarded to core technical talents with world-class technology and is known within Samsung Electronics as the 'Samsung Nobel Prize.' The Master system, operated since 2009, selects top research and development experts in key technology fields to focus solely on research. Among them, Dongwon Kim, the new Fellow in the DS division, is an expert in logic device development.
Samsung Electronics highlighted the significance of expanding the pool of future leaders by abolishing the director and assistant director positions in 2001, eliminating the assistant director rank in 2008, and compressing the existing executive structure of director, executive director, and vice president into two levels?vice president and director?from this appointment onward.
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