[CEO Rivals] Hwang Hyun-sik, LG Uplus CEO, Truly Devoted to His 'Jjin Fans'

First LGU+ CEO from Internal Ranks... Telecom and Sales Expert
'Outstanding' Pursuit of Customer Satisfaction Leads to Subscriber Growth and Lower Churn
Challenges Include Security Enhancement and U+3.0 Strategy Implementation

Editor's NoteThe CEOs of the three major telecommunications companies, who divide the Korean telecom market into three parts, are both colleagues running together toward Korea, the world's number one information technology powerhouse, and competitors and rivals engaged in fierce market battles. For a while, the three CEOs could neither cooperate nor compete properly due to KT's inability to appoint a new CEO. However, the situation changed with the emergence of Kim Young-seop as KT's new CEO. Beyond telecommunications companies, the common challenge for the three companies is to evolve into global big tech firms integrating digital technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI). Who will solve this challenge with better results? The signal for intense competition has been fired again. We conducted an in-depth analysis of the three CEOs, who are both colleagues and rivals. This installment focuses on Hwang Hyun-sik, CEO of LG Uplus.

Hwang Hyun-sik, CEO of LG Uplus, is the first person to be promoted internally to the CEO position at LG Uplus. He joined the LG Chairman's Office in 1991, moved to the consulting firm PW&C in 1997, but returned in 1999 as the head of the business development team at LG Telecom, the predecessor of LG Uplus. Except for serving as head of LG's management team in 2010, he has been with LG Uplus continuously. He has held positions such as General Manager of the Gangnam Business Division (Senior Executive Director), Head of Sales Strategy (Senior Executive Director), Head of MS (Mass Service) Division (Executive Director), Head of PS (Personal Service) Division (Vice President), and Head of Consumer Business (President). Born in 1962 in Incheon Metropolitan City, he is a CEO with a background in science and engineering, having graduated from Bupyeong High School, Hanyang University with a degree in Industrial Engineering (class of 1980), and earned a master's degree in Industrial Engineering from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST).

Having spent over 20 years at LG Uplus, he is an expert in telecommunications and specifically in LG Uplus. Even for a CEO, it is difficult to know every detail of business areas they have not been directly responsible for. However, Hwang is recognized for his deep understanding and extensive knowledge across the telecommunications industry, beyond his expertise in sales and B2C (business-to-consumer) sectors. Employees say, "When reporting to CEO Hwang, there is no need to explain the background of complex technical issues." His reporting style reflects his pursuit of efficiency and practicality in all aspects of work. He is a pragmatic CEO.

CEO Hwang is a self-proclaimed content enthusiast. He consumes a wide variety of video content and watches movies whenever he has free time on weekends. He particularly likes the movie 'The Matrix 1,' which he has watched 7 to 8 times. Through this, he reflected on human creativity. He also gained new perspectives on leadership by watching the submarine-based movie 'Crimson Tide,' which depicts conflicts among commanders, multiple times. This background contributed to LG Uplus being the first among the three mobile carriers to successfully partner with global online video services (OTT) such as Netflix and Disney Plus IPTV. LG Uplus is also prominent in kids' OTT services and launched the content brand Studio X+U last year. Content is a key pillar in the 'U+3.0 Strategy' with four major initiatives announced by CEO Hwang last year.

Customer-centric management philosophy is also one of the words that symbolize him. The so-called 'Jjinpan (true fan)' strategy is one example. Although it sounds like a term that might have originated from the vibrant MZ generation (Millennials and Generation Z) employees, CEO Hwang was the first in the company to use the term 'Jjinpan.' In his first New Year's address after taking office in January 2021, he said, "We must turn customers into 'Jjinpan' who promote our services to those around them," and has repeatedly emphasized the importance of creating true fans in official statements. Recently, his emphasis on 'excellence' aligns with the pursuit of differentiated customer satisfaction. CEO Hwang defines LG Uplus as a 'customer-centric company that thinks only of customers.'

CEO Hwang's customer experience innovation strategy is also reflected in numbers. LG Uplus surpassed 1 million net new subscribers in a quarter for the first time in 10 years in the second quarter. This is about five times the number compared to 2021, his first year in office. Additionally, the churn rate, which was around 1.4% until 2021, dropped to about 1.1% starting last year. Given the characteristics of the Korean telecom market, an increase in LG Uplus subscribers means a decrease in subscribers for other telecom companies.

The challenge ahead for CEO Hwang in the second half of the year is to leverage past achievements to boost final performance. Unlike Kim Young-seop, who took office as KT CEO on the 30th, CEO Hwang and Yoo Young-sang, CEO of SK Telecom, will see their terms end at the shareholders' meeting in March next year. To be reappointed in this year's year-end group personnel reshuffle, they must maximize their achievements during the second half of the year. In particular, addressing the security incident that occurred earlier this year is urgent. To this end, a security organization was established directly under the CEO, and investment in information security was tripled to 100 billion KRW. Furthermore, the U+3.0 growth strategy must be fully implemented. In September last year, CEO Hwang announced the mid-to-long-term growth strategy 'U+3.0,' centered on four major platforms: Lifestyle (telecommunications and subscriptions), Play (OTT and content), Growth Care (Kids' Country), and Web 3.0 (future technologies). The plan is to increase corporate value to 12 trillion KRW by 2027.

CEO Hwang said, "LG Uplus will go beyond telecommunications to capture more customer data through new platform services and expand its business areas based on this."