CEO Lee Geonjun Who Created the 'No.1 Convenience Store'... Special Love for Alma Mater

Korea University Economics Class of '81
From Salesman to Strategist
BGF Retail Achieves Record-Breaking Performance

Geonjun Lee, CEO of BGF Retail.

The key figure behind the recent popularity of the ‘Godae Bread’ launched at CU was Lee Geon-jun, CEO of BGF Retail. He personally visited his alma mater to secure the collaboration and actively participated in tasting the prototype. It is reported that he showed exceptional affection by bringing the bread to the Korea University alumni association at the end of the year.

On the 8th, a BGF Retail official said, “CEO Lee jokingly said that when Yonsei Cream Bread became a hit, since he is a Korea University alumnus, why was there a Yonsei University bread? Initially, Korea University was hesitant about collaborating with a convenience store and reluctant to launch the product. When negotiations stalled at the working-level, the CEO personally stepped in to persuade them.”

CEO Lee was born in 1964, graduated from Chuncheon High School, and entered Korea University’s Department of Economics in 1981. He joined Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance in 1985 and moved to Bokwang FamilyMart (now BGF Retail) in 1993, entering the convenience store market. His first position was Sales Promotion Manager of the Gangnam Sales Department, where he stood out based on the sales skills he built at Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance. In 2001, he was promoted to Head of Sales Planning Team at Bokwang FamilyMart’s Sales Headquarters, and in 2004, he was appointed director and concurrently served as Planning Office Chief.

CEO Lee transformed from a salesman to a strategist. In 2010, as Head of Strategic Planning, he led negotiations to terminate the licensing agreement with Japan’s FamilyMart, which resulted in the launch of CU in 2012. Since then, CEO Lee has earned strong trust from Hong Seok-jo, Chairman of BGF Group, as a strategic expert.

CEO Lee’s career progressed steadily as he served as Executive Director in 2012, Vice President in 2015, and President in 2017. After serving as CEO of the holding company BGF, he was appointed CEO of BGF Retail in 2020, leading the convenience store business at the forefront. As a ‘BGF man,’ he has a deep understanding of convenience stores and shows great interest in corporate social responsibility, including coexistence, communication, and environmental friendliness.

In fact, CEO Lee has proven his capabilities through business performance. BGF Retail recorded an operating profit of 91.5 billion KRW in the third quarter of last year, a 31.7% increase compared to the same period the previous year, marking the highest quarterly performance ever. Sales reached 2.0557 trillion KRW, up 11.9% year-on-year. Net profit increased by 40.6% to 69.3 billion KRW. Especially, differentiated products such as GomPyo Wheat Beer and Yonsei Cream Bread received great responses, driving the performance growth. This was the result of focusing solely on the convenience store business while competitors concentrated investments on non-convenience store sectors.

CU has expanded stores mainly in new towns and residential areas in line with the trend of short-distance shopping and has focused on enhancing competitiveness in fresh food and home meal replacements. A BGF Retail official emphasized, “Based on high profitability and the industry’s number one premium, the number of stores is steadily increasing, creating a virtuous cycle effect that strengthens both internal and external growth.”