CJ's First Open Recruitment Vice Chairman... Kang Shinho Returns as CEO of CJ CheilJedang

CJ Group 2024 Regular Personnel Announcement
Kang Shin-ho, CEO of CJ Logistics

The choice of Lee Jae-hyun, Chairman of CJ Group, was 'renewal within stability.' He implemented pinpoint personnel changes focusing on some affiliates urgently needing a performance rebound, signaling his intention to empower those who delivered results and promote continuous growth.

On the 16th, CJ Group announced its 2024 regular executive appointments, including replacing CEOs of major affiliates such as CJ CheilJedang and CJ Logistics, and promoting a total of 19 executives (management leaders). Notably, Kang Shin-ho, CEO of CJ Logistics, was promoted to vice chairman and will return as CEO of CJ CheilJedang after four years. Kang joined CJ Group in 1988 through the open recruitment process and has served as head of the group’s HR team, CEO of CJ Freshway, and head of CJ CheilJedang’s Food Division. Before serving as CEO of CJ Logistics in 2021, he was CEO of CJ CheilJedang. Kang is the first open-recruitment hire to be promoted to vice chairman within CJ Group.

Kang Shin-ho, CEO of CJ CheilJedang

This promotion reflects Kang’s achievements at CJ Logistics. During his tenure as CEO, he innovated the structure of key business divisions and improved organizational culture, contributing to the company’s growth by achieving a record operating profit of 480.2 billion KRW last year. Building on these accomplishments, he was appointed as the problem solver responsible for turning around CJ CheilJedang, a major group company with sluggish performance. Although the Food Division showed success in overseas markets, the Bio and Livestock divisions struggled, resulting in a 35.4% year-on-year decrease in operating profit to 819.5 billion KRW last year (excluding CJ Logistics).

Shin Young-soo, CEO of CJ Logistics’ Korea Business Division, will succeed Kang as the new CEO of CJ Logistics. Shin is credited with successfully launching the new brand 'O-NE' and establishing a future-oriented business model in the parcel delivery and e-commerce sectors. Last year, CJ Logistics’ Korea Business Division also achieved its highest-ever performance.

Most other major affiliate CEOs were retained based on their strong performance last year. Jung Sung-pil of CJ Freshway, Lee Sun-jung of CJ Olive Young, Kim Chan-ho of CJ Foodville, Heo Min-hoe of CJ CGV, and Koo Chang-geun of CJ ENM all kept their positions. Chairman Lee Jae-hyun is known to have deliberated extensively, even beyond the usual year-end timing for executive appointments, ultimately minimizing changes.

Additionally, a total of 19 new executives (management leaders) were appointed to lead CJ Group’s future growth. Six and four management leaders were selected from CJ Logistics and CJ Olive Young, respectively, where Chairman Lee personally visited last month to commend their achievements. Notably, six talented 'Hagojabi' young professionals born in the 1980s and one born in the 1990s were appointed as management leaders, reflecting CJ Group’s personnel philosophy that anyone can become a leader based solely on performance, regardless of age or seniority.

A CJ Group official explained, "Under the basic principle of 'promotion where there is performance,' the appointments were thoroughly performance-centered. Despite difficult management conditions, we made the smallest number of executive promotions since 2020 (19 people), considering future growth."

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