Cho Won-tae, chairman of Hanjin Group, has taken the helm as head of the Korea alumni association of the University of Southern California (USC), a prestigious private university on the U.S. West Coast.
According to the business community on the 10th, Cho was appointed the new president at the USC Korea alumni association year-end event held at a hotel in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, on the 1st.
He completed a master's program at the USC Marshall School of Business (MBA) in 2006 and has served as co–senior vice president of the Korea alumni association.
Cho is said to have taken the alumni president role based on the long-standing ties between the Hanjin family and USC dating back to previous generations.
Cho's father, the late Cho Yang-ho, former Hanjin Group chairman, graduated from the USC Marshall School of Business in 1979. He also served as a USC board trustee for more than 20 years starting in 1997.
The late Cho Soo-ho, chairman of Hanjin Shipping (graduated in 1979 with a degree in business administration), and Cho Jung-ho, chairman of Meritz Financial Group (graduated in 1983 with a degree in economics), along with Chairman Cho Won-tae—three siblings in total—each earned a degree from USC. Former Vice President Cho Hyun-ah also received a master's in business administration from USC, and Hanjin President Cho Hyun-min completed her undergraduate studies there with a major in communication.
In 2014, USC established the "Cho Choong-hoon endowed chair" to honor the contributions of the late Cho Choong-hoon, founder of Hanjin Group and grandfather of Chairman Cho Won-tae.