Director Seon Joo Kwon joined the Board as a financial expert with extensive hands-on experience in the banking industry.

Director Kwon began her profession at Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK) in 1978 and has been through more than a dozen branches of IBK. Her broad field experience enabled her to successfully serve various leaderships at the Head Office when she was called to head the Customer Service Center, the Private Banking Department and the International Trade Business Department, to name a few.

In 2010, she was promoted to Managing Director and Head of the Central Regional Headquarters of IBK. In 2011, she became Senior Executive Vice President and Head of the Credit Card Business Division, and later Head of the Risk Management Division.

Her career at IBK culminated with her last as the Chairperson & CEO. She became the first female CEO in the banking industry and was in the office from 2013 to 2016.

While her broad experience at the customer contact points gave her a deep understanding of the branch operations, her time at the Head Office allowed her to build comprehensive knowledge of the financial industry and the global economy.

Post her retirement from IBK, she worked with the Korea Institute of Finance (KIF) as a visiting scholar between 2017 and 2018, performing various research and consulting projects over diverse economic and financial issues.

She was named as the Financial Person of the Year by Maeil Economic Daily in 2015 and Korea’s Best CEO by Fortune Korea in 2016. Also, she won the nation’s Bronze Tower of the Order of Industrial Service Merit award in 2015 for her contribution to the development of the industry and the national economy.
Director Kwon earned her B.A. in English Language & Literature from Yonsei University.

Dr. Cho joined the board on March 24, 2023.

She worked for KT Group for 23 years, started as a researcher. She worked in various areas such as accounting, finance, pricing strategy, M&A, and investor relations. Her expertise in accounting and finance provided her chances to take CFOs in BC card, Ktds, and KTF which were major companies in the group. Her last position at KT group was CEO of Ktcapital.

Her challenge continued after KT and served 6 years as standing auditor for Mercedes-Benz Financial Services Korea. She became more flexible and to have broader perspectives in life as well as in work from experiences at Mercedes-Benz.

She also had served as a director, member of audit committee for 6 years, and chair of ESG committee for 3years at Pulmuone from 2016.

She received Ph.D. in Accounting from Indiana University, MS from University of Wisconsin-Madison, U.S. and BA in Mass Communications from Sogang Unviersity.

Dr. Jungsung Yeo is a professor in Consumer Science at Seoul National University from 1993 and joins the Board on March 24, 2023.

During her tenure at SNU, she also had served several administrative positions such as the Vice President for Educational Affairs, the Vice President for Planning & Administration, and the Dean of College of Human Ecology.

Dr. Yeo has expertises in Consumer Economics and conducted various researches on consumer issues & policies such as consumer choice, product safty and information disclosure.

She served as Presidents of two major consumer related academic associations which are the Korean Society of Consumer Studies and Korean Society of Consumer Policy & Education.

She took parts in government arena as a member of various committees such as National Economic Council of President, Personal Information Protection Commission, Advisory Board on Competition Policy, and the Committee on Public Institions of Ministry of Economy & Finance. Currently she serves as the Chairperson of Consumer Policy Committee.

She received B.S.in Home Economics from Seoul National University and MS & Ph.D. in Consumer Economics from Cornell University(1990).

Dr. Jae hong Choi, currently a professor of Multimedia Engineering at Gangneung Wonju National University, joined the board on March 25, 2022. Having majored in Electronic Engineering and working as a professor in the Multimedia Engineering department, Dr. Choi is an ICT expert who has been consistently advising mobile and platform companies and organizations on technology and innovation.

He is well-known for his skills in discovering promising start-ups and incubating them to evolve into established companies. He is also currently serving as the public ambassador for Seoul Digital Foundation. Prior to joining the board at KB Financial Group, he has served as the chairman of the Korea Mobile App Award committee, advisor for NHN Japan, and advisor for eSamsung Japan. Also, He served as the Head of R&D center of Cyberpass Corporation.

He also served as an outside director for Kakao, Korea's number 1 one social platform, for 6 years where he worked with Kakao from when they were a start-up to when they grew to become a large corporation. Dr. Choi has expertise not only in digital but also in the responsibilities of an outside director and corporate structure.

Dr. Choi received his B.S./M.S./Ph.D. degrees in Electronic Engineering from Hanyang University.

Dr. Lee, who joined the Board on March 22, 2024, is a Senior Research Fellow at the Korea Institute of Finance (KIF) and the Director of Center for International Financial Cooperation(CIFC). He had served as the Vice President at the KIF and a Senior Advisor to the chairman of the Financial Services Commission (FSC) in Korea. Prior to joining the KIF, he worked as an economist at the Bank of Korea (BOK).

His major field of interest lies in the macro-finance, monetary policy, digital currency and risk management. He advised the government and other public sector as member of Korea Post Steering Committee, Public Funds Oversight Committee, and Sanction Review Committee of Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). He also served as the outside director of many financial companies and financial associations.

Dr. Lee received his BA in Economics from Seoul National University, and his MS and Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Texas at Austin.

Sung-Yong Kim, who joined the Board on March 24, 2023, is Professor of Law at SungKyunKwan University Law School. His main areas of research and interest include insolvency, mergers and acquisitions, and law and economics. Prior to joining the faculty of the School in 2006, he practiced as an attorney-at-law at a couple of law firms in Seoul for 16 years.

Kim served as Commissioner of the Securities and Futures Commission of Korea, as well as members of several regulatory committees in the area of finance such as Capital Markets Inquiry Committee at Financial Services Commission, Sanctions Committee at Financial Supervisory Service, and Management Committee for the Key Industries Stabilization Fund. He also served as Chair of the Insolvency Law Institute of Korea. He was an independent director of Woori Bank and Seoul Guarantee Insurance.

Kim graduated from Seoul National University College of Law and received an LL.M. degree from University of Pennsylvania.