Summary
Hanjin Group Chairman Cho Won-tae was born on January 25, 1976, in Seoul as the eldest son of the former chairman, Cho Yang-ho. He graduated from Marian High School in the United States, Inha University with a degree in business administration, and received a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Southern California. His sister is the former vice president of Korean Air, Cho Hyun-ah, and his younger sister is Cho Hyun-min, the president in charge of future growth strategy and marketing at Hanjin.
He joined Hanjin Information & Communication as a manager in charge of sales planning in 2003. The following year, he moved to Korean Air, taking the position of deputy head of the management planning team in the business strategy division. He climbed the ranks at Korean Air, becoming a director in 2006, an executive director in 2007, and in the same year, he became the CEO of UniConverse, an IT subsidiary of Hanjin Group. He was promoted to managing director B in 2008, managing director A in 2009, and executive director in 2010, before being appointed as the chief vice president of Korean Air in 2016. Subsequently, he was promoted to president in 2017 and became the president of Hanjin KAL in 2019. Following the death of his father, Cho Yang-ho, in the same year, he inherited the chairmanship of Hanjin Group.
Cho is recognized for his efforts to transform Korean Air’s traditional organizational culture into a younger and more innovative one. He is noted for shedding the authoritative owner image and bringing fresh change to Hanjin Group.
Since becoming CEO of Korean Air, Chairman Cho has promoted ‘communication management.’ In 2017, he established dialogue with three labor unions including the pilots’ union, contributing to the withdrawal of a strike planned for March 2017. He also improved working conditions by replacing old office chairs and liberalizing dress codes.
In June 2019, Chairman Cho was also inaugurated as the chairman of the board of the SkyTeam airline alliance, of which Korean Air is a founding member. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, he directly led the operation to transport Korean nationals from Wuhan by boarding the plane himself.
Timeline
▲ January 25, 1976 = Born.
▲ 2003 = Graduated from Inha University with a degree in Business Administration, joined Hanjin Information Systems & Telecommunication.
▲ 2004 = Assistant manager of the Management Planning Team at the Business Strategy Division of Korean Air.
▲ 2006 = Obtained a Master’s degree from the University of Southern California, appointed as the General Manager of the Material Division at Korean Air.
▲ 2007 = Executive officer at Korean Air; CEO of Uniconverse, an IT subsidiary of Hanjin Group.
▲ 2008 = Managing Director B; Registered director of Hanjin.
▲ 2009 = Managing Director A; Head of Passenger Business Division.
▲ 2010 = Executive Vice President.
▲ 2011 = Head of Business Strategy Division at Korean Air.
▲ 2013 = CEO of Hanjin KAL (until 2017).
▲ 2014 = Registered director of Korean Air; Senior Vice President of Business Strategy and Sales at Korean Air and Director of Group Business Support.
▲ 2016 = Senior Executive Vice President of Korean Air; CEO of Korea Airport Service and Jin Air.
▲ 2017 = President of Korean Air.
▲ 2017 = President of the Korea Volleyball Federation.
▲ 2019 = CEO of Hanjin KAL and Chairman of Hanjin Group; Chairman of the SkyTeam alliance board; IATA Executive Committee member (2019-2020).
▲ 2020 = Awarded the French National Order of Merit in Gold.
