Cho Yang-ho (; sometimes written Y. H. Cho; 8 March 1949 – 8 April 2019)Fred A. Bernstein

''The New York Times'', June 7, 2009, Accessed June 8, 2009. was a South Korean businessman who was the

chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...

and

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

Korean Air Korean Air Lines Co., Ltd. (KAL; ) is the flag carrier of South Korea and its largest airline based on fleet size, international destinations, and international flights. It is owned by the Hanjin, Hanjin Group. The present-day Korean Air tra ...

, chairman of the Hanjin Group, and a founding member of

SkyTeam SkyTeam is one of the world's three major airline alliances. Founded in June 2000, SkyTeam was the last of the three alliances to be formed, after Star Alliance and Oneworld. Its annual passenger count is 624 million customers (2024), the second ...

alliance.

Career

Born in

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

, Cho received a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering from Inha University in 1975, an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

from the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

in 1979, and a doctoral degree in business administration from Inha University in 1988. Additionally in 1998, he received an honorary doctorate degree in aviation business administration from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University,

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. Cho was the chairman of the Hanjin Group, a transportation conglomerate. He was named to this post in February 2003 after having served as the Group's vice chairman since 1996. He was also the Director and CEO of various subsidiary companies including Hanjin Shipping, Korea Airport Service (KAS), JungSeok Enterprise Co. and Hanjin Information Systems & Telecommunications (HIST). Cho was elected vice-chairman of The Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) in 1996, and held the title of honorary consul-general to Ireland in South Korea from 1995 until his death in 2019. He was named Chairman of the Korea-French High Level Businessmen's Club in October 2000 and also served on the Board of Governors for the International Air Transport Association (IATA) after being elected in May 2001. In addition, he became chairman of the Korea-Canada Business Council in 1993 and, from 2004 to 2019, served as Chairman of the Korea Defense Industry Association. Cho formerly sat on the

(USC) Board of

Trustee Trustee (or the holding of a trusteeship) is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, refers to anyone in a position of trust and so can refer to any individual who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility for the ...

s for a span beginning in 1997. In addition, he served as the chairman of the board of directors at both Inha and Hankuk Aviation University. In 2000, he was convicted of

tax evasion Tax evasion or tax fraud is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to red ...

. He was appointed the head of the Pyeong Chang 2018 Bid Committee, which won the bid to host the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in 2018. He later served as the president and CEO of the Pyeong Chang 2018 Organizing Committee from 2014 to 2016. In May 2018, a protest rally called for Cho to step down as chairman of

. In March 2019, under the support of NPS, he was ousted from the board by shareholders amid various scandals involving him and his family members. This was the first time that a founding member of a major South Korean family was forced from the board and it is considered to have been a victory for those working to restrict the powers of the ''

chaebol A chaebol ( , ; , ) is a large industrial South Korean conglomerate run and controlled by an individual or family. A chaebol often consists of multiple diversified affiliates, controlled by a person or group. Several dozen large South Kore ...

s''.

Personal life and death

Cho was the son of , the founder of Hanjin Group and head of Korean Air. Cho was married, with a son, Cho Won-tae, and two daughters: (also known as Heather Cho and formerly Cho Hyeon-ah) and (also known as Emily Cho). All three children are graduates of the University of Southern California. His 9th great grandfather, , is a Right State Councilor (known as Uuijeong (우의정)) during the reign of King Sukjong. On 8 April 2019, Cho died at a hospital in

Los Angeles County, California Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles and sometimes abbreviated as LA County, is the List of United States counties and county equivalents, most populous county in the United States, with 9,663,345 residents estimated in 202 ...

, US, at the age of 70. He had been at the hospital since December 2018 receiving treatment for pulmonary fibrosis.

Awards

*April 2005: Order of the Polar Star (highest civilian honor awarded by Mongolia to foreign citizens) *October 2005: Moran Medal of the Order of Civil Merit (South Korea) *January 2012: Grand Order of Mugunghwa (South Korea) *November 2015: Grand Officier in the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

(France)

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cho, Yang-ho 1949 births 2019 deaths South Korean chief executives Chief executives in the airline industry Korean Air Kyungbock High School alumni Marshall School of Business alumni Recipients of the Legion of Honour Recipients of the Order of Industrial Service Merit Moran Medals of the Order of Civil Merit (Korea) Mugunghwa Medals of the Order of Civil Merit (Korea) 20th-century South Korean businesspeople 21st-century South Korean businesspeople Presidents of the Organising Committees for the Olympic Games South Korean people convicted of tax crimes