More Than Half of Kakao's Board Are Women
"Gender Is Just One Aspect of Diversity"
"Expanding Diversity Categories Enhances Corporate Competitiveness"
"These days, the most important aspect of artificial intelligence (AI), in which companies are investing their lives in research and development, is diversity. Diverse people must come together to solve diverse problems. Gender as female is also one element that constitutes diversity."
Professor Park Saerom of the Department of Industrial Engineering at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) spoke about the role of female outside directors in this way. She emphasized that the more categories constituting diversity?such as gender, age, and field?there are, the more competitive it becomes. Therefore, she believes there is no need to be overly constrained by the category of being female. True to her MZ generation (Millennials + Generation Z) identity, her answer exuded confidence.
Professor Park Saerom, Department of Industrial Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) [Photo by Professor Park Saerom]
Professor Park is the youngest outside director at Kakao. At the same time, she is the outside director with the longest tenure among the current board members. Born in 1990, she took on the role of outside director at Kakao in 2020 at the age of thirty. She was the 'youngest outside director at a major domestic company.' That record remains unbroken. As time passed, she entered her fourth year as an outside director through two reappointments. She is known as both the youngest and longest-serving director. Alongside Yoon Seok, Chair of Kakao’s Board and Professor of Business Administration at Sookmyung Women’s University, and Choi Sejung, outside director and Professor of Media Studies at Korea University, she forms one of the pillars of the long-serving board members. We listened to Professor Park’s experiences over the past three years.
MZ + Female + STEM Expert... Competitive Because Different
Professor Park was offered the outside director position in 2019, the year she joined Sungshin Women’s University as its youngest professor. When she answered a call from an unknown number, she heard she had been recommended as a candidate for outside director. At that time, she did not fully understand what an outside director was. She hung up and pondered. What moved her was the advice from her doctoral advisor: to conduct research that benefits not only herself but also society.
Professor Park said, "Until then, I had only thought about myself and my research, so those words resonated with me. I thought gaining experience at a leading IT company serving the public would help me conduct research for others as well."
She cited her distinctiveness as the reason she became an outside director. As a STEM expert born in 1990, her joining Kakao’s board brought diversity in terms of field and generation. Besides finance, management, law, and media, the company secured a technology expert. For Kakao, which serves all age groups, Professor Park is also a window to communicate with the younger generation.
"Outside Directors Are Not About Answers but Asking Questions"
This year marks Professor Park’s fourth year as an outside director. She is active in the ESG Committee and the Compensation Committee within the board. These are key roles that review the company’s sustainable management strategies and oversee the remuneration of executives and employees.
Although entrusted with important duties, she says she finds it enjoyable rather than burdensome. It is refreshing to encounter perspectives from other experts in a corporate setting rather than academia. The casual atmosphere of wearing T-shirts and having informal discussions also eases the pressure. She has maintained a 100% attendance rate at board meetings, which occur more than once or twice a month, over the past three years. Professor Park said, "At first, I hesitated even to ask questions, but now I enjoy participating in the board meetings."
She enjoys the role of outside director because she believes it is about 'asking questions' rather than providing answers. According to her, the role of an outside director is to make the company reconsider aspects it might have overlooked during decision-making processes.
This was before the ESG Committee was established. When kiosks began to be installed one by one in theaters and cafes, she shared the experiences of elderly people around her who found them unfamiliar at the board meetings. The ESG Committee, formed in 2021, was motivated to help digital underprivileged groups easily use the latest technology based on these stories of elderly people struggling with kiosks. Since then, Kakao has been supporting the digital transformation of traditional market merchants, helping them secure regular customers through KakaoTalk channels and conduct mobile marketing.
To Achieve AI for Everyone... Expand Diversity Categories
Her area of interest is 'AI for everyone.' To realize technology for all, diverse people must participate. Professor Park emphasized, "If the people developing AI are a homogeneous group, they will focus only on areas they are interested in. As academic boundaries are disappearing, Kakao’s diverse perspectives help research."
While the role of women is necessary for diversity, she believes it is not sufficient alone. In places like Kakao, which already have gender diversity, other aspects of diversity must be pursued. Currently, four out of seven board members at Kakao are women. With the addition of Shin Seongkyung, a lawyer at Law Firm Ryu, and Jeong Sina, CEO of Kakao Ventures, this year, men have become the minority. In such an organization, discussing gender diversity can become an outdated perspective. Professor Park said, "The term ‘female outside director’ sounds strange to me because I don’t feel much difference. I am simply one person representing one aspect of diversity."
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