Samsung gets first woman CEO outside founding family for 1st time in 86 yrs

For Samsung Group, this has been a year of milestones. First, a rare public apology from its flagship Samsung Electronics Co., followed by a bumper share buyback. And now, South Korea’s biggest conglomerate has named a woman that’s not member of its founding family as chief executive officer of a group company for the first time in its 86 years.

In a country where women business leaders have long struggled to make inroads into corporate boards and C-suites, the appointment of Kim Kyung-Ah as president and CEO of Samsung Bioepis Co. is a story likely to inspire the next generation of executives.

A doctor in neurotoxicology from the Johns Hopkins University, Kim, 56, has more than two decades of experience in biologic development and will oversee product developments. Her promotion takes immediate effect and comes as part of Samsung’s management reshuffle announced Wednesday. Neurotoxicology delves into the adverse effects of chemical and biological agents on the nervous system.

While Kim’s ability to break the glass ceiling may stand out, female executives account for just 10 per cent of the board at 269 large listed companies in 2023, according to Seoul-based consultancy CEOScore. That despite women and men being equally educated in the country. The proportion of women has been increasing gradually from 3 per cent in 2019 and 6.9 per cent in 2021, according to CEOScore. The increase comes in the wake of the government revising a law in 2020 that prohibits a large listed company from having an all-male or all-female board.

The lack of female leaders in South Korean companies reflects the widespread gender inequality in the country, which has the highest wage gap among developed countries, according to data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Prior to joining Bioepis in 2015, Kim worked as principal scientist and later as vice president at the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, Samsung’s research and development arm, focusing on antibody therapeutics targeting oncology. Kim becomes the second woman to lead a Samsung affiliate. Lee Boo-jin — granddaughter of late Samsung founder Lee Byung-chull and CEO of Hotel Shilla Co., was the first woman to run a Samsung subsidiary.

Samsung was started in 1938 when founder Lee opened his first business, a store selling dried fish, fruit and noodles, in the southern city of Daegu. Lee expanded into transportation, real estate, brewing and insurance, and moved to Seoul in 1947. He opened Samsung Electronics in 1969, running the company until his death in 1987. His grandchildren are now running the conglomerate along with professional managers after former chairman Lee Kun-hee died in 2020.