Samsung Names First Woman CEO Outside Founding Family In 86 Years: Report

Kim will now act as the president and CEO of Samsung Bioepis Co. The executive has over two decades of experience in biologic development and will supervise product developments

Before joining Bioepis in 2015, Kim was working as the principal scientist and later as the vice president at the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, the R&D arm of the conglomerate.

Source : Samsung Bioepis

Samsung Group has named a woman outside its founding family as the chief executive officer (CEO) of the company. The conglomerate appointed Kim Kyung-Ah to the post making it the first time it chose someone outside the family in 86 years.

Kim will now act as the president and CEO of Samsung Bioepis Co, reported Bloomberg. The executive has over two decades of experience in biologic development and will supervise product developments.

The promotion shall take immediate effect and is part of the company’s management reshuffle announced on Wednesday. Kim, 56, is a doctor in neurotoxicology from the Johns Hopkins University. 

Before joining Bioepis in 2015, Kim was working as the principal scientist and later as the vice president at the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, the R&D arm of the conglomerate.

Typically, female business executives in South Korea have struggled for a long time to make a name for themselves in the corporate world. Now, Kim Kyung-Ah’s appointment marks a change in the country’s corporate landscape.

CEOScore, a consultancy based out of Seoul, stated that female executives accounted for just 10 per cent of the board at 269 large listed firms in 2023. The consultancy’s score in 2021 showed that the ratio of women in boards has been increasing steadily as it soared from 3 per cent in 2019 to 6.9 per cent in 2021. This rise has been happening since the government revised a law in 2020 that bars a large listed firm from allowing a board to constitute all-male or all-female members.

Data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development revealed that the absence of female leaders in South Korean firm reflects the rampant gender inequality present in the country. 

Kim also became the second woman to become the leader of a Samsung affiliate. Earlier, late Samsung founder Lee Byung-chull’s granddaughter, Lee Boo-jin, was the first female to lead a Samsung subsidiary entity.