BMW Korea's former chief elected as ADeKo board chair

A former BMW Group Korea CEO, Kim Hyo Joon, has been picked to lead the ADeKo Network or Alumninetzwerk Deutschland-Korea. It is a network of South Koreans who have studied in Germany.

The group announced on Sunday, Feb. 19, that it had elected the new chief of the board during the recent general meeting that was held at the Goethe Institute in Seoul. ADeKo said that Kim Hyo Joon would be leading the board for three years which is the appointed term.

According to The Korea Times, ADeKo was established in 2006 and it has about 20,000 alumni members. They have lived, studied, and carried out research in Germany. It was said that about 5,000 of the members are Ph.D. holders who are working in various fields.

In 2013, ADeKo Network was registered as a corporation after earning the approval of the country’s foreign ministry. Since then, the group has been consistently contributing to the mutual development of both Germany and Korea through different exchange programs.

Before Kim Hyo Joon’s election, the other executives who served as ADeKo’s chief include Kwon Moom Sik, Hyundai Motor Group’s advisor; Kim Hwang Sik, former Prime Minister; Lee Ki Soo, former president of Korea University; and Kim Sun Uk, former president of Ewha Womans University.

Prior to being named as the network’s head, Kim Hyo Joon has already been contributing to developing friendship and co-prosperity of both South Korea and Germany. Currently, he is also the honorary chairman of the Korean-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KGCCI). He is also the president of CEO& magazine and a board member of the Seoul Forum for International Affairs.

Meanwhile, it was in April 2019 when he was replaced by Han San Yun as the new CEO of BMW Korea. Yonhap News Agency reported that Kim Hyo Joon joined the Korean unit of the German luxury car maker in 1995 as chief financial officer, and he has been the representative director for 19 years since 2000.