Half of SKC's Outside Directors Are Women... Startup Founders Also Appointed

Strengthening Board Diversity and Expertise

SKC has recommended female entrepreneurs and startup founders as new outside director candidates. The aim is to expand the diversity and expertise of the board of directors.

On the 23rd, SKC held a board meeting and nominated former FedEx Korea President Chae Eun-mi and Hyperlounge CEO Kim Jung-in as new outside director candidates. Additionally, Chae Joon-sik, head of SK Inc.'s finance division, was appointed as a new candidate for other non-executive director.

Former President Chae Eun-mi joined FedEx, the global No.1 express delivery company, as a regular employee and served as the first Korean branch manager of FedEx Korea. During her tenure as branch manager, she was highly praised for her "communication management," memorizing the names of all hundreds of employees.

She also has expertise in labor management and global executive experience, having served as head of human resources and labor for FedEx North Pacific and vice chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea. If appointed, the proportion of female outside directors at SKC will increase to 50%.

CEO Kim Jung-in is a startup founder, a rare case in large corporate boards. Having worked as a McKinsey partner, head of Hyundai Card, and global operations head at Affinity Equity Partners, Kim founded Hyperlounge in 2020, a startup providing a management analysis platform specialized for small and medium-sized enterprises.

SKC evaluated Kim, an expert in strategy, finance, and mergers & acquisitions (M&A) with experience in both domestic and international companies, as the right person to rapidly drive business model innovation as an SKC director.

Division head Chae Joon-sik joined SK Group in 2005, served as head of SK Inc.'s Finance Office 1, and has been leading SK Inc.'s finance division since this year. He is regarded as an expert in finance and strategy.

All the new SKC director candidates are entrepreneurs. Increasing the proportion of entrepreneurs with diverse industry field experience on the board is expected to further strengthen the board's independence in major decision-making and its advisory and supervisory functions over management.

To recommend these new director candidates, SKC used the Board Skills Matrix (BSM) to objectively evaluate candidate expertise. Having solidified board independence by appointing an outside director as chairperson for the first time last year, SKC has continuously implemented activities to strengthen board independence and expertise, such as establishing an outside director council and introducing BSM.

An SKC official said, "We will steadily enhance the diversity and expertise of the board to make our governance healthier." The candidates recommended on this day are expected to be finally appointed at the regular shareholders' meeting next month.