Technocrats dominate major Korean companies’ leadership

Technocrats dominated the management of South Korea’s top 10 business groups, as technical specialists with deep understanding of business took up positions as presidents and chief executive officers of those major companies.

Most of the presidents and CEOs appointed this year held master’s or doctoral degrees, with 32 of 57 new top executives holding post-graduate academic qualifications, according to The Korea Economic Daily’s analysis on Sunday.

Among them, 19 executives studied different subjects, particularly business administration, at the graduate level. Most of them had majored in engineering at the undergraduate level.

For example, Ryu Young-sang, CEO of SK Telecom Co. and SK Broadband Co., earned a master’s in business administration from the University of Washington in Seattle, US, after receiving an undergraduate degree in industrial engineering at Seoul National University, Korea’s top college.

“Over the past four to five years, major groups have been selecting converged talents who have management skills based on engineering bases, as an understanding of both new technologies and new markets is required,” said an industry source.

LOCAL UNDERGRADUATE DEGREES

Most of the new presidents and CEOs held undergraduate degrees from domestic universities. Seoul National University produced 18 of them while leading private colleges Yonsei University and Korea University minted nine and five business leaders, respectively.

Only three top executives attended overseas universities. Hyundai Motor Group's President and Chief Creative Officer Luc Donckerwolke graduated from the ArtCenter College of Design's Switzerland campus.

SK Networks Co. President and Chief Operating Officer Choi Sung-hwan studied at China's Fudan University and Lotte Confectionery Co. CEO Lee Chang-yeop received his undergraduate degree from the University of Texas at Austin.

As for undergraduate majors, 20 of the top executives majored in engineering or the sciences, while the other 20 studied business or economics. The remainder received their bachelor's degrees in other subjects ranging from pharmacy to law.

Write to Jeong-Soo Hwang and Han-Shin Park at hjs@hankyung.com
Jongwoo Chon edited this article.