Hanmi Pharm Names Hwang Sang-yeon as CEO Candidate, Signaling Possible First Outside Hire

Hanmi Science, the holding company of the Hanmi Group, is moving to replace the CEO of Hanmi Pharmaceutical and reshape the company’s board. It has nominated Hwang Sang-yeon, head of the private equity division at HB Investment, as a new inside director to succeed CEO Park Jae-hyun, in a bid to stabilize management. If Hwang’s appointment is confirmed after a shareholders meeting scheduled for later this month, Hanmi Pharmaceutical would be led by an externally recruited CEO for the first time since its founding.

Hanmi Science and Hanmi Pharmaceutical said they each held board meetings on March 12 and approved an agenda item for Hanmi Pharmaceutical’s shareholders meeting later this month to nominate Hwang as a new director candidate. Hwang is expected to be selected as CEO after the regular shareholders meeting and a subsequent board meeting.

Born in 1970, Hwang earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemistry from Seoul National University. He previously served as head of the research center at Mirae Asset Securities and as chief investment officer at Allianz Global Investors, and later became CEO of Chong Kun Dang Holdings. In 2025, he joined venture capital firm HB Investment as head (vice president) of its newly established private equity fund unit.

The market expects that, with experience in both the biotech industry and capital markets, he will help coordinate complex interests between major shareholders and management and strengthen the company’s competitiveness.

Hanmi Pharmaceutical’s current and former CEOs — Lee Kwan-soon, Woo Jong-soo, Kwon Se-chang and Park — were professional managers promoted internally who led the company’s growth over decades.

Hanmi Pharmaceutical’s board currently has 10 members: four inside directors — Park Jae-hyun, Lim Jong-hoon, Park Myung-hee and Choi In-young; four outside directors — Yoon Do-heum, Kim Tae-yoon, Lee Young-gu and Yoon Young-kak; and two other non-executive directors — Shin Dong-kuk and Kim Jae-kyo. The terms of five members — Park Jae-hyun, Park Myung-hee, Yoon Young-kak, Yoon Do-heum and Kim Tae-yoon — expire this month.

At its meeting, Hanmi Science approved an agenda item to reappoint audit committee member Kim Tae-yoon (outside director) and to nominate Hwang, Kim Na-young, head of Hanmi Pharmaceutical’s new product development division, former lawmaker Chae Yi-bae, and Han Tae-joon, president of Ghent University Global Campus, as new directors.