IBK CEO keeps low profile
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Kwon Seon-joo, CEO of Industrial Bank of Korea
By Kim Tae-gyu
Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK) CEO Kwon Seon-joo, 57, made history last December by becoming the first female head of a major bank.
However, the female trailblazer remains committed to her trademark humility and low-key leadership style despite her ascent to the pinnacle of the domestic banking industry.
“It was out of luck for me to take charge of the IBK... I hope that I would not make big mistakes over my term in the following three years,” Kwon recently told The Korea Times.
She is a very good listener, which happens to be one of her core principles — she did most of the listening throughout our hour-long meeting.
Her other principle is not to repeat words to her subordinates
Despite having a very busy schedule she remains a very caring and responsible mother to her children.
“I recently had some quarrels with my husband on where my son will work as a naval surgeon. Eventually, I won,” she beamed.
Kwon’s appointment apparently cracked the nation’s corporate glass ceiling paving the way for the flurry of female appointments to top corporate executive positions.
The country’s financial industry is notorious for its male-dominated corporate structure.
In response to that she was optimistic, saying “things would improve down the road.”
After studying English literature at Yonsei University, she joined the IBK in 1978 and held a variety of positions in several departments such as foreign currencies, risk management, customer satisfaction, private banking and credit cards.
In 2011, Kwon was appointed to the position of senior executive vice president of IBK.
Despite appearing reserved and somewhat shy, she has a reputation for taking on tough challenges at work.
In the face of the unfair treatment of female employees during her initial years in the IBK, she defied the stereotypes of the day by diligently studying by herself to develop her capacity after which she requested to be moved to the foreign exchange team which was hitherto an exclusively male-dominated division.
She further enrolled for evening and weekend classes at the Korea Banking Institute (KBI) to hone her expertise. Beginning in 1983, she took all the part time six-month KBI courses through 1998. Thereafter, the stage was set for her eventual march to success.