Samsung Elec names first female president under Chairman Jay Y. Lee

Samsung Electronics Co., the world’s largest memory chip and smartphone maker, has carried out its year-end executive reshuffle, marked by its first female president since Jay Y. Lee took the helm of the top South Korean conglomerate in October.

Samsung, Korea’s most valuable company, announced on Monday that it has promoted Lee Young-hee, 58, vice president of Samsung’s Global Marketing Center, to take charge of the enlarged marketing department as its president, under the company’s Device eXperience (DX) division that oversees its mobile business.

The promotion is the electronics company’s first move to tap a female to the president-level office. She’s also the first president among the conglomerate’s affiliates to come from outside its founding family.

Lee Boo-jin, the first daughter of the late Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee, currently serves as the president and chief executive of Hotel Shilla Co.

Lee Young-hee, who has no relationship with the founding Lee family, joined Samsung in 2007 and was promoted to the position of vice president in 2012.

Previously having worked at the Korean office of L'Oreal, a French cosmetics company, she is credited with successfully launching and enhancing the brand of Samsung's Galaxy line of smartphones, according to Samsung.

“We hope her promotion serves as an opportunity and an occasion for other talented female employees to challenge themselves to move up the corporate ladder regardless of gender and age,” the company said.

SMALL-SCALE EXECUTIVE RESHUFFLE

Lee Young-hee is among the seven new Samsung Electronics presidents, part of a relatively small-scale executive reshuffle, in the first C-suite and senior executive level personnel change since Jay Y. Lee, the de facto leader of Samsung Group, officially became the executive chairman of Samsung Electronics.

Among Monday’s high-profile promotions are the ascension of Vice President Kim Woo-june as president and head of Samsung’s Network Business Division; Vice President Nam Seok-woo’s rise to become president and head of Global Manufacturing & Infrastructure at its chip business; and the promotion of Song Jai-hyuk, head of Samsung’s semiconductor research institute, as the new chief technology officer (CTO) of Samsung’s Device Solutions (DS) division, which includes its mainstay semiconductor business.

A Yonsei University graduate, Nam joined Samsung in 1988 and has since worked at its memory division and semiconductor research institute. He is said to be one of the best process technology experts at Samsung Electronics.

Song received a doctoral degree in semiconductor engineering from Seoul National University in 1996. At Samsung, he has been in charge of NAND flash development in the memory division.

In the coming weeks, Samsung is also expected to carry out a mid-tier executive shakeup, promoting a swath of young people in their 30s and 40s in an effort to breathe fresh air into its rigid corporate culture.

A generational shift at the executive level is becoming an industry-wide trend in Korea. In recent years, other large business groups such as LG and SK have also increasingly tapped young, talented people for key promotions.

Last year, Samsung Electronics newly appointed 10 vice presidents in their 40s and four senior executives in their 30s, accelerating its push for a generational change in both top-level and second-tier leadership.

TO MAINTAIN CO-CEO SYSTEM

The latest reshuffle comes as Samsung faces growing competition against bigger foundry rival Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) and tech giants such as Apple Inc.

Samsung has kept its co-CEO system intact to ensure a stable management environment as the “New Samsung” under Executive Chairman Jay Y. Lee, whose Korean name is Lee Jae-yong, is still in its early stages.

Just a year ago, the company named Han Jong-hee, head of its visual display business, to the role of vice chairman and co-CEO of Samsung Electronics. He now runs the combined mobile and consumer electronics unit as well as the visual display business.

During the 2021 year-end reshuffle, the tech giant’s biggest leadership change in four years, Samsung also appointed Kyung Kye-hyun, chief executive of Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co., as a co-CEO of Samsung Electronics to lead the DS division.

On Monday Samsung Electronics did not appoint a new head for its home appliance unit, a position that has been vacant since Lee Jae-seung resigned in October.

Write to Jeong-Soo Hwang, Ji-Eun Jeong and Sungsu Bae at hjs@hankyung.com
In-Soo Nam edited this article.