CJ Chooses 'Stability' Over 'Change'... Boosting Mid-Term Vision Execution with Young Talent Infusion

CJ Executes Early October Personnel Changes to Strengthen Organizational Stability
"New Leadership Team Formed to Discuss Mid-Term Vision Execution Beyond Next Year"
44 New Management Leaders Promoted... Continued Focus on Young Talent
Eight Executives Born in the 1980s, Five in Their 30s
CJ Eldest Son Lee Seon-ho Appointed Head of Food Growth Promotion Office

Lee Jae-hyun, Chairman of CJ Group. / Photo by CJ Group

[Asia Economy Reporters Seungyun Song and Eunmo Koo] Lee Jae-hyun, Chairman of CJ Group, chose organizational stabilization over change in the regular personnel reshuffle. This move is seen as a strengthening of 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 the 2023 regular executive personnel reshuffle earlier than usual to reinforce future growth centered on the mid-term vision. Compared to recent years when the regular executive reshuffle was held in December, this time it was advanced by about two months. With only one year left until the mid-term vision's deadline, the early personnel changes are analyzed as a measure to ensure a more stable pursuit of the 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," adding, "The timing of the personnel reshuffle was advanced with the intention that those who will work after next year 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 for becoming a future lifestyle company and the importance of top talent, strongly urging fundamental innovation in organizational culture.

CJ plans to start preparations for executing the new mid-term vision strategy for 2023-2025 immediately after the executive 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 shift to a dual CEO system, with the existing CEO Kim Hong-gi serving as the management CEO and the newly appointed Kang Ho-sung as the management support CEO focusing on external cooperation.

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

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

Lee Seon-ho, the eldest son of Chairman Lee and a management leader at CJ CheilJedang, 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 Seon-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 contributing to 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 like plant-based foods, and collaborating with internal ventures and external startups.

Forty-four 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. Among them, eight are millennials born in the 1980s, and five are in their 30s. CJ CheilJedang's management leader Lim Dong-hyuk and CJ Olive Young's management leader Kim Hwan are the youngest, born in 1985. In last year's personnel reshuffle, eight new executives were also born after 1980, with four in their 30s.

There are seven female executives, accounting for 16% of the total. Although this is somewhat lower than the record high of 11 in last year's reshuffle, it still represents a high proportion. This reflects Chairman Lee Jae-hyun's intention to actively select young talent based on performance and ability rather than gender or age. When announcing the mid-term vision last year, Chairman Lee stated his talent philosophy: "Anyone can become a leader regardless of age, tenure, or rank if they have the capability and will." Since last year's reshuffle, CJ Group has unified all executive ranks from president to senior managing director under the title of management leader.

In addition to early promotion of capable internal talent, CJ is actively recruiting top talent with outstanding experience from leading global companies. Recently, Jung Woo-sung, who served as Chief Growth Officer (CGO) at Fox Media, was recruited as CJ ENM's global CGO. 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 head of CJ's Artificial Intelligence (AI) Center.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.