'Business Expert' Professional CEO Appointed at hy... Mission to Normalize Stagnant Business Performance

Vice President Byeon Gyu Appointed as New CEO
Experienced in Core Areas Including Sales, Marketing, and Investment Management
Expected to Strengthen Company's Sales Foundation and Discover New Growth Engines

hy has initiated a personnel reshuffle by appointing Byeon Gyeong-gu as the new CEO. Taking over the baton from former CEO Kim Byung-jin, who led the company for six years with the goal of becoming a comprehensive distribution specialist, Byeon has been tasked with bringing the stagnant business performance back on track. There is a growing expectation surrounding Byeon’s footsteps, given his extensive hands-on experience in key company operations such as sales, marketing, and investment.

New CEO of Byeonggu hy [Photo by hy]

According to hy on the 1st, the new CEO Byeon is a former accountant who worked at Samil Accounting Corporation and transformed into a sales expert after serving as the head of direct sales at Kyowon Group, an education business. He joined hy in 2014 and has since held major positions including head of sales, head of marketing, and head of investment management. Particularly, at hy, which has grown through a direct sales network, the head of sales is considered a core position. This role oversees a total of 10 branches in Seoul and other regions, including directly managed and franchised stores, as well as 520 sales points under them, and approximately 11,000 Fresh Managers operating within these locations. A hy official explained, "About 90% of sales come from the Fresh Manager organization, so the role of the head of sales who oversees this is significant."

In 2019, CEO Byeon led the initiative to rename the sales personnel, commonly known as 'Yakult Ajumma,' to Fresh Manager and also spearheaded the distribution of the ride-on refrigerated cart 'Coco.' He also contributed to launching strategic products such as the 'Jang Care Project MPRO3,' released to commemorate hy’s 50th anniversary.

Previously, since former CEO Kim’s appointment in 2018, hy has focused on diversifying its business structure and improving its constitution as a comprehensive distribution company. A representative example is the launch of the 'HY Labs' brand to actively pursue the B2B business of probiotic strains. The company also strengthened its online ordering system by launching its own online mall 'Predit' and expanded delivery services utilizing the Fresh Manager workforce. Despite these efforts, hy’s individual standard sales showed little change, from 1.063 trillion KRW in 2020 to 1.1 trillion KRW last year, while operating profit decreased from 110 billion KRW to 80 billion KRW during the same period.

To recover from this, CEO Byeon is expected to leverage his experience in strengthening the company’s core sales capabilities, as well as his background as an accountant who promoted corporate process innovation and mergers and acquisitions (M&A), to discover new growth engines for hy.

A hy official stated, "Following the appointment of the new CEO, personnel changes involving executives and employees are expected to continue," adding, "Along with the personnel composition, the direction envisioned by the new CEO is also expected to become more concrete."

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