[Exclusive] 국민연금 CIO Candidate 'Hidden Card'... Park Cheon-seok, Saemaeul Geumgo CIO

[Asia Economy Reporter Park So-yeon] It has been confirmed that Park Cheon-seok, CIO of the National Credit Union Federation of Korea, is included among the candidates for the Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of the National Pension Service (NPS), the top position in pension fund management. There are a total of six candidates, but Park CIO was the only one whose name had not been disclosed to the media.

On the 2nd, Park CIO visited the NPS Gangnam office in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, to participate in the candidate interview. Other attendees included Park Dae-yang, former CIO of Korea Investment Corporation (KIC); Seo Won-joo, former head of the Public Officials Pension Fund Management Division; Lee Chang-hoon, former CIO of the Public Officials Pension Service; Yeom Jae-hyun, head of the Global Investment Division at Koreit Asset Management; and Yang Young-sik, CEO of Stick Alternative Asset Management, whose names had already been made public.

Every time a new CIO is selected for the NPS, the industry focuses on who the candidates are. This time, although the profiles of five candidates were revealed through media coverage, the identity of the last candidate remained strictly under wraps.

Previously, the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the National Pension Service shortlisted six candidates from 15 applicants and notified them for interviews. After the interviews held that day, it is expected to take about 10 more days to finalize the NPS CIO who will manage the national pension fund worth approximately 1,000 trillion won.

All candidates have experience managing pension funds. In particular, former CIOs Seo Won-joo and Lee Chang-hoon both come from the public officials pension system. Seo, who gained overseas investment experience at Samsung Life Insurance, later served as CIO at PCA (now Mirae Asset Life Insurance). He is credited with managing the public officials pension fund, worth about 8 trillion won, stably from 2019 until recently.

Lee Chang-hoon, Seo’s predecessor as CIO, was a star fund manager in the 1990s. He later worked at Macquarie Asset Management, Korea Investment Trust Management, and Prudential Asset Management before founding an investment advisory firm. Park Dae-yang, former CIO of KIC, has diverse management experience across private and public sectors, including the Private School Teachers’ Pension, Allianz Life, the National Credit Union Federation, and overseas investments.

Yeom Jae-hyun, head of the Global Division at Koreit Asset Management, is an expert in overseas equity investments and has managed equities at High Asset Management, the Teachers’ Pension, the Korea Forest Service Central Association, and the Yellow Umbrella Mutual Aid Association. In particular, the investment industry is paying attention to Yang Young-sik, the only candidate with prior experience at the NPS. Yang joined the NPS unusually early in 2005 and stayed until 2017, contributing to the blueprint for domestic and international alternative investments beyond stocks and bonds. He later became the inaugural CEO of Stick Alternative Asset Management, an infrastructure investment specialist established by Stick Investment.

The only candidate whose name was not previously disclosed, Park Cheon-seok, was born in 1965 and studied at Sogang University, the University of Wisconsin in the U.S., and earned a doctorate from Chung-Ang University. He has held positions at Samsung Life Insurance, Samsung Asset Management, ING Asset Management as CIO of the bond management division, head of investment strategy at the Public Officials Pension Service, and head of asset management at Heungkuk Life Insurance. He is currently serving as CIO at the National Credit Union Federation of Korea. Park is regarded as an investment expert with experience across various capital market sectors, including insurance and asset management companies that manage large-scale long-term funds.