Park Byung-gun, head of Daishin Private Equity (PE), took office as the new chair of the Korea PEF (private equity fund) Council.
The Korea PEF Council held a general meeting at the Plaza Hotel in Sogong-dong, Seoul, on the 22nd and appointed Park as the ninth chair. The vice chair post went to Hyun Seung-yoon, head of Stonebridge Capital. Their terms are one year starting next month.
Park graduated from the Department of Control and Instrumentation at Seoul National University and earned a master's and a Ph.D. in the School of Electrical Engineering at the same graduate school. Park later obtained an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in the United States. A former principal researcher at Samsung Electronics, Park has led Daishin PE since 2014.
In an inaugural address, Park said, "The PEF industry has become an important growth engine for our economy over the past 20-plus years, but we deeply reflect on the loss of public trust in some management processes," adding, "Now is the time to be reborn not only with returns, but as transparent, responsible, and warm finance."
Park continued, "To spread socially responsible investing (SRI), we will launch a related committee within the council as soon as possible," and noted, "We will strengthen both the industry's autonomy and responsibility, and swiftly draw up a roadmap to establish a trusted investment culture."
In addition, as the PEF Council lacks a legal basis for establishment and is effectively close to a social group, it is said to be pushing a plan to elevate the council into a binding PEF Association.