CJ Group promotes chairman’s son, signals 3rd-generation succession

South Korea's CJ Group promoted the group chairman's son Lee Sun-ho to a new executive-level position Monday, paving the way for a third-generation hereditary succession. 

YOUNG BLOOD AT EXECUTIVE LEVEL

A total of 53 employees received the promotion to executive-level roles, a record headcount, during the group's latest round of annual personnel reshuffle.

In particular, those born in or after 1980 accounted for 15% of the entire promotion, or eight to be precise, signaling an era of executives in their 40s or under. Four of the executives are in their 30s. 

The average age for those newly promoted to the executive posts is 45.6 years of age. 

By gender, there are 11 newly appointed female executives compared to 42 male. 

From this round of personnel appointments, CJ Group has categorized six different executive-level positions into a new, single title of Managerial Leader. The six former titles are: CEO/ President, Executive Vice President, Vice President, Deputy Vice President, Director and Deputy Director.

The organizational restructure comes in an effort to find young talent early and groom them into effective leaders. In theory, those included in the new Managerial Leader category can directly become a CEO based on performance without spending years climbing the corporate ladder. 

CJ Group recruited from the younger demographic in the field of new businesses such as white bio and digital contents. White bio is the business of replacing materials from the chemicals industry with renewables such as plants, microorganisms, and enzymes. 

CEMENTING HEREDITARY SUCCESSION

Ahead of the annual HR reshuffle, CJ Group Chairman Lee Jay-hyun said he would like to entrust opportunities to talented employees and allow them to lead future growth. 

His firstborn son Lee Sun-ho was included in the Managerial Leader corps. Brought back to the group earlier this year, Lee has since then been working within the global business team of CJ CheilJedang Corp., a food and biotech company with several household brands. 

Lee was recognized for his efforts in growing the overseas sales of CJ CheilJedang’s Bibigo brand products and more. Going forward, he will be in charge of strategizing the food company’s global growth. The 32-year-old was let go in 2019 after receiving a suspended jail sentence on drug charges; he was reinstated this January. 

Amid the reshuffle, CEOs at major CJ Group companies remained in their posts. Just a year ago, the conglomerate appointed new chief executive officers at CJ CheilJedang, CJ Logistics, CN ENM and a few more.

Write to Jong-kwan Park at pjk@hankyung.com
Jee Abbey Lee edited this article.