Head of SKC board doubles down on board-centered management system

Chair Park Young-seok [Photo by Kim Ho-young]

SKC’s executive board is actively discussing the evaluation of its chief executive officer and forthcoming appointments. Chair Park Young-seok, who heads the board, doubled down on a board-centered management system during a recent interview with Maeil Business Newspaper. With his background as a professor at Sogang University’s School of Business and expertise as the formal head of Korea Capital Market Institute, Park highlighted the board’s commitment to thorough performance evaluations of CEO.

“In line with comprehensive performance evaluations, the board will actively lead decisions on the reappointment or replacement of CEO,” he said. “The exercise of the board’s rights to appoint and dismiss the CEO, as stipulated by corporate law, is significant for the board. Accumulating these experiences will solidify a board-centric management approach.”

Current SKC CEO Park Won-cheol’s term is up in March 2025, with a decision on his reappointment expected by December 2024. The SKC board plans to make decisions regarding executive appointments based on CEO performance evaluations in 2023 and 2024. To strengthen the evaluation process, SKC formed an internal personnel evaluation and compensation committee within the board in May 2023, comprised of three outside directors, including Park Young-seok, and one non-executive director. The outside directors also communicate with SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, whose “governance story” aims to build a board-centered management system that exceeds global standards.

“Chey urged outside directors to dedicate more time to the formulation of mid- to long-term management strategies driven by the CEO,” Park Young-seok explained, adding that “discussions are ongoing regarding the board’s role in overseeing the CEO.” The board’s structure for discussions on topics ranging from mid- to long-term management strategies, annual business plans, and investments lies with the board’s future strategy committee, of which Park Won-cheol is a member.