Shin Dong-bin Appointed as 'Young Challenger' to Lead 'New Lotte' Leadership (Comprehensive)

Lotte Executes 2023 Regular Executive Appointments for 35 Affiliates on the 15th
Young Leadership and External Experts... Focus on Change and Innovation for 'New Lotte'
Chairman Shin Dong-bin Emphasizes Change, Innovation, and Future Competitiveness for New Lotte
Young Leadership Takes Center Stage, Strategic Reallocation of Internal Experts
External Talent Brought into Confectionery Division, First External Female CEO Appointed in Members Group

Hoonki Lee, Head of ESG Management Innovation Office (President) at Lotte Holdings.

[Asia Economy Reporter Yuri Kim] On the 15th, Lotte held board meetings for 35 affiliates including Lotte Holdings and carried out the '2023 Regular Executive Personnel Appointment.' This move was explained as a strategy to secure future competitiveness and lead the transformation and renewal of existing businesses amid growing internal and external management uncertainties and the anticipation of an era of 'permanent crisis' next year. Shin Yu-yeol, the eldest son of Lotte Chairman Shin Dong-bin and Executive Director of Lotte Chemical, was also promoted, signaling the formal start of the management succession process.

The keywords of this personnel appointment are the full-scale introduction of young leadership to accelerate innovation, strategic reallocation of core competencies based on responsible management, and continuous recruitment of external experts. Lotte stated, "Chairman Shin Dong-bin has emphasized a 'New Lotte' during VCM (Value Creation Meeting) and internal meetings, reviewing the preparation status of new group businesses and ordering solutions to realize the turnaround of existing businesses." They added, "In connection with this, the 2023 executive appointments focused on 'continuous change and innovation' and 'creating future competitiveness.'"

Shin Yu-yeol, Executive Director of Lotte Chemical.

◆Full Deployment of Young Talent... 46% of New Executives in Their 40s

This personnel move has lowered the overall age of Lotte CEOs. In June, the era of CEOs in their 40s at Lotte began with the appointment of Lee Won-jik, Executive Director of New Growth Team 2 at Lotte Holdings, as the first CEO of Lotte Biologics. In this appointment, Lee Hun-ki, Head of ESG Management Innovation Office at Lotte Holdings, was promoted from Vice President to President, joining the ranks of presidents in their 50s. Lee Hun-ki joined Honam Petrochemical in 1990, served as CEO of Lotte Chemical Titan and Lotte Rental, and currently leads Lotte Holdings' ESG Management Innovation Office and Lotte Healthcare. Lotte Healthcare and Lotte Biologics, which will form an important portfolio for Lotte Group's future growth, were launched consecutively this year, and successful mergers and acquisitions (M&A) were carried out to discover various future growth engines.

Through this executive appointment, the average age of Lotte CEOs has decreased to 57 years, about one year younger than last year's average of 58. The president rank has become about three years younger. Among the new executives, 46% are in their 40s, and four newly promoted executives in their early 40s (45 or younger) born after 1978 are Chae Hye-young, Assistant Manager at Lotte Chilsung, Lee Yong-woo, Assistant Manager at Lotte Hi-Mart, Hwang Ho-jin, Assistant Manager at Lotte Global Logistics, and Park Kang-min, Assistant Manager at Lotte Trading.

Meanwhile, three senior executives who have led Lotte will retire from the front lines for the group's new leap and change. Song Yong-deok, CEO of Lotte Holdings (Vice Chairman), Kim Hyun-soo, CEO of Lotte Rental (President), and Ha Seok-joo, CEO of Lotte Construction (President), will leave Lotte after more than 35 years of service.

Song Yong-deok served as the control tower for innovation such as talent development and management improvement across the entire Lotte Group. However, it is known that he recently expressed his intention to step down, stating that the group's capabilities should be concentrated around young and new leaders to respond swiftly to the rapidly changing business environment. Kim Hyun-soo successfully listed Lotte Rental on the stock market in August last year and made various investments to transform it into a future mobility platform company. Ha Seok-joo led various large-scale domestic and international projects and worked to strengthen order-winning competitiveness and elevate brand status by launching the high-end residential brand LE-EL.

Lee Chang-yeop, CEO (Vice President) of Lotte Confectionery.

◆Accelerated Recruitment of External Experts to Lead Future Innovation

In this personnel appointment, Lotte focused on recruiting external talent with global competitiveness and expertise. Lee Chang-yeop, former Head of LG Household & Health Care Business Division, and Kim Hye-joo, Executive Director at Shinhan Bank, were appointed as CEOs of Lotte Confectionery and Lotte Members, respectively. This marked the first time an external executive was appointed as CEO of Lotte Confectionery, the parent company of Lotte Group, reflecting a strong will for innovation.

Lee Chang-yeop, appointed as the new CEO of Lotte Confectionery, is a global marketing expert with over 30 years of experience at global consumer goods companies in Korea and North America. Starting at Korea P&G in 1993, he served as head of Hershey Korea, CEO of Coca-Cola Korea, and led North American operations as CEO of The Avon Company, a U.S. subsidiary of LG Household & Health Care. Lotte expects Lee to bring overseas business expansion, branding enhancement, and organizational innovation necessary for Lotte Confectionery to leap forward as a global comprehensive food company, based on his excellent global mindset, marketing, and strategic capabilities.

Kim Hye-joo, appointed as the first external female CEO of Lotte Members, is a big data expert with extensive data analysis experience across various industries including finance, manufacturing, and telecommunications. She has worked at Samsung Electronics and KT and currently serves as Executive Director and Head of Big Data and MyData Unit at Shinhan Financial Group. Based on her top-tier data expertise in Korea, Kim is expected to utilize data from Lotte's 40 million customers to discover new business perspectives and lead digital innovation, strengthening Lotte Members' capabilities as a core future competitiveness of Lotte Group's distribution sector.

Lotte Rental is also in the process of appointing an external strategy expert as CEO. Lotte plans to actively recruit external experts again next year.

Iwan Shin, General Head of Lotte Group Hotel Division and CEO (President) of Hotel Lotte.

◆Strategic Reallocation of Internal Experts "Strengthening Responsible Management"

In this personnel appointment, Lotte strategically reassigned long-verified internal experts in each field to new roles. Internally nurtured talents were actively discovered and appointed as CEOs. Kim Joo-nam, Executive Director and former Head of Korea Business Division at Lotte Duty Free, and Kim Jae-gyeom, Executive Director and former Head of TV Business Division at Lotte Home Shopping, were appointed as CEOs of Lotte Duty Free and Lotte Home Shopping, respectively. Kim Joo-nam has a high understanding of the industry through roles in product strategy, head of Sogong store, and head of management support at Lotte Duty Free, and will lead the turnaround in response to changes and crises in the business environment. Kim Jae-gyeom plans to lead full-scale innovation beyond the existing home shopping domain as a media commerce leading company.

Existing CEOs with long-verified management capabilities and expertise are also being reassigned as affiliate CEOs. Park Hyun-chul, appointed last month as CEO of Lotte Construction, will be promoted from President to Vice Chairman due to his significant role. Based on excellent risk management and business restructuring capabilities, he will focus all efforts on resolving market instability and addressing Lotte Construction's current issues.

Lee Wan-shin, CEO of Lotte Home Shopping, was appointed as the overall CEO of Lotte Group's hotel division and CEO of Lotte Hotel. With outstanding marketing capabilities and a customer-centric perspective, he is expected to provide business transformation and innovation momentum toward becoming a global hotel chain. An Se-jin, the existing overall CEO of Lotte Group's hotel division, will move to become head of Lotte Future Strategy Institute, the group's think tank, focusing on establishing new strategic directions for creating future growth engines for the entire group.

Nam Chang-hee, CEO of Lotte Super, was appointed as CEO of Lotte Hi-Mart. Based on over 30 years of direct purchase distribution experience, he is expected to improve profitability and solidify the status as the number one specialized electronics company.

Meanwhile, Lotte continues to expand female executives to strengthen organizational diversity. Starting with the declaration of the Diversity Charter, Lotte has strategically nurtured female talent for about 10 years, resulting in 47 female executives this year (7.1% of total), an increase of 12 from last year. Newly promoted executives include Jung Mi-hye, Assistant Manager at Lotte Confectionery; Chae Hye-young, Assistant Manager at Lotte Chilsung; Han Ji-yeon, Assistant Manager at Lotte Department Store; Kim Ji-yeon, Assistant Manager at Lotte Home Shopping; Lee Jeong-min, Assistant Manager at Lotte Construction; and Yoon Young-joo, Assistant Manager at Lotte AMC, totaling six.

Hyeju Kim, CEO (Executive Director) of Lotte Members.

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