Hyundai Motor Group has tapped Vice President Lee Bo-ryong, head of production at Hyundai Steel, as the new chief executive officer (CEO) of Hyundai Steel. The move is seen as selecting Lee, an expert in steel technology and the production institutional sector, as the right person to lead key new businesses such as building a steel mill in the United States.
According to a steel industry source on the 17th, Hyundai Motor Group plans to appoint Vice President Lee as the new representative director of Hyundai Steel through a personnel announcement to be made as early as the 18th. Current representative director and President Seo Gang-hyun is said to be likely to return to Hyundai Motor.
Born in 1965, Vice President Lee graduated from Yonsei University's Department of Metallurgical Engineering and joined Hyundai Hysco, a steel pipe manufacturing affiliate of Hyundai Motor Group. After Hyundai Hysco was merged into Hyundai Steel in 2015, he served as head of cold-rolling production, head of production technology, and head of research and development. Appointed head of the flat products business at the start of this year, Lee moved in July to become head of production.
Hyundai Motor Group's decision to appoint Lee as Hyundai Steel's new representative director is analyzed as reflecting a will to entrust company management to a specialist who best understands the steel business itself rather than focusing on expanding profitability through balance sheet improvements.
Hyundai Motor Group Chair Chung Eui-sun met U.S. President Donald Trump in Mar. and pledged to build a steel mill in Louisiana with an annual capacity of 2.7 million tons. On the 16th, as a follow-up step, the group disclosed that it would team up with POSCO to invest a total of $5.8 billion (about 8.6 trillion won) in the U.S. steel mill and begin production in 2029.
Given Lee's broad understanding of the structure of the steel business, technological prowess, production, and sales, expectations are that Hyundai Steel will play a major role in building a new steel mill in the United States and in boosting product technologies, including automotive steel sheets.
Hyundai Motor Group is also said to plan to bring Hyundai Steel President Seo Gang-hyun back to Hyundai Motor. After graduating from Seoul National University's Department of International Economics, Seo joined Hyundai Motor in 1993 and began his executive career in 2013 as head of management control (director-level), later serving as head of accounting management (senior vice president), head of finance (executive vice president), and head of planning and finance (vice president). He is regarded within the group as a representative finance expert.
Hyundai Motor's finance division is currently within the organization overseen by President José Muñoz. Muñoz oversees the management support division, HR division, finance division, brand marketing division, Korea business division, and overseas sales division. After Seo joins, there is internal group speculation that finance-related duties may be divided and shared.