The Three Women Steering Chung Eui-sun's Hyundai Future

[Korea Financial Times, Kim JaeHun] Few companies embody the identity of a traditional automaker as strongly as Hyundai Motor Group. It was long regarded as a workplace defined by a male-dominated corporate culture and a rigid, seniority-based system of internal promotion.

But since the leadership transition to Executive Chair Chung Eui-sun, that glass ceiling has been cracking as women tech leaders rise to prominence under the group's new vision of becoming a "smart mobility solutions provider."

What is especially striking is that all three of the future growth businesses on which Chung has staked the group's fortunes — software-defined vehicles (SDVs) and the AI transformation (AX); autonomous driving and artificial intelligence; and the hydrogen value chain and future energy — are now led by female executives. It is a clear sign of the dramatic transformation underway at Hyundai Motor Group.

Industry observers describe this unconventional wave of appointments as "a prime example of how the group is dismantling its conservative, male-dominated, manufacturing-first mold and reorganizing itself into a Big Tech–style meritocracy."

Jin Eun-sook Breaks a 57-Year Barrier

Since declaring in 2018 that Hyundai would "become more of an IT company than IT companies themselves," Chung has pushed for global collaborative innovation and data-driven management, giving concrete shape to a companywide digital transformation (DX) and AX strategy.

This was never simply about swapping in AI-based work tools — it was a call to overhaul collaboration across departments and standardize data practices throughout the organization.

The executive driving that AX transformation strategy is Jin Eun-sook, President in charge of ICT at Hyundai Motor. Born in 1968, Jin holds a bachelor's degree in computational statistics and a master's in computer science from Seoul National University. As one of Korea's pioneering first-generation women in software and platforms, she previously served as head of Naver's technology center and as chief technology officer of NHN. After joining Hyundai in 2022 as Executive Vice President and head of the ICT Division, she led the integration of the company's global "One App" and the buildout of its next-generation enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.

In recognition of these achievements, Jin was named Hyundai's first female inside director in March last year — the first in the company's 57-year history — and was then promoted to the rank of president at the end of the year, putting her at the forefront of the group's IT innovation drive. She is the first woman, outside the founding family, to hold the title of president at Hyundai Motor's headquarters.

Since Jin's rise, Hyundai has been expanding AI use across the organization, reshaping the way people work in research and development, manufacturing, service, and customer-facing online channels alike. The plan is to channel the data capabilities built up through AX into the core infrastructure for future mobility, including SDVs.

"The data, operational experience and execution capabilities we've built through AX will be one of our strongest foundations as we prepare for the coming era of SDVs and physical AI," Jin said. "Hyundai Motor Group will continue to respond proactively to technological change and set new standards for the future mobility industry."

Autonomous Driving Belongs to Laura Major

The autonomous-driving unit that will shape Hyundai's future is led by Laura Major, CEO and president of Motional, who holds a doctorate from MIT. Motional is the U.S.-based autonomous-driving joint venture backed by Hyundai. Major earned her MIT doctorate studying cognitive engineering, AI and robotics, and is internationally recognized as an authority on human interaction with autonomous systems.

She previously developed AI-based decision-making systems for astronauts and soldiers at Draper Laboratory, and served as CTO of autonomous drone company Aria Insights before joining Motional as CTO at its founding in 2020. Having proven both her technical achievements and her management capabilities, she was promoted to president and CEO of Motional in June last year, taking full responsibility for the company's operations.

Notably, Major's autonomous-driving strategy is closely aligned with the emphasis Chung has placed on safety. As commercialization competition heats up — including the spread of Tesla's Full Self-Driving (FSD) — Motional's strategy is to differentiate itself through safety and technological sophistication rather than simply racing to market.

"Autonomous driving is a technology that starts from a fundamental premise: a vehicle that drives without human error," Major said. "At Motional, safety is our top priority throughout the entire process of technological advancement and commercialization."

Since joining Motional as CTO in its early days, Major has led development of the IONIQ 5 robotaxi, one of the world's first driverless vehicles to receive certification under U.S. Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS), and has spearheaded the buildout of a machine-learning-based autonomous-driving software stack. The IONIQ 5 robotaxi she leads is set to launch commercial service in Las Vegas by the end of this year, equipped with a Level 4 autonomous-driving system built on a machine-learning-based end-to-end (E2E) approach.

Hong Eun-hee Takes Charge of "Hydrogen Commercialization"

Hydrogen — the business Chung has championed as a future growth engine since taking the helm — is also now led at the C-level by a woman: Hong Eun-hee, who joined HMG last month, on the 31st, as the new Executive Vice President heading its Energy & Hydrogen Business Division.

Born in 1977, Hong graduated from Ewha Womans University and earned an MBA from the University of Chicago. She is an energy specialist who went on to work on international ship financing at the Export-Import Bank of Korea before spending 18 years at global energy company BP, where she led new-business projects in hydrogen, ammonia and related fields.

Since Chung took the helm, Hyundai Motor Group has been building out its "HTWO" hydrogen value chain, extending beyond hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle technology to cover the production, distribution and utilization of hydrogen. Hong's hiring is meant to help turn the hydrogen business into a genuine profit-generating model.

At BP, Hong served as chief of staff to the senior vice president of the technology division and later as vice president overseeing hydrogen business for the Asia-Pacific, Middle East and India region, where she led global hydrogen business development overall. She brings deep expertise in energy commercialization, including project financing (PF), structuring long-term supply agreements, and navigating government policy across multiple countries.

With Hong on board, Hyundai Motor Group plans to upgrade its energy commercialization framework end to end — from strategy formulation to business development, investment review and partnership building. On that foundation, the company aims to get ahead of the shift in the energy paradigm, secure future growth engines, and strengthen the sustainable-growth base of its energy business.

"Hyundai Motor Group has already built meaningful achievements across the entire hydrogen value chain, from hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles to clean hydrogen production and charging infrastructure," Hong said. "Drawing on my experience in the global energy and hydrogen business, I will help the group explore new business opportunities in future energy and strengthen its global competitiveness."

Kim JaeHun (rlqm93@fntimes.com)