Food Industry '3rd and 4th Generation 30s Owners' Accelerate Succession Training

Nongshim's Shin Sang-yeol and CJ's Lee Seon-ho among owners' 3rd and 4th generation accelerating succession
Promotions in key departments... management training
Strengthening internal position for business succession

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] Major food industry companies are accelerating generational change by putting owners from the 1990s generation at the forefront. Along with company-wide generational shifts, promotions of 3rd and 4th generation owners working in key departments are also speeding up.

Nongshim Accelerates Successor Training

On the 29th, Nongshim announced that starting next month on the 1st, Shin Sang-yeol, the eldest son of Chairman Shin Dong-won, will be promoted to Executive Director in charge of purchasing. After Chairman Shin took office, he made his first personnel changes, stepping back to a secondary role and transitioning to a professional management system. Lee Byung-hak, Executive Director of the Production Division, was promoted to Vice President and will serve as co-CEO alongside Vice Chairman Park Jun. The business community is focusing more on the role of the newly appointed Executive Director Shin than on Nongshim’s transition to a professional management system. Nongshim, which follows the principle of primogeniture succession, is seen to have started Shin’s management training. In the past, the late Chairman Shin Chun-ho also stepped down early from the chairman position and entrusted the CEO role to the current Chairman Shin Dong-won.

Born in 1993, Executive Director Shin graduated from Columbia University in the United States and joined Nongshim as an entry-level employee in 2019. He has been responsible for planning and budgeting tasks in the management planning team. The purchasing role he will now take on is a core task related to raw material procurement. Since raw materials account for a very high proportion of the total cost of Nongshim’s flagship products such as Shin Ramyun, managing raw material procurement is extremely important.

Likely Year-End Promotion for Lee Jae-hyun’s Eldest Son

Lee Sun-ho, eldest son of CJ Group Chairman Lee Jae-hyun, is also stepping forward in management. Born in 1990, Lee joined as a new employee in 2013 and was promoted to manager in 2017. Despite a career gap, having worked for over eight years and four years since his last promotion, a year-end executive promotion is highly likely.

Recently, he has appeared at official events, showing his presence. In September, he attended the partnership signing ceremony between CJ CheilJedang and the NBA’s LA Lakers held in the United States. This was the first time a 3rd generation CJ Group member appeared at an external event, preceding his sister Lee Kyung-hoo, Vice President of CJ ENM. Chairman Lee recently emphasized expanding the global platform business as a new growth engine. Since Lee is currently in charge of global business, this is interpreted as the formal start of his successor training. Traditionally, Samsung family succession has focused on the eldest son, so if Lee is promoted to executive at year-end, the succession process is expected to accelerate.

Generational Change Winds in the Food Industry

Orion and Samyang Foods are also placing 3rd generation owners who have just entered their 30s in key group businesses, advancing management succession efforts. Dam Seo-won, son of Orion Group Chairman Dam Cheol-gon and Deputy Manager of the Management Support Team, officially began making his name known externally by joining as Senior Deputy Manager in July. Born in 1989, Dam graduated from New York University and, based on his study experience in China, is currently responsible for collecting overall company management strategies and managing domestic and overseas subsidiaries.

Jeon Byung-woo, a 3rd generation owner and director at Samyang Foods, has been building his position within the company by joining management early. Born in 1994 and a Columbia University graduate, Jeon joined in 2019 as a manager in the Overseas Business Division. Last year, he was promoted to executive and took charge of the Samyang Foods Strategic Planning Division, establishing the company’s mid- to long-term strategies. It is known that his mother, Kim Jung-soo, Samyang Foods CEO who returned after a 7-month retirement earlier this year, is guiding his management training.

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