OREANDA-NEWS. March 23, 2016. Doosan Group Chairman Yongmaan Park endorsed Doosan Corporation Chairman Jeongwon Park as his successor at the Doosan Corporation board of directors meeting, noting that “it is the right time for the succession of the Group chairmanship.”

Until now, Doosan has combined the offices of chairman of the board of directors and Group chairman of Doosan Corporation, the holding company. There will be a general meeting of shareholders on March 25, after which an election of the chairman by the board members will take place, followed by the inauguration of Chairman Jeongwon Park.

“I’ve long been thinking about the succession of Group chairmanship, and I deemed that it is the right time as my tenure as the board chair ends this year. With that in mind, I’ve assigned my responsibilities one by one over the past few years to assist in delivering a seamless transition,” Chairman Yongmaan Park said during the board meeting. “I believe I have completed my important role of laying the groundwork for a business turnaround amid this difficult global downturn, as well as executing a professional succession plan to secure business continuity.”

Going forward, Chairman Yongmaan Park will help turn around the Doosan Infracore business as chairman of Doosan Infracore, and take up the reins as chairman of Doosan Leadership Institute, which has been established with the aim of cultivating Doosan talents. He will also continue in his role as chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI).

Since joining the company as an entry-level employee, Chairman Jeongwon Park has contributed strongly over the past 30 years to driving business change and enhancing the growth of Doosan Group. His seasoned experience over this time has prepared him well to be the next leader of the Group. As Doosan Corporation vice chairman (appointed in 2007) and Doosan Corporation chairman (appointed in 2012), he was part of the Group’s major mergers and acquisitions decision-making processes, alongside his work of turnaround management and identifying Doosan’s new growth engines.

Chairman Jeongwon Park joined Doosan in 1985 as a new hire of Doosan Industries (currently Doosan Corporation Glonet BU) and had previously worked at various Doosan job sites. His decisiveness has shone at opportune moments throughout his career. As an example, after taking office as vice president of Doosan Corporation in 1999, he led the drastic streamlining of the Trading BG’s portfolio to focus more on businesses that generate revenues, resulting in a sales increase of more than 30% the following year. More recently his business acumen has been demonstrated in the acquisition of the Fuel Cell businesses in 2014 – which has attracted more than 587 billion won (\\$478 million) worth of orders in just two years - and expansion into the Korean duty-free market in 2015.

Finally, but no less importantly, Chairman Jeongwon Park’s people-oriented philosophy is well-reflected in his nurturing of young Doosan Bears baseball players. He is currently club owner of the Doosan Bears, who are renowned for their ability to develop unknown players with potential into talented professionals, a key trait running through all of Park’s business philosophy.