Lotte Group chairman’s eldest son promoted to executive vice president

Shin Yoo-yeol [Courtesy of Lotte]

Shin Yoo-yeol, 37, the eldest son of Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin, has been promoted to executive vice president of Lotte Corp., just one year after he was raised to executive director of Lotte Chemical Corp.

The promotion was made as part of Lotte Group’s regular executive reshuffle on Wednesday.

Lotte Group held board meetings for 38 affiliates, including its holding company Lotte and conducted an annual reshuffle.

Yoo-yeol, the third-generation family member of the South Korean conglomerate, was promoted to executive vice president.

He will lead the newly established Future Growth Office at the holding company, focusing on global and new businesses.

His responsibilities include managing new businesses in bio and healthcare and exploring new growth drivers for the group. The junior Shin will also serve as the head of the Global Strategy Office at Lotte Biologics Co.

Yoo-yeol, who joined Lotte’s Japanese operations in 2020, was appointed as co-CEO of Lotte Strategic Investment (LSI), the largest shareholder of Japan-based Lotte Financial, in August 2022. He was promoted to executive director at Lotte Chemical in December of the same year.

His promotion was expected by many in and outside the retail sector, given the recent trend of promotions for the third and fourth generations of owner families.

The latest reshuffle focused on a generational shift.

Fourteen out of 38 CEOs of Lotte Group affiliates, including eight in their 60s, were replaced.

Woo Woong-jo was appointed as chief of Lotte Healthcare, bringing the number of CEOs in their 40s to three, including Lee Won-jik, CEO of Lotte Biologics, and Jung Hyun-seok, CEO of FRL Korea Co.

Kim Kyo-hyun, who has led the chemical business for five years as vice chairman, has been replaced.

Lee Hun-ki, president of environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) Management and Innovation at Lotte, will take over as his successor.

The top three figures in the retail headquarters - Kim Sang-hyun, vice chairman of Lotte Shopping Co, Jung Joon-ho, CEO of Lotte Department Store, and Kang Sung-hyun, CEO of Lotte Mart - were retained.

There is also a noticeable expansion of female CEOs.

Kim So-yeon was named as CEO of Lotte AMC, raising the number of female CEOs at Lotte Group to three. The two others are Shin Min-wook, executive vice president of Lotte GFR Co. and Kim Hye-joo, executive vice president of Lotte Members.