Samsung Electronics on Friday announced a large-scale personnel reshuffle, the biggest in three years, owing to a strong performance this year despite the COVID-19 impact.

The tech giant promoted a total of 214 executives, the largest number since 2017.

“In spite of difficulty amid the global spread of COVID-19, the company timely responded to demand and raised efficiency in operations, which led to improved earnings from last year,” the company said in a statement.

In the third quarter, Samsung Electronics reported a 49 percent on-year jump in net profit to 9.36 trillion won ($8.64 billion) from 6.29 trillion won a year earlier helped by strong mobile and home appliances sales.

Samsung has 31 new executive vice presidents -- more than double the 14 it had last year -- and they will be candidates for chief executive officer roles in the future.

Some 25 executives received early promotions, including Executive Vice Presidents Lee Ki-soo of the consumer electronics business and Lee Joon-hee of the network business; Senior Vice Presidents Jeong Ho-jin of the consumer electronics sales unit and Lee Jin-yeop of the NAND Flash design unit; and Vice Presidents Park Seong-je of the TV development lab and Kim Min-woo of the mobile sales group.

As part of its efforts to reinforce the values of diversity and inclusion, Samsung said it has promoted a total of 10 foreign and female executives this year.

Although the number of newly appointed foreign executives fell to two this time from four a year earlier, the number of newly named female executives rose to eight from five during the same period.

Samsung Electronics America’s Joseph Stinziano, head of consumer electronics, was promoted to executive vice president.

Samsung affiliates also announced their executive reshuffles.

Under new CEO Choi Joo-sun, Samsung Display promoted three new executive vice presidents, the panel maker said.

They are Eom Mun-seop, in charge of small and midsize displays; Lee Jong-hyuk, responsible for quantum dot development; and Cho Seong-soon, who will oversee quantum dot manufacturing technology.

Samsung SDI tapped two new executive vice presidents, the battery maker said.

Kim Yoon-chang, senior vice president of next-generation battery development, and Shim Yee-kyung, senior vice president of talent management, were promoted to the rank of executive vice president.

By Song Su-hyun (song@heraldcorp.com)