Chang gives up “day-to-day responsibilities” at Evergreen
Evergreen group founder Yung-Fa Chang will leave the day-to-day responsibilities of managing the group to a team of executives including his sons Kuo-Cheng “K.C.” Chang and Kuo-Wei “K.W.” Chang, the Taiwanese company said in a statement.The change becomes effective Jan. 1, the company added. Y.F. Chang will not retire as group chairman of Evergreen, but will “continue to weigh in on major issues within Evergreen group.”
In the past six months, the Taiwanese group has introduced several senior management changes that form part of a succession plan. In June, K. C. Chang was appointed chairman of Evergreen Marine Corp. (Taiwan) Ltd., the listed arm of the group, succeeding Captain Shiuan-Yu (“S. Y.”) Kuo. Kuo, a former chairman of Evergreen America Corp., returned to the U.S. from Taiwan to oversee the Taiwanese company’s interests in North America.
Evergreen announced on Tuesday that “K.W.” Chang, the youngest son of Y.F. Chang, will be promoted to president of EVA Airways, the group’s airline. He will succeed Steve Lin, promoted from president to chairman of EVA Airways.
K.C. Chang will relinquish his position as chairman of EVA Airways, but will continue to be a vice chairman of the Evergreen group, a position just below that of Y.F. Chang, as well as chairman of Evergreen Marine Corp. (Taiwan).
Four vice chairmen of the Evergreen group share overall management responsibilities: K.C. Chang is in charge of marine-related businesses; Kuo oversees the marine business in the Americas; Sun-San (“S. S.”) Lin is responsible for overseeing the marine and international hotel chain business; and Chin-Chuang (“C. C.”) Cheng is responsible for aviation and energy development.
K. W. Chang joined EVA Airways in 1996 in an entry-level position in Taiwan. He has spent a year in sales at Evergreen Marine, but has worked primarily at EVA Airways. He was appointed chief executive vice president of the airline in 2003. K. W. Chang holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of Southern California and a M. A. in Economics from California State University.
Evergreen has not said when or whether Y.F. Chang, now in his late 70’s, plans to retire.
