Kim Sunhee, the First Female Chairperson of the Board at SK Inc.
Expresses Confidence in SK Group's Strategic AI Investments at Icheon Forum 2025
Kim Sunhee, Vice Chairperson and CEO of Maeil Dairies, who is also the first female Chairperson of the Board at SK Inc., drew attention at the 'Icheon Forum 2025' by sitting between Chairman Choi Taewon and Senior Vice Chairman Choi Jaewon. Chairperson Kim expressed her confidence in the investment direction SK Group has set toward new AI industries.
Choi Taewon, Chairman of SK, is attending the 'Icheon Forum 2025' held on the 18th at Walkerhill Hotel in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul. From the left in the photo: Choi Taewon, Chairman of SK; Kim Sunhee, Chairperson of the Board of SK Inc.; Choi Jaewon, Senior Vice Chairman of SK; Kim Yonghak, Chairperson of the Board of SK Telecom. SK Photo by SK
Chairperson Kim attended SK Group's 'Icheon Forum 2025' held on August 18 at the Grand Walkerhill in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul. Earlier in March, Kim was elected as SK Inc.'s first female Chairperson of the Board. At the time, her appointment was considered remarkable across the business community, as she was an active professional executive assuming the chairperson role.
On this day, Chairperson Kim told our reporters, "I believe SK is doing an excellent job with rebalancing, as the company is quickly securing resources and demonstrating the basic capabilities needed for strategic investment."
She also mentioned the theme of the forum, saying, "Given that the theme is building an AI ecosystem, it seems SK is firmly establishing a strategic direction." This is interpreted as an expression of her confidence in SK's future vision as Chairperson of the Board.
From August 18 to 20, SK Group is holding the 'Icheon Forum 2025' over three days to explore practical measures for advancing strategic business initiatives based on AI, innovating the way employees work, and strengthening core competitiveness.
The main agenda of this year's Icheon Forum, now in its ninth year, is 'AI and Digital Transformation (DT)'. In-depth discussions are being held on topics such as strategies to vitalize Korea's AI industry ecosystem and SK's role, innovation cases in industrial sites based on AI/DT, and examples of changes in work methods driven by AI.
In particular, Chairperson Kim remarked that SK Inc. outside director Yoon Chi-won, who spoke at the forum, provided an excellent explanation of SK Group's current status from a third-party perspective, adding, "I share exactly the same views as Director Yoon." Director Yoon suggested that, in order to successfully implement SK Group's new strategy of building AI infrastructure, the company should accelerate portfolio adjustment and operational improvement (OI), and focus solely on execution after establishing new strategies.
Meanwhile, when asked about the significance of being SK Inc.'s 'first female chairperson,' Kim emphasized, "I believe SK Group seeks talent from an outstanding pool of candidates, regardless of gender," stressing that the company appoints talent based solely on ability and competence, not gender.
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