Hanjoo Lee

Senior consumer business and brand leader with 22+ years at CJ CheilJedang, combining hands-on category/P&L leadership with global brand strategy, market expansion, digital transformation, and corporate strategy. Experienced in connecting Korean brands and business capabilities with overseas markets, leading cross-functional teams, and turning consumer insights into products, brand growth, and new business opportunities.

Recent

Global HQ roles include end-to-end new business development with overseas subsidiaries and external manufacturing partners.

Team Lead, Innovation Acceleration — Global HQ at CJ CheilJedang (2026-03 – Present)

Global new business development across Health & Wellness snacks and functional beverages

• Identify new growth opportunities based on global consumer trends and market whitespace; design business models and drive commercialization end-to-end with overseas entities.
• Developed a U.S. market entry strategy for Health & Wellness snacks, coordinating Vietnam operations, overseas OEM partners, product development, and commercialization planning.
• Partnered with the Australia entity to develop and launch a low-calorie sparkling beverage featuring postbiotics for gut-health positioning, from local consumer needs through commercialization.

Team Lead, Global Marketing Planning — Global HQ at CJ CheilJedang (2025-05 – 2026-03)

Global brand strategy, marketing capability development, digital transformation, and HQ–market alignment

• Assessed marketing capabilities across overseas entities and redesigned HQ–subsidiary roles and operating models to strengthen local execution.
• Developed global bibigo brand strategy and guidelines as the brand expanded across categories and markets.
• Established capability-building priorities and HQ support models by market; facilitated sharing of global best practices across overseas teams.

Category Leader, K-Paste at CJ CheilJedang (2023-03 – 2025-04)

P&L and business leadership for KRW 310B category

• Led business planning and P&L across brand, product, manufacturing, SCM, and sales.
• Diagnosed growth constraints in a mature category and developed low-sodium and convenience-oriented products to broaden consumer appeal and strengthen brand competitiveness.
• Created and launched a new ready-to-eat sauce category leveraging existing manufacturing and category capabilities, generating approximately KRW 0.8B in monthly sales.

Category Leader, Grain Meal at CJ CheilJedang (2021-07 – 2023-03)

P&L and portfolio leadership for KRW 420B category

• Repositioned the “Baeksul” brand around the 'Simple Cooking' platform based on consumer research; led design renewal and integrated marketing communication.
• Launched a new protein-replacement category including beverages and cookies through digital/performance marketing, developing approximately KRW 7B annual sales.
• Used consumer-response data to improve product targeting and media effectiveness.

Category Leader, Healthy Snack and Jelly at CJ CheilJedang (2020-12 – 2021-07)

P&L and brand leadership for KRW 110B category

• Turned around business by restructuring portfolio and business strategy, improving operating profit by 7%p.
• Drove online and home-shopping marketing for Matbam, achieving record sales (+30% YoY).
• Expanded vinegar drink brand “MICHO” in Japan through Korean-wave marketing and convenient RTD product launches; Japan sales reached approximately JPY 15B.

Project Lead, Enterprise Business Innovation at CJ CheilJedang (2018-11 – 2020-11)

CEO-sponsored transformation initiative

• Led a cross-functional food marketing innovation project involving marketing, consumer research, and IT.
• Built an online consumer-response analytics system and led CRM enhancement for CJ's D2C platform, enabling more data-driven targeting and promotion decisions.

Category Team Lead, Can Food category at CJ CheilJedang (2018-03 – 2018-10)

P&L and portfolio leadership for KRW 350B category

• Developed a mid-term portfolio strategy using manufacturing and OEM cost analysis to optimize profitability.
• Led an SNS-based integrated campaign targeting younger consumers for SPAM, achieving record sales (+10% YoY).
• Worked with Hormel, SPAM's global brand owner, and secured additional marketing investment based on Korean market performance.

Strategy Manager, CJ Group Corporate Strategy Office at CJ Corporation (2016-03 – 2018-02)

Food & food-service strategy, performance management, and executive reporting

• Developed growth strategy for bibigo in the U.S. through local business diagnosis and collaboration with overseas teams, including synergies between foodservice and packaged food.
• Evaluated business competitiveness and redesigned strategic direction through benchmarking and performance analysis across CJ food businesses.
• Prepared mid-term strategies, annual plans, investment reviews, and regular executive-level reports.

Part Lead, Instant Rice product “HETBAHN” at CJ CheilJedang (2014-08 – 2016-02)

Brand, product, and integrated marketing leadership

• Developed an expansion strategy from a traditional instant-rice brand toward a broader meal-solution platform.
• Led integrated marketing for “HETBAHN”, generating 2.3M views and reaching KRW 160B annual sales (+31% YoY).
• Launched cup type product “Cupbahn” as a new HMR category, generating KRW 15B in first-year sales and subsequently growing to approximately KRW 80B.

Part Lead, seasoning brand “DASIDA” at CJ CheilJedang (2013-08 – 2014-07)

Turnaround strategy and new product development

• Developed demand-expansion and B2B-focused strategies, delivering +14% sales growth.
• Repositioned premium products and improved gross profit margin by 5 percentage points.

Manager, Enterprise Management at CJ CheilJedang (2010-03 – 2013-07)

Enterprise performance management, investment review, and business restructuring

• Led food-business profitability and portfolio restructuring initiatives, contributing to a 4%p improvement in operating profit.

Executive Office / CEO Staff at CJ CheilJedang (2006-03 – 2010-02)

• Supported domestic and international CEO activities and established operating and communication processes for the early-stage group CEO office.

Assistant Brand Manager / Category Manager at CJ CheilJedang (2004-09 – 2006-02)

• Managed seasoning and rice-processing brands; developed and launched a new HETBAHN-related product category.

Executive Program in Global Management – Seoul National University (2017-09 – 2017-12)

M.A. in Policy Research & Analysis – University of Pittsburgh, PA, USA (2002-09 – 2004-04)

B.A. in Anthropology – Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea (1995-03 – 2002-03)