HLB Group Appoints Head of People and Marketing... Accelerates Establishment of Professional Management

HLB Group announced that it will strengthen its professional management system by appointing chief officers for key divisions. Kim Jong-won, President and new CPO of HLB Group (left), and Hwang Je-i, CMO.
[Photo by HLB]

HLB Group has strengthened its professional management system by appointing chief officers for key divisions.

On the 31st, HLB Group announced that it recently conducted a group executive reshuffle, appointing President Kim Jong-won as Chief People Officer (CPO) overseeing the Group People Team, and President Hwang Je-i as Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) overseeing Group Marketing. This follows the earlier appointments of President Han Yong-hae as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Group Bio Technology and President Choi Soo-hwan as Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) of Bio Strategy, establishing a professional responsibility management system among the group’s C-level presidents.

The group stated that, through multiple affiliates, it is developing various new drug substances such as synthetic new drugs, cell therapies, and cancer vaccines. Under the leadership of each division’s chief officer, the group plans to strengthen bio-technology development and activate personnel exchanges and cooperation. In particular, as the anticancer drug "Rivoceranib" has entered the New Drug Application (NDA) stage for the development of a first-line treatment for liver cancer, the group is expected to establish an integrated global sales and marketing strategy.

Newly appointed CPO Kim graduated from Yonsei University with a degree in Economics and earned a master's degree in Labor Relations and a Ph.D. in Economics. After working at Shinhan Bank, SoftBank Finance, and Merrill Lynch Securities, he served as CEO of ACA Investment before joining HLB Group, where he held positions as CEO of HLB Power and HLB Global.

Newly appointed CMO Hwang graduated from Northwestern University in the United States and earned a bachelor's degree in Marketing and a master's degree in Advertising Marketing from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He was responsible for overseas marketing of the diabetes treatment "Avandia" at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). In Korea, he served as Head of International Business at Dong-A Pharmaceutical, Head of Global Business at JW Holdings, and Head of International Business at Youngjin Pharm. He joined HLB Group in March last year.

In addition to the group personnel changes, President Baek Yoon-gi was appointed as Chief Operating Officer (COO) overseeing HLB’s management. Former Vice President Kim Kwang-jae was newly appointed as CEO of HLB Global, and Vice President Lee Dong-joo was appointed as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of HLB Global. Furthermore, HLB Innovation, which recently changed its name after acquisition, newly recruited Lee Byung-geol, CEO of Verismo Asia, as Vice President overseeing Bio Strategy.

An HLB Group official said, “While strengthening the authority and responsibility of each division’s chief executive, we are introducing a comprehensive responsibility system to enhance synergy through organic cooperation among affiliates. We will focus on achieving results through more flexible and efficient decision-making.”