2 CEOs tell zero-to-hero stories
Lee Soon-woo Woori CEO
By Kim Rahn
Woori CEO Lee Soon-woo and BMW Korea CEO Kim Hyo-joon are in different industries ― Lee as a banker and Kim, a car importer.
However, they have something in common: they started from the bottom to advance to the top positions in their respective fields.
They are now climbing higher ― Kim will become the first Asian named as a senior vice president of the German automaker, while Lee has been made chairman of Woori Financial Group.
BMW Korea said Thursday that Kim will be promoted to senior vice president for BMW Group on June 1. The promotion will come 10 years after he became a senior executive in 2003.
“He was the first Asian senior executive at that time. And now he is again the first to be a senior vice president,” a company official said, adding the total number of senior vice presidents in the group is about 50 worldwide.
The official said Kim may be the only chief of foreign car companies operating in Korea to hold such a high position. “Usually chiefs of local corporations in Korea are at the director level.”
Kim has been the Korean corporation chief since 2000. The promotion is a result of his achievement in making BMW Korea the No. 1 foreign automaker in sales here _ last year the company sold 28,152 vehicles, up 20 percent from the previous year.
He also set up the BMW Korea Future Fund as a part of corporate social responsibility activities. The charity arm supports the underprivileged through donations from customers and company dealers.
Such success has not been achieved easily but through Kim’s endless efforts.
He started working after graduating from high school, an academic background which usually does not guarantee highly paid, high-level jobs.
After working at several foreign companies’ Korean branches, Kim joined BMW in 1995 as an executive director when the local corporation was set up. He was then promoted to vice chairman in 1997 and to CEO in 2000, becoming senior executive for the group in 2003.
He resumed study in 2000, obtaining bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees.
From teller to chairman
Woori Financial’s chairman recommendation committee announced Lee’s nomination Thursday. He will work as head of both Woori Bank and Woori Financial.
Among candidates for the chief position of the nation’s largest financial firm, Lee was the strongest as he is currently leading the bank and thus familiar with internal issues at a time that the government, Woori’s largest shareholder, plans to privatize it.
He is the first Woori official to be internally promoted to the chairman’s post.
Lee started his career in 1977 as an ordinary clerk at the Commercial Bank of Korea, the predecessor of Woori Bank finally taking control of the bank in 2011 after a stint as executive vice president.
In selecting Lee, the committee recognized his career background as he is expected to be able to mediate potential disputes between the government and the group’s union in the course of privatization. He was once one of leaders of the union.
Lee said he would make efforts to restructure Woori in line with the privatization process. He said he would leave both the group chairman and bank CEO posts when privatization is complete.