[Edaily Marketin Reporter Won Jae-yeon ] Park Young-hoon, CEO of D-Camp, who has been facing internal turmoil due to internal audits and conflicts with the labor union, is stepping down with about eight months remaining in his term. While the board of directors is scheduled to discuss whether to accept Park’s resignation at a meeting on the 20th, there is backlash within D-Camp over concerns that his resignation might allow disciplinary actions and accountability proceedings to fizzle out.

According to the venture capital industry on the 15th, D-Camp CEO Park Young-hoon submitted his resignation to the foundation on the 10th and officially announced his intention to resign to all employees on the 14th.

CEO Park took office in April 2024 and had approximately eight months remaining in his three-year term. He reportedly explained to employees that stepping down was in the best interest of organizational stability.

D-Camp is a startup support organization operated by the Banking Industry Youth Entrepreneurship Foundation, which was established in 2012 through joint contributions from 19 financial institutions in the banking sector. It has supported the discovery and growth of startups by providing early-stage companies with investment, office space, education, networking opportunities, and demo days.

Since taking office, CEO Park has faced allegations that he failed to properly follow board reporting procedures while changing D-Camp’s investment and startup support strategies. Allegations were also raised regarding his push to introduce a Performance Improvement Program (PIP), the removal of certain employees from their posts or exclusion from work duties, as well as workplace harassment and sexually harassing remarks. D-Camp employees formed a labor union last April—the first since the foundation’s establishment—and some of these issues led to complaints filed with the Ministry of Employment and Labor.

The board meeting, originally scheduled for the 20th, was intended to discuss whether to discipline CEO Park based on the results of an internal audit. However, as CEO Park announced his resignation ahead of the meeting, how to handle the acceptance of his resignation and the disciplinary process has emerged as a new point of contention. Follow-up measures based on the audit results, the designation of an acting CEO to fill the leadership vacuum, and the procedure for appointing a successor are also expected to be addressed.

Observers both inside and outside D.Camp suggest that, given CEO Park’s resignation, it has become difficult to continue discussions on disciplinary action. Some employees and the labor union are concerned that if his resignation is accepted first, the matter could be resolved without properly holding CEO Park accountable for the allegations against him and the audit findings. They argue that, regardless of the CEO’s fate, the audit results must be made public and necessary measures must be carried out to the end.

The future of “D-Camp 2.0,” a initiative spearheaded by CEO Park, is also drawing attention. Shortly after taking office, CEO Park shifted away from D-Camp’s existing model—which provided broad support to very early-stage startups—and instead positioned a batch program as the core business, selecting and intensively nurturing companies from the Pre-A to Series A stages. The intent was to boost performance by concentrating support on companies with high growth potential.

However, critics have questioned whether it aligns with the foundation’s original purpose for a public foundation—funded by the banking sector to support youth entrepreneurship—to concentrate resources on companies that have already reached a certain level of growth. Furthermore, a lack of sufficient communication with staff during the business restructuring process has been cited as a factor that fueled internal conflict.

Meanwhile, even if CEO Park steps down following his resignation, the batch program currently underway is not expected to be immediately suspended. However, it remains undecided whether the successor CEO and the board of directors will continue the existing strategy centered on batch programs and direct investment, or whether they will reinvigorate support for early-stage startups. D.Camp’s startup support strategy is likely to undergo significant changes depending on the management direction of the next CEO.

A D.Camp official stated, “There are widespread concerns that this matter may simply end with the acceptance of CEO Park’s resignation without the issues raised against him being fully investigated or the disciplinary process being concluded,” adding, “Society needed a process to clearly hold him accountable based on the audit results, so it is regrettable that the disciplinary discussions may fizzle out due to his resignation.”