[News Space=Reporter seungwon lee] Pulmuone will appoint a new CEO who will oversee all domestic and overseas businesses as of January 1st of next year and will launch a new 2nd term of professional management. At the regular board meeting held on the 6th, Pulmuone appointed Lee Woo-bong, head of Pulmuone Strategic Management Center, as the next CEO as of January 1st of next year.

Pulmuone announced that the next CEO was finally selected from among several candidates through a fair and transparent process of one year of candidate recommendation, screening, verification, and selection by the CEO Candidate Recommendation Committee, a committee within the board of directors. Current CEO Lee Hyo-yul, who has successfully led the company for the past seven years, will serve as Chairman of the Pulmuone Board of Directors.

Next CEO Lee Woo-bong will be the third CEO of Pulmuone, following the first CEO Nam Seung-woo (1984-2017) and the second CEO Lee Hyo-yul (2018-2024). In terms of professional managers, he is the second CEO following Lee Hyo-yul. Pulmuone ended its 33-year owner-management at the end of 2017 and transitioned to a professional management system in 2018, and has been evaluated as having an advanced country-style governance and management structure.

This next CEO is the first CEO from the public recruitment who joined the company in 1988 as a 4th open recruitment new employee and has been with Pulmuone for 36 years, working in finance and accounting, purchasing, sales, strategic planning, and as the head of affiliates. After joining the company, he was recognized for his work ability by taking on management support, purchasing, and restaurant business at Pulmuone Foods, Pulmuone Foodmerce, and Pulmuone Samul. In 2019, he took on the role of the CEO of Pulmuone Food & Culture, a major affiliate, and demonstrated outstanding management capabilities by overcoming the COVID-19 crisis and deficit and realizing surplus management.

Since July of last year, he has served as the head of the strategic management center of the holding company, Pulmuone Co., Ltd., and has been performing strategic planning, execution, and general support for all domestic and international businesses, including human resources, finance, legal affairs, IT, and SCM. In addition, he served as the company’s CXO (Chief Digital Transformation Officer), establishing strategies to promote the company’s digital transformation, and actively introducing AI technology to the food service business, contributing to improved work efficiency and productivity.

While he was serving as the head of the Strategic Management Center, Pulmuone was ranked in the top 5 in the global food sector and 1st in the domestic food sector in the '2023 Sustainability Assessment (CSA)' by S&P Global in the US, and was selected as the 'Most Admired Company in Korea' for 18 consecutive years, taking 1st place in the domestic comprehensive food company sector.

Since the launch of the professional management system in 2018, Pulmuone has been evaluated as setting an example of a sustainable professional management system by selecting its second-term professional managers through fair and transparent recommendations and strict screening and verification through the CEO Candidate Recommendation Committee, Pulmuone's unique CEO selection system, in just seven years.

The CEO Candidate Recommendation Committee is a unique committee of Pulmuone that sets the qualifications for CEO candidates and recommends, selects, and reviews them to ensure continuity of company management and stable management succession. It is composed of four members: two outside directors, one inside director, and one other non-executive director.

For the selection of this CEO, the Committee began the verification process a year ago by receiving recommendations for several candidates with management capabilities. During the verification phase, in addition to the existing members, a six-member in-depth screening committee was formed with two outside directors to thoroughly evaluate the knowledge and intellectual capacity, business capabilities, communication capabilities, leadership, and morality required to perform the tasks and roles of the CEO through the first written verification and second face-to-face interview stages.

An outside director of Pulmuone said, “The most important function of the board of directors is to appoint the CEO, dismiss him or her if he or she is unqualified, and clearly establish the CEO compensation structure.” He added, “It is a rare case in Korea that Pulmuone delegates the verification of CEO candidates for listed companies to a specialized committee called the CEO Candidate Recommendation Committee, and then appoints them at the board of directors, and also delegates the CEO compensation plan to a compensation committee comprised solely of outside directors to independently review and decide on it without external intervention.” 

After his appointment, the new CEO emphasized the four key tasks for Pulmuone’s growth: ‘Expansion of sustainable food,’ ‘Expansion of the global market,’ ‘Strengthening ESG management,’ and ‘Responding to the future through food tech.’ He also expressed his aspiration to do his best so that Pulmuone, Korea’s representative healthy food company, can grow into the ‘global No. 1 sustainable food company.’

This next CEO has been implementing field-centered management that values ​​the voices of the field and customers, such as visiting hundreds of major and remote business sites during his time as head of affiliates, responding quickly to market changes, and solving problems through quick decision-making. In the future, he plans to actively take the lead in developing overseas markets and globalizing K-food with a focus on global sites so that Pulmuone can make a second leap forward as a 'global NO. 1 sustainable food company.'

Within Pulmuone, this next CEO has worked at Pulmuone for a long time and has worked harder than anyone else to practice Pulmuone’s values, and has been evaluated as a manager who is cool-headed in business but always considerate and respectful of people. As Pulmuone faces the task of expanding its global business, accelerating organizational culture innovation, and leading future growth industries, this next CEO is expected to take the lead in overcoming management difficulties and perform his role as CEO as a strong supporter of all members of the organization.

Meanwhile, Pulmuone is a representative global sustainable food company in Korea that started out as Korea's first organic food company in the early 1980s and has grown into one of Korea's top 10 food companies by changing the value standards and paradigm of the Korean food industry through healthy eating over the past 40 years.

Pulmuone is carrying out its domestic business centered on the holding company Pulmuone Co., Ltd. and its major affiliates: ▲Pulmuone Foods (fresh food and beverage manufacturing and distribution company), ▲Pulmuone Foodmerce (food material distribution company), ▲Pulmuone Food & Culture (food service company), ▲Pulmuone Healthy Living (health functional foods, health appliances manufacturing and distribution company), ▲Pulmuone Green Juice (health functional food beverage manufacturing and distribution company), ▲Pulmuone Danone (fermented milk company), and ▲Pulmuone Sammul (drinking spring water manufacturing and distribution company).

In terms of overseas business, the company has been leading the globalization of healthy food and K-food by establishing corporations in China, Japan, and Vietnam since its establishment in 1991, when it first entered the American market. In the European market, it plans to establish a corporation in the Netherlands in the first half of next year and begin full-scale entry into Europe.

<Profile of CEO Lee Woo-bong>

▲ Resume

Born in 1962

Kangwon National University, Accounting Department, Dongguk University, MBA Masters

▲ Career

Joined Pulmuone Foods Co., Ltd. in 1988

1997 Pulmuone Sammul Co., Ltd. Business Support Manager

2005 Pulmuone Foodmerce Co., Ltd. Management Support Office Manager, Strategic Purchasing Office Manager, Restaurant Business Department Manager

2011 Pulmuone Foods Co., Ltd. Management Support Manager

2019 CEO of Pulmuone Food & Culture Co., Ltd.

2023 Pulmuone Co., Ltd. Strategic Management Director

▲ Awards

2011 Fair Trade Commission Chairman's Award

2012 Daejeon Regional Tax Office Director's Award

2015 Presidential Citation