Sam Hwi Lee, president and CEO of StarKist, will retire on 31 October, according to a company statement released on Tuesday. Andrew Choe, senior VP-supply chain, will take his place on 1 November.
“I want to personally thank Mr. Lee for all of his leadership and contributions over the past two years at StarKist,” said Ingu Park, chairman of the board of directors for StarKist. “We appreciate Mr. Lee's commitment to StarKist's success and wish him the very best in future endeavors.”
Lee has been a StarKist board of directors member since 2008 and was named president and CEO on November 1, 2012. He will continue to serve as a member board.
Choe has improved performance at StarKist's for the past four years, the company stated. Prior to StarKist, Choe held leadership positions at Dongwon Enterprise and Phillip Morris International. He will continue to work at StarKist Co. headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pa., USA.
“I have all confidence Mr. Choe's proven leadership will take the StarKist organization to the next level of performance,” said Mr. Park.
Namjung Kim, COO, has been promoted to vice chairman of StarKist Co. and will continue to lead strategy development for the StarKist organization.
