By Kang Seung-woo
POSCO has named its first female group leader.
According to the world No. 3 steelmaker, Liang Ho-young was selected Monday as stainless steel hot rolled (HR) product sales group leader. The position is ranked between board member and section chief.
The 51-year-old, scheduled to take office on June 7, will head the group comprised of four teams and 19 members.
Female employees account for just 3.5 percent of all the company’s staff ― 568 out of 16,390.
Ahead of this appointment, Liang, a mother of two, was thrust into the limelight in 2006, when she became the first female leader of the sales group’s exporting team.
She has a good command of Chinese, and a reputation as POSCO’s representative China specialist.
Liang attended Chinese middle and high schools in Korea on the suggestion of her father who forecast the rise of China and majored in Chinese language and literature at Yonsei University and the graduate school of Seoul National University. She was also a professor at a university in Taiwan. In recognition of her career, she was hired by POSCO in October 1993.
Liang has also translated several Chinese books into Korean.
“Although I am glad (to get promoted), I also feel a heavy responsibility,” she said.
“As the first female group leader, I want to be a role model for younger female employees as well as a guide in their worklife.”