Glass ceiling shattered at Naver

Han Seong-sook designated as new Naver CEO

By Yoon Ja-young

Han Seong-sook, Naver CEO appointee

Kwon Seon-joo, IBK CEO

The country’s top portal operator, Naver, has named a woman as its new CEO, breaking the glass ceiling in the IT industry.

Naver Corp. said Han Seong-sook, who is vice president, will be promoted to CEO. She will replace Kim Sang-hun when his term expires in March.

Naver said she will be officially appointed CEO at the shareholders’ meeting and the board of directors’ meeting in March. Its founder chairman, Lee Hae-jin, will also step down to focus on projects overseas. He will retain his title as a director of the board.

Han’s promotion is especially meaningful. She will be leading an IT giant that is the country’s sixth-biggest company in terms of its 28 trillion won market cap. And she is also the first female CEO not a member of a chaebol owner family to lead one of the country’s top 10 businesses.

Han, 49, majored in English literature at Sookmyung Women’s University, but came to be interested in computers after learning programming. She started her career at a computer magazine as a reporter in 1989. She joined Empas, a portal service, in 1997 when the country’s Internet services were in their early stages.

She joined Naver in 2007, where she used her expertise and experience in diverse corners of IT to make a huge contribution to Naver’s move to go mobile and global. Company officials said she has gained trust from not only top management but also young employees for her rational and passionate characteristics.

The female-friendly atmosphere of Naver also helped her maximize her potential and serve in key posts. Women make up about 40 percent of employees and 17 percent of executives at Naver, much higher than the average 2.6 percent recorded by the country’s top 500 companies.

Han’s promotion reminds one of Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK) CEO Kwon Seon-joo, who broke the glass ceiling in the financial industry by becoming the first female head of a Korean bank. Since her inauguration in 2013, she has been successfully leading the bank, achieving record-high net profit.

Kwon said she is glad about Han’s promotion.

“Naver is a company that represents the country’s most innovative businesses,” Kwon said. “I think the designation of Han as its CEO will lead to many virtuous circles in diverse industries.”

She also noted that effectively making use of female resources will help the troubled economy find new momentum for recovery.

Women’s economic participation rate stands at 55.6 percent in Korea, which is one of the lowest among Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member countries.

Women’s rights organizations welcomed Naver’s decision.

Korea International Finance Institute CEO Kim Sang-kyung said the glass ceiling shows signs of cracking with the promotion of Han.

“IBK chief Kwon crushed the glass ceiling in finance while Han would be the first to do so in the technology segment,” said Kim, who also doubles as the founding head of the Korea Network of Women in Finance.

“We should not be content with small changes and make more effort to become a women-friendly country down the road.”