CJ Chairman Lee Jae-hyun Chooses Organizational Stabilization, Boosts Execution Power of Mid-term Vision

Early October Personnel Changes for New Leap 2023-2025
CJ, "Establishing New Leadership Team to Discuss Mid-Term Vision Execution from Next Year"
44 New Management Leaders Promoted... Maintaining Young Talent Selection Policy
CJ Eldest Son Lee Seon-ho Appointed Head of Food Growth Promotion Office

Lee Jae-hyun, Chairman of CJ Group

[Asia Economy Reporter Eunmo Koo] Lee Jae-hyun, Chairman of CJ Group, chose organizational stabilization over change in the regular personnel reshuffle. This move is seen as strengthening responsible management to enhance the execution of the '2023 Mid-term Vision' announced last November.

CJ Group announced on the 24th that it had conducted an early 2023 regular executive personnel reshuffle to reinforce future growth centered on the mid-term vision.

CJ explained, “The year 2023, expected to face economic recession and increased global uncertainties, is a critical period that will determine the group’s future leap forward,” adding, “The timing of the personnel reshuffle was advanced with the intention that those who will work from next year onward should lead future growth centered on the mid-term vision.”

Last November, CJ announced its 2021?2023 mid-term vision focused on four growth pillars: C.P.W.S. (Content, Platform, Wellness, Sustainability). At that time, Chairman Lee Jae-hyun emphasized innovative growth and the importance of top talent for the leap to a future lifestyle company, strongly urging fundamental innovation in organizational culture.

(From left) Kang Hoseong, Chief Management Officer of CJ Corporation; Gu Changgeun, newly appointed CEO of CJ ENM Entertainment Division; Lee Seonjeong, newly appointed CEO of CJ Olive Young.

CJ plans to begin preparations for executing the new mid-term vision strategy for 2023?2025 immediately after the executive personnel reshuffle. In this reshuffle, most affiliate CEOs were retained to ensure swift execution of the mid-term vision.

To strengthen the group’s overall external environment response capabilities, CJ established a new position of Head of Management Support at the holding company and appointed Kang Ho-sung, CEO of CJ ENM Entertainment Division, to this role. Accordingly, CJ Corporation will transition to a dual CEO system, with the existing CEO Kim Hong-gi serving as the management CEO and the newly appointed Kang Ho-sung serving as the management support CEO focusing on external cooperation.

Gu Chang-geun, CEO of CJ Olive Young, has been nominated as the new CEO of CJ ENM Entertainment Division. CEO Gu has proven his management capabilities through roles including Head of Strategy Office 1 at the holding company, CEO of CJ Foodville, and CEO of CJ Olive Young. Lee Sun-jung, who was head of the sales division, has been promoted internally to become the new CEO of CJ Olive Young. Born in 1977, Lee Sun-jung is the youngest CEO within the group and the first female CEO of Olive Young.

A total of 44 new executives have been appointed to lead CJ Group’s future growth. The average age of the new executives is 45.5 years, continuing the trend of selecting capable young talent. Lee Sun-ho, the eldest son of Chairman Lee, was promoted internally from Head of Food Strategy Planning 1 within the Food Growth Promotion Office to Head of the Food Growth Promotion Office. Park Min-seok, the former Head of the Food Growth Promotion Office, was promoted to the newly established position of Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Food. COO Park oversees food business strategy, GSP, and marketing.

While serving as Head of Food Strategy Planning 1, Lee Sun-ho successfully integrated the U.S. Schwans corporation and CJ Food corporation, laying the foundation for large-scale expansion of the North American business. He is also recognized for securing future growth engines such as plant-based foods and strengthening the structural competitiveness of the food business. Going forward, he will be responsible for strategic planning for global food business growth, new business investments including mergers and acquisitions (M&A), discovering future growth engines such as plant-based foods, and collaborating with internal ventures and external startups.

Lee Seon-ho, New Head of Food Growth Promotion Office at CJ CheilJedang

Meanwhile, CJ is actively pursuing the early appointment of capable internal talent as well as recruiting top talent with outstanding experience from leading global companies. Recently, Jung Woo-sung, former Chief Growth Officer (CGO) of Fox Media, was recruited as Global CGO of CJ ENM, and around the same time, Dr. Gong Seung-hyun from global data analytics firm SAS joined CJ Logistics as Head of Optimization Solutions. Earlier in March, Lee Chi-hoon, a machine learning expert from Meta (formerly Facebook), was appointed as head of CJ’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) Center.