By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
Lee Kyung-sook, appointed as the chairperson of the presidential transition committee Tuesday, has served as president of Sookmyung Women's University in Seoul since 1994.
Lee, 64, is known to be business oriented with strong managerial skills and is the first woman to head a presidential transition committee.
While serving as president of the school, she raised nearly 100 billion won last year, fulfilling one of her presidency pledges.
In addition, under her leadership, 21 buildings were added to the campus, which is now three times larger than it used to be, according to sources at the university.
She has been elected president of the university four consecutive times since she was first picked in 1994.
A confidant of President-elect Lee Myung-bak said the former Seoul mayor picked Lee for the job because she met the two core criterion: a non-politician with strong managerial skills and impressive job performance.
On several occasions, the President-elect indicated that he prefers non-political figures, who are business oriented, as leaders of the transition committee.
As a political science major, she graduated from Sookmyung Women's University in 1961 and earned a Ph.D. in international relations at the University of South Carolina in the United States.
Lee joined the university faculty in 1976. Her areas of specialization are Northeast Asian affairs and North Korea.
She attends the same church, Somang Church in southern Seoul, as the President-elect, sources said.
Lee also served as chief director of the Seoul Foundation of Women and Family and UNESCO chair on communications technology for women.
She served as a lawmaker of the ruling party from 1981 till 1985.
Lee and her husband Choi Young-sang, 68, an honorary professor of Korea University, have two children. Her younger sister Lee Sookja served as president of of Sungshin Women's University in Seoul.