On May 13th, the “19th Proud PNU People Award Ceremony” was held in the Main Administration Building, 3rd-floor main conference room. The “Proud PNU People Award” is awarded to alumni who contributed to national and social development and brightened Pusan National University (PNU). Less than two people are selected as winners every year. Since the award started in 2004, 134 people have received the award.

Since Jo Joo-Wan entered LG electronics in 1987, he has become LG electronics CEO through 18 years of overseas work. Due to his heavy schedule, Jo participated in the ceremony with a helicopter which landed at the Kyung-am Gymnasium and received attention. Through the acceptance speech, Jo said, “The 3rd Engineering Building and 7th Engineering Building where I studied made my dream, my current success seems to have played a big part in the DNA that I inherited from PNU,” and gave this glory to PNU.

An Gam-Chan entered Busan Bank in 1989 as a manager, he became the CEO of Busan Bank last year. An said, “Many things that I experienced in college days such as working as a PNU Newspaper reporter have become a lifetime experience and have become great assistance for 33 years of work life. I could get through hardship because I felt pride of belonging to Hyowon. I hope that my awards become a model for juniors, and therefore it motivates them to be a CEO.”

Cha Jeong-In, PNU President, said,” Thanks to the attribute of alumni, PNU’s status has been increasing,” and celebrated their awards. Additionally, at the beginning of this year, five PNU alumni are CEOs of top 30 enterprises, and eight PNU alumni are CEOs of leading 100 enterprises. And PNU ranked fourth among the universities throughout Korea, followed by Seoul National University, Yonsei University, and Korea University. In the case of the executives of LG Electronics, where Jo Joo-Wan is working, the PNU alumni make up the largest portion of executives.

Reporter Jun Hyung-Seo

Translated by Ji Ha-Ram