'Not the chairman?' Why mid-sized company heirs cling to the vice chairman title

They have risen to become the largest shareholders. They serve as chief executives. They make the calls on major investments, mergers and acquisitions, and long-term group strategy. Everyone inside and outside the company recognizes them as the final decision-makers. By every practical measure, they are chairmen. Yet a notable number of mid-sized company owners have carried the official title of "vice chairman" for years. The question is why.

The most prominent example is Kolmar Holdings Vice Chairman Yoon Sang-hyun. Yoon is both the largest shareholder and the chief executive of Kolmar Holdings, which sits at the top of the Kolmar group's ownership structure. As of the first quarter of 2026, Yoon held a 31.75 percent stake in Kolmar Holdings — a status confirmed again in a bulk shareholding report filed in July.

Yoon has led the holding company as its representative director since 2015 and currently also serves as an inside director of Kolmar Korea and chief executive of KolmarBNH. His grip on the group tightened further in May, when founder Yoon Dong-han withdrew a lawsuit he had filed against his son seeking the return of Kolmar Holdings shares. The elder Yoon had gifted those shares in 2019, making his son the largest shareholder, and the younger Yoon returned to the helm of Kolmar Holdings as its representative director in 2024.

Even so, his official title remains "vice chairman." The widely cited reason is that founder Yoon Dong-han still holds the title of Kolmar Korea chairman. The center of gravity in management has shifted substantially to the son, but the symbolic status of the founder has not been formally passed on. Observers inside and outside the company largely attribute the arrangement to a gesture of respect toward the founding chairman. Relations between the two, which had soured to the point of litigation, are said to have since warmed — the pair now reportedly meet on a regular basis.

KyungdongPharm Vice Chairman Ryu Ki-sung takes the pattern a step further. Ryu is the company's largest shareholder and chief executive, and his listed responsibilities in regulatory filings are described simply as "overall management." He joined KyungdongPharm in 2006 and was named representative director and vice chairman in January 2014 — a title he has held for more than 12 years. As of the first quarter of this year, Ryu held 5,387,558 shares in the company.

What makes his case unusual is that his father is not an active chairman. Founder Ryu Deok-hee is listed in company disclosures as "honorary chairman," with his duties described as "management advisory." The chairman's seat is, in effect, vacant. Management responsibility and the largest-shareholder position have already passed to the son, yet Ryu Ki-sung continues to run the company without a formal promotion to chairman.

At Sampyo Group, Senior Vice Chairman Jeong Dae-hyun's situation reads as a succession still in progress. Jeong has stepped to the forefront of management at the group's core affiliates, leading new business initiatives. Notably, his company SP Nature holds a 15.59 percent stake in Sampyo Industries, and Jeong himself directly owns an additional 4.46 percent — putting his combined stake at around 20 percent.

Sampyo Group Chairman Jeong Do-won remains the group's official head. Group materials released in April identified him as chairman, and his direct stake in Sampyo Industries, at 25.94 percent, still exceeds his son's. While the son handles a significant share of day-to-day management, ownership and the formal title of group head have not yet fully transferred.

Large conglomerates have seen similar patterns. Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong was named vice chairman in 2012 and held that title for a decade. The Korea Fair Trade Commission designated him as Samsung Group's controlling person in 2018 — effectively recognizing him as the group's de facto head — yet his formal promotion to chairman did not come until October 2022. Even after his father, Chairman Lee Kun-hee, passed away, Lee spent two more years leading the group under the vice chairman title.

"When the father is the founder, it is common for the son to hold off on taking the chairman title even after becoming the largest shareholder, out of deference to the father," a business community official said. "Heirs who have taken over real management authority maintaining the 'vice chairman' title for an extended period out of respect for the founder's chairmanship is a pattern that stands out in Korean family-owned companies compared with overseas cases."