Claire Kuo, Chairman& CEO of SEYI Group |
Experience:President and CEO of SEYI America and SEYI Presses Chairman and CEO of SEYI Group
Prior to joining SEYI headquarters in Taiwan, Claire Kuo was president and CEO of SEYI America and SEYI Presses, based in California and Tennessee, USA, respectively. Both are wholly-owned subsidiaries of SEYI and serve as sales-and-service centers for SEYI’s product lines in North and South America. Claire began her professional career with Cosa Liebermann, a Swiss company, serving in an accounting role. She then went on to complete her MBA at Pace University in New York City. In 1993, Claire joined SEYI and assumed a key position in developing the growing Asian and Indian markets for the company’s products. As president and CEO of SEYI America, Claire developed sales and services in the Americas and focused on marketing new product lines to the United States auto market. In that role, Claire managed a transnational executive group and staff to grow the business and oversee the installation of well over 1,500 presses. The efforts enabled SEYI to become one of the top mechanical press providers in the American market. Under her leadership, SEYI’s sales in the Americas increased by almost 90 percent in 2008.
In 2009, the financial crisis triggered a global recession. SEYI suffered seriously as a result. Answering an urgent call from her father (the formal chairman) to confront the critical situation, Miss Kuo firmly flew back to Taiwan to take over the chairman and CEO positions and face the enormous operating challenges of the entire corporation. After Claire’s management team rapidly adjusted business strategies, 2010 company net sales reached TWD 3.09 billion ($98.11 million), a 72.6 percent increase from the TWD 1.79 billion ($55.46 million) in the prior year.
SEYI sales in 2011 continued to increase. In 2011, SEYI’s consolidated sales revenue of TWD 4.22 billion ($135.8 million) represented a 30 percent increase over 2010. Sales revenue from its Taiwan parent company grew by 34 percent to TWD 2.437 billion ($82.92 million), far exceeding the 13.5 percent growth experienced by Taiwan’s metal stamping industry as a whole. Earnings per share were TWD 1.24 ($0.04), a 62 percent growth from 2010.