"Secure Core Talent" ... Chairman Shin Dong-bin's Special Order Leads to Massive Appointment of External Personnel (Comprehensive Report 2)

178 Promotions Including 96 New Executives... Double Last Year's Scale
Abolishing BU System and Transitioning to HQ System by Business Group

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] Lotte Group has made bold and comprehensive talent acquisitions, appointing former Homeplus Vice Chairman Kim Sang-hyun as CEO of Lotte Shopping and head of the shopping business division, and former Nolbu CEO Ahn Se-jin as CEO of Hotel Lotte and head of the hotel division. By replacing half of the leaders in charge of the group’s core businesses and putting externally recruited personnel at the forefront, it is analyzed that the group has clearly established a policy of ‘rewarding merit and punishing faults’ and ‘breaking the bloodline principle.’

Comprehensive Recruitment of Experts by Field

In this personnel reshuffle, Lotte actively brought in external talents with expertise in various fields. Kim Sang-hyun, former Homeplus Vice Chairman, and Ahn Se-jin, former Nolbu CEO, were appointed as heads of the shopping and hotel business divisions, respectively.

Kim, appointed as the head of the shopping division, is a global distribution expert. He joined P&G USA in 1986, served as CEO of P&G Korea, President of Southeast Asia, and Vice President of New Business at P&G USA. He later served as Vice Chairman of Homeplus and, since 2018, has been a professional executive overseeing Southeast Asian distribution and H&B as CEO of DFI Retail Group.

Ahn, appointed as the head of the hotel division, is an expert in new business. He comes from the global consulting firm A.T. Kearney and was responsible for new business and business strategy at LG Group and LS Group from 2005 to 2017. Since 2018, he has served as CEO of Nolbu at Morgan Stanley Private Equity.

Given that Lotte recruited external leaders for two of its four core business divisions, this personnel move reflects a strong sense of crisis over the prolonged poor performance. Jung Jun-ho, appointed CEO of Lotte Department Store and former CEO of Lotte GFR, also comes from outside the group, having worked over 20 years at Shinsegae Group. Lotte Shopping recruited him in 2018 when it spun off Lotte GFR to strengthen its fashion business.

Regarding this personnel direction, Lotte Group explained, “Chairman Shin Dong-bin ordered the securing of core talents who will lead change and innovation,” adding, “He emphasized an organization with openness that can embrace any talent and the potential for talents to attempt change.”

This break from the bloodline principle was foreshadowed when Chairman Shin called for innovation and reform at the second half CEO meeting (VCM). At the VCM, he emphasized, “The new future is not a continuation of the past. The success or failure of our business depends on securing core talents who can think creatively and drive work forward.”

Accelerating Organizational Innovation through Expansion of New Executives

In this personnel reshuffle, Lotte significantly increased the number of promoted and newly appointed executives compared to last year, following a strict meritocracy principle. Including 96 newly appointed executives, a total of 178 were promoted, more than double last year’s 86 promotions.

In particular, President Kim Gyo-hyun, head of the Chemical BU, who has delivered outstanding performance overcoming the COVID-19 crisis, and Lee Dong-woo, CEO of Lotte Holdings who is laying the foundation for the group’s new changes and innovations, were promoted to vice chairman.

Kim Gyo-hyun, who will serve as head of the chemical division, is the group’s top petrochemical expert. He was promoted to vice chairman in recognition of his achievement in restoring performance to pre-COVID-19 levels. He joined Honam Petrochemical in 1984, served as head of the new business division, was CEO of LC Titan from 2014 to 2016, CEO of Lotte Chemical from 2017 to 2018, and has been head of Lotte Group’s Chemical BU since 2019. Since last year, he has also concurrently served as CEO of Lotte Chemical.

Lee Dong-woo, CEO of Lotte Holdings, was promoted in recognition of his role in discovering new growth engines for the group and leading change and innovation. Lee joined Lotte Department Store in 1986, served as head of management support and Jamsil branch manager. He was CEO of Lotte World from 2012 to 2014, CEO of Lotte Himart from 2015 to 2020, and currently serves as co-CEO of Lotte Holdings, overseeing the group’s business strategy and finance.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.