Genome&Company Appoints Hong Yuseok as New CEO... Maintains Three-Person Leadership Structure

Hong Yuseok, New CEO of Genome & Company
[Photo by Genome & Company]

Genome&Company announced on the 8th that it has newly appointed Hong Yuseok as the new CEO. Genome&Company plans to proceed with the appointment process of the new CEO Hong through the regular shareholders' meeting and board of directors scheduled for March next year. Seo Youngjin, who had been in charge of management along with co-founders and co-CEOs Bae Jisoo and Park Hansoo, will step down, and the company is expected to operate under a new three-CEO system with Hong as the new CEO.

New CEO Hong Yuseok graduated from Hankuk University of Foreign Studies and earned a master's degree in business administration from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He has served as the representative of Lilly Korea, senior executive in charge of strategy and business development at Eli Lilly's Emerging Markets Business Unit headquarters, CEO of Handok Teva, and CEO of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Korea. Notably, he was the first Korean to be appointed as the head of a multinational pharmaceutical company's North American branch, serving as CEO of GSK Canada Pharmaceutical Business from 2018. Recently, he also worked as CEO of D&D Pharmatech.

A representative of Genome&Company stated, "Based on over 30 years of experience in the global pharmaceutical industry, new CEO Hong will demonstrate strategic insight and leadership with a global perspective to commercialize the drug candidates currently in clinical trials and to put ongoing overseas businesses on track."

Meanwhile, CEO Seo Youngjin will resign as of the 31st. Since joining Genome&Company in June 2018, Seo has led the management division as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Chief Operating Officer (COO), spearheading the company's listing on KONEX and its transfer to KOSDAQ.

CEO Bae Jisoo said, "We express our gratitude for the many contributions Seo Youngjin has made to Genome&Company so far," adding, "The recruitment of new CEO Hong Yuseok is a timely decision to strengthen business development (BD) and expand global business, which the company currently needs."

Genome&Company is currently conducting clinical trials on microbiome and new target immuno-oncology drugs. In 2020, it acquired Cytobiocience, a brain disease microbiome R&D company, and in 2021, it acquired List Labs, a U.S.-based microbiome contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), among other overseas business initiatives.