Ex-CEO enjoys second chapter of life as business educator
By Lee Min-hyung
Jung Heon, former CEO at SK Gas, introduces his vision as a business professor at George Mason University Korea in Songdo in the nation's western port city of Incheon, June 19. / Courtesy of George Mason University Korea
Jung Heon, former CEO at SK Gas, hopes to contribute more to society by sharing his vivid on-field business experience to talented young people worldwide.
“I believe it is more meaningful for retired businesspeople to pass on their experience to the younger generation, rather than pursuing material affluence by running small companies even after their retirement,” Jung said in an interview last month. He is now working as a business professor at George Mason University Korea.
Sharing the experiences of a successful CEO with would-be entrepreneurs will have an enormous positive impact on society, he said.
Jung started his career back in the early 1980s as an office worker, and his career led him up the corporate ladder at SK Group, the nation's third-largest conglomerate, in recognition of his acute business mindset. One of his most noteworthy accomplishments includes infrastructure development for T-Map, the nation's most-sought-after navigation application.
In 2009, he was named CEO of SK Petrochemical which was in a state of deficit due to a global financial crisis and fierce rivalry from Chinese manufacturers.
He pushed ahead with a two-track strategy of generating new revenue sources and cutting manufacturing costs to normalize financial instability of the company, allowing the firm to post a major turnaround the following year.
He then became CEO of SK Gas in 2011, the LPG trading affiliate of the group. The company was in a better and more stable financial condition than SK Petrochemical.
But he realized its employees did not look as happy as those from the previous company. That was when he introduced a humanities class for employees, inviting renowned instructors and famous poets each week.
“When I looked at the faces of the employees coming to work, most of them did not look good,” Jung said. “I found it was because most of them did not have enough time to look back on their lives and only worked. So I came up with the idea of starting the humanities education for them.”
That was when he realized the importance of education. This is why he decided to devote his remaining life to teaching students. Jung has been teaching a variety of business classes since his retirement in 2016.
He hopes to help young workers develop a global and forward-looking mindset which he said is the most important element.
“For upcoming classes, I want to teach how artificial intelligence (AI) can be incorporated into business,” he said. “AI is expected to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of most businesses. My short-term goal is to introduce it to the class as early as possible and teach students how they can take advantage of AI when running a business.”