[Exclusive] 1986-born 3rd Generation Owner Becomes Youngest Newly Promoted Executive at LS

Young 3rd Generation LS Owner Family Members on a Smooth Path

A notable point in LS Group's 2024 executive appointments is that the young third generation of the 'Koo' family, the LS owners, have secured key positions. The youngest newly promoted executive is also the daughter of the chairman of LS Electric and a third-generation member of the LS owner family.

Koo Sohee, daughter of Koo Ja-kyun, CEO (Chairman) of LS Electric, will be promoted to director as of January 1 next year. Born in 1986, she graduated from the Marketing Department at Syracuse University in New York and completed graduate studies in International Trade at Korea University before joining LS Industrial Systems. She later moved to the business strategy team at LS Corporation and then transferred to LS Electric, where her father, Chairman Koo, serves as CEO.

In her current role as head of the DX Lab in the Vision Management Division (CVO) at LS Electric, she is responsible for deriving future business insights and driving new business performance through industrial data analysis in preparation for the digital transformation (DT) era. As LS Group continuously promotes strengthening global business and DT capabilities across its affiliates and expands executives and organizations in related fields, this division is effectively a core department.

Within LS Electric, the Vision Management Division is also known as a gathering place for the owner family. The head of the Vision Management Division is Koo Dong-hwi, another third-generation LS owner and the next candidate for LS Group chairman.

Breaking the LS family atmosphere where women's management activities have been limited, Koo Sohee, the first woman to join the company from the family, also set the record as the youngest new executive in this LS Group-wide personnel appointment. Some speculate that Chairman Koo judged that now, when LS Electric is achieving record-high performance, is the right time to promote his daughter to an executive position.

Vice President Koo Dong-hwi

Koo Dong-hwi, CEO (Vice President) of LS Electric Vision Management and a candidate for the next LS Group chairman, will move to LS MnM as Chief Operating Officer (COO) in this personnel reshuffle. Born in 1982, Koo, the only son of Koo Ja-yeol, Chairman of the LS Board, joined LS Electric as a deputy general manager in 2013, was promoted to managing director in 2017, then served as executive director of the holding company LS in 2019, and CEO (executive director) of E1 in 2021, achieving rapid promotions. He was promoted to vice president at the end of last year and moved back to LS Electric.

Starting next year, LS MnM, which he will lead, is a materials (non-ferrous metals) business considered a new growth engine for LS Group. Established in 1999 as a joint venture by the JKJS consortium centered on JX Metals of Japan and LG Cable, the company secured independent management rights last year when the group holding company LS acquired all shares after 23 years since its founding.

LS Group emphasizes battery, electric vehicle, and semiconductor industries, which mostly include LS MnM's materials business, making it a core part of LS Group's new businesses. It is also significant within the group as the first large-scale corporate merger and acquisition (M&A) case by Chairman Koo Ja-eun. At the renaming ceremony last October, when LS Nikko Dongjeon was renamed LS MnM, Chairman Koo described it as "an important affiliate that is the starting point of the value chain for electric and power infrastructure businesses and serves as a cash cow."

This has led to analysis that Koo Dong-hwi is gaining management experience by moving among major affiliates and the holding company, building capabilities to become the next group chairman. He plans to accelerate LS MnM's materials business and proceed with LS MnM's initial public offering (IPO).

Meanwhile, among the current third generation of LS owners, Koo Bon-gyu, president of LS Cable & System (born 1979), Koo Bon-hyuk, president of Yesco Holdings (born 1977), and Koo Bon-kwon, executive director of LS MnM (born 1984), also hold important positions.