[KT CEO Candidate]② Stable Manager Kim Young-seop... When Asked About Ambitions, "Premature"

Increase in Sales and Operating Profit During LG CNS CEO Tenure
Recognized for Successful Digital Transformation and Structural Improvement
Industry-Acknowledged 'Financial Expert'... Expansion of Cloud Business

Editor's NoteThe fateful week to decide the head of KT Group, with annual sales of 25 trillion KRW, has begun. KT will conduct in-depth interviews with three candidates early next month: Kim Young-seop, former CEO of LG CNS; Park Yoon-young, former head of KT's Enterprise Division (President); and Professor Cha Sang-gyun of Seoul National University. After the interviews, if a sole CEO candidate is recommended without any issues, an extraordinary shareholders' meeting will be convened. Approval of the CEO requires a special resolution at the shareholders' meeting, with over 60% of the shares present voting in favor. This article provides an in-depth introduction to the three candidates for KT, a company of national importance.

Kim Young-seop, former CEO of LG CNS (pictured), who made it to the final list of KT CEO candidates, is regarded as the most stable manager compared to the other candidates. Known as LG Group's 'financial expert,' he served as Senior Executive Director of the Financial Improvement Team at LG's Restructuring Headquarters, and held positions such as Senior Executive Director of Management at LG CNS, Vice President of the Management Headquarters, and Vice President of the Solution Business Headquarters. During his tenure as CEO of LG CNS, he focused on strengthening profitability through business restructuring, including the large-scale disposal of subsidiaries.

His time as CEO of LG CNS was when his management capabilities were most prominently demonstrated. Especially from 2019 onwards, the company achieved record-high annual sales and operating profits every year, entering a growth trajectory. In 2016, his first year as CEO, the company's sales were 2.9477 trillion KRW, which rose to 4.1431 trillion KRW in 2021, the year before he stepped down, marking about 40% growth over five years. Operating profit during the same period nearly doubled from 168.6 billion KRW to 328.6 billion KRW. Last year, the company surpassed 4 trillion KRW in sales for the first time in its history.

This performance is attributed to Kim's success in improving the company's structure by expanding core DX (digital transformation) businesses such as cloud, smart factories, and smart logistics under the banner of 'Cloud First.'

Kim transformed LG CNS with the ambition to become a trusted and recognized DX partner for customers. He set a goal to develop the company into an elite expert organization in the DX field. During his tenure, he stated, "Strengthening technological capabilities is a goal that my successor as CEO must continue to pursue." In 2020, he established the 'Innovation Studio' at the Magok headquarters, a space where customers can directly experience new technologies. Through this, efforts were made to resolve the '3불 (3 Bul)' issues customers face when promoting digital transformation: unclear DX goal images, uncertainty about DX implementation effects, and uncertainty about the technologies required for DX.

Kim also broke the seniority-based customs and established a technology-centered competency hierarchy within the company. He emphasized that the most important asset in company management is 'talent.' He fostered a collaborative culture with the slogan 'Innovation Together, Growth Together, Fulfillment Together.'

Even now, LG CNS is recognized as the top MSP (Managed Service Provider) in the cloud sector. MSPs are companies that support the migration of customers' IT systems to the cloud and provide optimal operational services. During his tenure, LG CNS undertook the project to migrate the systems of eight LS affiliates to Microsoft's public cloud Azure, solidifying its position as a leading MSP in Korea.

LG CNS's cloud competitiveness is also recognized by global cloud providers. Last year, the company earned the 'AWS Premier Tier Partner' status, a qualification granted by Amazon Web Services (AWS) only to partners with extensive cloud business experience in their respective countries.

Additionally, the company is praised for nurturing experts in advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), improving the company's structure which was previously focused on system integration (SI).

From a career perspective, Kim is a figure who would not seem out of place as KT's head right now, but some question his business management skills. This is because he faced criticism early on due to errors in a government social welfare-related IT system project built in consortium with small and medium enterprises. Although he succeeded in renewing his CEO term in March last year, he handed over the baton to current CEO Shin Hyun-gyun this year.

His background as a competitor and somewhat lacking telecommunications expertise are also considered weaknesses. Kim is an 'LG man' who started his career at Lucky-Goldstar Trading and worked at LG for 38 years. His telecommunications industry experience is limited to serving as CFO of LG Uplus from 2014 to 2015 for one year. Within KT, there are grumblings such as, "Why bring in an executive from a competing group who doesn't know the industry well as CEO?"

However, given his many years of corporate management experience and significant roles in the digital transformation field, which is regarded as a new growth industry, some evaluate him as a figure who can inject new competitiveness into KT, which aims to move beyond telecommunications.

In a phone interview with Asia Economy on the 1st, when asked about his aspirations as a KT CEO candidate, Kim said, "I am not the final candidate yet, so I have nothing to say," adding, "It is premature. Whatever I say now would be nothing but arrogance." He added, "If I become the final candidate, I will have the opportunity to speak."

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