KOREA WHO

Suh Kyung-bae is Chairman and CEO of Amorepacific Holdings. He also serves as CEO of Amorepacific.

He is focusing on stabilizing the company’s global revenue base and finding new growth engines to lead the wellness industry beyond beauty.

He was born on January 14, 1963, in Seoul as the second son among two sons and four daughters of Suh Sung-hwan, founder of Pacific.

He graduated from Kyunggi High School in Seoul and Yonsei University with a degree in business administration, and completed the MBA program at the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University in the United States.

He joined Pacific Chemical as a manager and later served as head of Pacific’s finance division and head of the planning and coordination office before becoming CEO of Pacific in 1997. He later became Chairman and CEO of Amorepacific Group.

He places strong emphasis on on-site management, closely monitoring products and personally overseeing overseas businesses.

He has a strong interest in art, art history, Eastern and Western history, and philosophy, and has said that he might have become an art critic if he had not pursued a career as a business executive.

He served twice as chairman of the Korea Cosmetic Association and founded the Suh Kyungbae Science Foundation, where he serves as chairman.