Chung Ki-sun moves closer to managing HD Hyundai with his promotion

HD Hyundai Co., the holding company of South Korea’s No. 1 shipbuilding conglomerate, on Thursday shuffled its top management. In it, Vice Chairman Chung Ki-sun has taken a more significant role, bringing him closer to managing the entire group.

HD Hyundai promoted Chung to senior vice chairman just one year after he assumed the current post.

Even now, he jointly runs the conglomerate as a co-CEO with Chairman Kwon Oh-gap.

The group said Chung is now expected to oversee the group’s core projects and spearhead efforts in areas such as future growth, as well as eco-friendly and digital technology innovations.

Analysts said HD Hyundai’s regular year-end executive reshuffle this time signals an acceleration in the generational leadership change at Korea’s largest shipbuilding conglomerate.

HD Hyundai owns global No. 1 shipbuilder HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co.

HD KSOE, under its wing, owns three shipbuilding affiliates – HD Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., HD Hyundai Mipo Co. and HD Hyundai Samho Co.

The conglomerate also has subsidiaries such as HD Hyundai Construction Equipment Co., HD Hyundai Infracore Co., HD Hyundai Oilbank Co., HD Hyundai Electric Co. and HD Hyundai Marine Solution Co.

THIRD-GENERATION LEADERSHIP

A third-generation member of Hyundai Heavy’s founding family, Chung is the grandson of the late Hyundai Group founder Chung Ju-yung, and the eldest son of Chung Mong-joon, chairman of the Asan Foundation and the largest shareholder of HD Hyundai.

Born in May 1982, Chung Ki-sun studied economics at Yonsei University and earned a master’s degree at Stanford University. He also worked at Boston Consulting Group.

The 42-year-old senior vice chairman started his career at Hyundai as an assistant manager at Hyundai Heavy Industries in 2009.

He became the president of Hyundai Heavy Industries in 2021 and assumed the conglomerate’s vice chair role last November.

He turned HD Hyundai into a company with about 3 trillion won ($2.1 billion) in operating profit from a loss-making company three years after he became the president of the holding firm.

As a major family-owned conglomerate in Korea, HD Hyundai controls about two dozen affiliates across the shipbuilding, energy, industrial machinery and service sectors.

OTHER KEY EXECUTIVE RESHUFFLES

In Thursday’s executive reshuffle, Cho Seok, chief executive of HD Hyundai Electric, was promoted to vice chairman.

Kim Jae-eul, executive vice president of HD Hyundai Heavy’s shipbuilding business division, was promoted to CEO of HD Hyundai Samho.

Song Myung-joon, executive vice president of HD Hyundai’s finance support department, was promoted to co-CEO of HD Hyundai Oilbank. He will jointly operate the oil refinery with co-CEO Jeong Im-joo, who heads Oilbank’s safety and production department.

Kim Young-ki, vice president of HD Hyundai Electric, was promoted to the company CEO.

Thursday’s executive reshuffle requires approval at HD Hyundai’s shareholder and board meetings.

“The executive reshuffle this time is designed to effectively respond to the rapidly changing global business environment, including Donald Trump’s reelection to the US presidency, the war in Ukraine, fluctuations in oil prices and exchange rates,” said an HD Hyundai official.

“Next year, we will focus all our efforts on strengthening the competitiveness of our core businesses and securing eco-friendly technologies for the future,” he said.

Write to Woo-Sub Kim at duter@hankyung.com

In-Soo Nam edited this article.