Lotte’s CEO reshuffle prioritizes young leadership, outside experts

Lee Hoon-ki, Shin Yoo-yeol [Source : Lotte Group]

Lotte Group conducted an annual reshuffle of CEOs and executive posts for 35 affiliates on Thursday in a bid to lend fresh impetus for business improvement and innovation with young leaders and external experts.

With this year’s shake-up, the average age of CEOs at South Korea’s fifth-largest conglomerate, was down to 57 from 58 a year ago, with those in president posts becoming younger by three years.

Executive vice president Lee Hoon-ki, who leads Lotte Holdings’ ESG Management Innovation Office and Lotte Healthcare, was promoted to president, joining the group’s short line of presidents in their 50s. Lee joined Honam Petrochemical in 1990 and served as CEO of Lotte Chemical Titan and Lotte Rental.

Among the newly promoted executives, Shin Yoo-yeol, an unregistered executive at Lotte Chemical’s Japanese unit, who is the eldest son of Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin, was advanced to vice president of Lotte Chemical from deputy vice president. Shin, born in 1986, joined Lotte Japan and Lotte Holdings Japan as general manager in 2020.

Lotte Group also continued to recruit outside experts for organizational reform by appointing Lee Chang-yeop, former head of the LG Household & Healthcare business division, to lead Lotte Confectionery, and Kim Hye-joo, managing director of Shinhan Bank, for Lotte Members. This is the first time that an outsider has been recruited as CEO of Lotte Confectionery, the root company of Lotte Group, reflecting Chairman Shin Dong-bin’s strong will for change and innovation.

Lee Chang-yeop, Kim Hye-joo [Source : Lotte Group]

Lee Chang-yeop is a global marketing expert with a 30-year career at global consumer goods companies such as P&G Korea, Hershey Korea and Coca-Cola Korea.

Kim Hye-joo is the first woman from outside to head Lotte Members. She is a big data expert who worked for Samsung Electronics and KT and is currently the head of Shinhan Financial Group’s big data division and MyData Unit.

Kim Joo-nam, former executive director of Lotte Duty Free’s Korean business division, and Kim Jae-gyeom, former executive director of Lotte Home Shopping’s TV division, were named as CEO of Lotte Duty Free and CEO of Lotte Home Shopping, respectively.

Lee Wan-shin, CEO of Lotte Homeshopping, will move to CEO of the group’s hotel and service-related businesses, while current head Ahn Se-jin will lead Lotte Group’s think tank, Lotte Institute of Economy & Business Strategy, responsible for establishing new strategic directions to create future growth engines. Nam Chang-hee, CEO of Lotte Supermarket, was appointed CEO of Lotte Hi-Mart.