SK chief taking on high-profile role

By Cathy Rose A. Garcia

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won is preparing extensively for his high-profile role as the only Korean convener picked for the G20 Seoul Business Summit on Nov. 11 and 12.

Chey’s role at the G20 Seoul Business Summit is seen as an excellent opportunity to further elevate the international image of SK Group, one of the biggest conglomerates in Korea.

The G20 Seoul Business Summit, with the main theme ``The Role of Business for Sustainable and Balanced Growth,’’ will be attended by 120 CEOs and chairmen from the biggest corporations around the world.

Chey will be the convener for the new renewable energy working group in the Green Growth roundtable. The group will be discussing how to reduce the costs of renewable energy.

He was chosen as a convener, in recognition of his global background, his fluent English and SK Group’s active involvement in renewable energy development. Last July SK Group announced it was investing 17.5 trillion won, mostly in alternative energy and new technologies, over the next 10 years.

Chey is expected to introduce technical expertise in the field of new renewable energy, which is part of the green growth plan and vision of SK Group and Korea.

``SK Chairman Chey has been standing up for Korean business in international events. As a public diplomat, he will show great devotion during the G20 Seoul Business Summit to raise the status of the Korean economy,” an SK official said.

Since the end of September, Chey has been knee-deep in preparations for the G20 Seoul Business Summit. ``Chey’s desk is piled up with files and documents related to the G20, Business Summit, CEOs’ profiles, scenarios for the working group discussion, introduction speech and so on,” the official said.

Chey also enlisted the help of international conference experts, and formed a task force composed of four to five departments from SK Group.

During every meeting of the task force, Chey emphasized the importance of the G20 in raising the stature of Korea to the next level. ``We should only put our best efforts in our preparations,’’ Chey was quoted as saying.

While Chey has had extensive experience giving presentations in international forums, there is added pressure on him as the sole Korean convener because he is not only representing SK Group but Korea at the G20 Seoul Business Summit.

The SK chairman has attended many international events, whether as a keynote speaker or panelist, since 1990. In 1999, he was named one of the ``Global Leaders for Tomorrow’’ at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland in 1999.

At the 2002 WEF East Asia Economic Summit in Malaysia, Chey served as the first Korean co-chairman of the event. He also gave the opening address at the 2008 OECD Ministerial Meeting, and directed the Korean Night at the Davos Forum in 2009.

Chey has also been a director of the United Nations Global Compact since 2008. He holds a B.A. in Physics from Korea University and completed a Ph.D. program in Economics at the University of Chicago.

Under his dynamic leadership, Chey has successfully steered SK Group with its 60 units including SK Energy and SK Telecom, to become one of the top conglomerates not just in Korea but in Asia as well. In 2009, SK Group’s total revenues totaled $79.6 billion.

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