LOTTE Group gets younger. As it scraps the headquarter (HQ) system, incumbent vice chairmen stepped down and 20 affiliate chief executive officers (CEOs) were replaced.
LOTTE Group carried out its "2026 regular executive appointments" on the 26th. The key word that sums up this reshuffle is a generational shift. Vice Chairman Lee Dong-woo (65), representative director of LOTTE Corporation, Vice Chairman Kim Sang-hyun (62) of the distribution HQ, and Vice Chairman Lee Yeong-gu (63) of the food HQ failed to retain their posts.
Vice Chairman Lee Dong-woo was promoted in Nov. 2021 in the group's regular executive reshuffle and won renewed confidence in 2024. He was once called Chairman Shin Dong-bin's "closest confidant." Vice Chairman Kim Sang-hyun is a representative outside hire. Kim, a global retail expert who served as P&G Southeast Asia president and Homeplus Co. vice chairman, joined LOTTE Group in 2022.
The HQ system, introduced at the end of 2021, will be scrapped. The system was introduced to speed up decision-making. But it was abolished on the judgment that it failed to function as intended. Stronger affiliate-level accountability is expected. A LOTTE Group official said, "We already tested this by abolishing the hotel HQ in Aug. 2023 and concluded there was no problem at all."
The key themes for the new figures leading LOTTE Corporation are finance and management innovation. President Ko Jeong-wook (59) and President Noh Jun-hyung (57) have been named co-CEOs of LOTTE Corporation. Ko was head of the finance innovation office at LOTTE Corporation, and Noh was head of the management innovation office at LOTTE Corporation.
There were many changes among CEOs. Twenty, equal to one-third of all CEOs, were replaced. The distribution and food institutional sectors, in particular, saw significant changes.
The CEO post of Lotte Shopping's Super Business Division will be taken by Cha Woo-cheol (57), CEO of Lotte GRS. Cha graduated from Kyunghee University with a degree in food processing and joined LOTTE Confectionery's purchasing team in 1992. From 2004 to 2017, he worked in the group's policy headquarters improvement office, and later served as a relief pitcher. A LOTTE Group official said, "After taking over as CEO of Lotte GRS in 2020, when management conditions were not good, he grew Lotteria and was recognized for successfully reshaping GRS's fundamentals."
The CEO post at Lotte Department Store held by outside appointee Chung Joon-ho (60) will go to Executive Vice President Jeong Hyeon-seok (50). It is a promotion to executive vice president one year after being promoted to senior vice president last year. Jeong is a "LOTTE man" who has been with the company for the past 25 years. A graduate of Gangseo High School and Inha University's German language and literature department, he joined Lotte Shopping in 2000. He served as head of customer strategy, head of sales strategy, head of the Jung-dong store, and head of Lotte Mall Dongbusan. In 2020, he became CEO of FRL Korea (operator of Uniqlo) and is credited with putting Uniqlo's Korea business back on track.
Seo Jeong-ho (56), head of the innovation task force and executive vice president at LOTTE Wellfood, has been named CEO of LOTTE Wellfood. Shin Yoo-yeol (39), the eldest son of LOTTE Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin and an executive vice president, has been appointed CEO of Lotte Biologics. Executive Vice President Shin will serve as co-CEO with Park James, CEO of Lotte Biologics, jointly leading the bio business, one of the group's new ventures.
A LOTTE Group official said, "With all vice chairmen deciding to step down, the entire organization has become younger. If last year the changes were centered on chemical affiliates, this year distribution affiliates are seeing larger changes." The official added, "It can be interpreted as reflecting the desire for change and growth, and for a younger LOTTE."