Lee Boo-jin, President of Hotel Shilla, Ranked 82nd; Choi Soo-yeon, CEO, 96th
Entertainment Figures Show Significant Rise... Taylor Swift at 5th Place
Two Korean female entrepreneurs were named in the '100 Most Influential Women of 2023' list selected by the American economic magazine Forbes. Lee Boo-jin (53), president of Hotel Shilla, ranked 82nd, and Choi Soo-yeon (42), president of Naver, ranked 96th.
(From left) Lee Boo-jin, President of Hotel Shilla, Choi Soo-yeon, President of Naver. Photo by Asia Economy DB
On the 5th (local time), Forbes announced that the rankings were determined based on four major indicators: ▲wealth ▲media presence ▲influence ▲scope of activities. For corporate executives, factors such as sales, market capitalization, and number of employees were also included in the evaluation criteria.
President Lee Boo-jin's wealth was estimated at $3.8 billion (approximately 4.9871 trillion KRW) according to Forbes. Forbes described her as "the president and CEO of Hotel Shilla, one of Korea's top lodging and conference centers, and Hotel Shilla is one of the largest duty-free shops in Korea following Lotte."
Regarding President Choi Soo-yeon, Forbes explained, "When Choi was appointed CEO, she was only 40 years old," and "Naver's board of directors highly valued her problem-solving skills and deep understanding of the global market when announcing her appointment as CEO."
Rank 1 is Ursula von der Leyen, President of the EU Commission... Taylor Swift ranks 5th
Meanwhile, the top ranks in this list were ▲1st Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Union (EU) Commission ▲2nd Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank (ECB) ▲Kamala Harris, Vice President of the United States ▲4th Giorgia Meloni, Prime Minister of Italy.
However, between January and April this year, several female political leaders such as Sanna Marin, then Prime Minister of Finland, Jacinda Ardern, then Prime Minister of the Netherlands, and Nicola Sturgeon, then head of the Scottish Government, stepped down, causing a significant drop in the rankings.
Forbes also noted that among female entrepreneurs, Susan Wojcicki, CEO of YouTube, stepped down after nine years, and Martina Merz, CEO of Germany's ThyssenKrupp, resigned, resulting in both companies being led by men.
In this regard, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in an interview with Forbes, "Just because a woman was in that position doesn't always mean another woman can follow," adding, "We have work to do to ensure women are placed in positions where they can step into leadership roles."
Meanwhile, entertainers showed significant upward movement in this ranking. Singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, who was ranked 79th last year, rose to 5th place this year, achieving her highest ranking ever, while singer Beyonc? climbed from 80th last year to 36th this year.
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