Bok-In Baek was appointed CEO of KT&G Corp. at the company’s 34th annual general meeting held on March 19 in Daejeon. Baek will lead KT&G for another term of three years.
Baek joined Korea Tobacco & Ginseng Corp. in 1993 and has held key roles in the company’s core businesses, including strategy, marketing, global business, manufacturing and R&D.
As CEO, Baek focused on the growth of the company’s global business, expanding into more than 100 countries and executing a KRW2.2 trillion export agreement in the Middle East. Baek also achieved an export agreement under which Philip Morris International commercializes KT&G’s Lil tobacco-heating device outside of South Korea. On Baek’s watch, KT&G breached the KRW5 trillion revenue mark for the first time in the corporation’s history.
A hands-on leader, Baek has a deep understanding of the industry. His strong planning and management skills have allowed the company’s main pillars—e-cigarettes and traditional tobacco products—to grow simultaneously.
I will devote myself to seeking a new growth engine through business diversification.
“I feel a great sense of responsibility in leading the organization amid a management environment of growing uncertainties across the world,” said Baek in a statement. “With further sophistication of the overseas business, KT&G will establish a strong foothold as a global corporation, and I will devote myself to seeking a new growth engine through business diversification. I will also do my utmost to create social values based on ESG management.”
Also at the general meeting, KT&G appointed its chief of strategy and planning, Kyung Man Bang, as an executive director. Former SK Materials CEO Min-Kyu Lim was reappointed as independent nonexecutive director, and Jong-Soo Baek, former chief prosecutor of the Busan district prosecutor’s office, was reappointed as auditor and nonexecutive director.
Tobacco Reporter profiled KT&G in its July 2020 issue.