Richard Lee

Senior Advisor

Richard calls upon more than 25 years of experience as an investor, operator, advisor, and corporate executive to help corporate innovation teams tap into innovation as a strategic growth driver. Having been in the trenches of both startups and large corporations, Richard brings a seasoned and balanced perspective to bridge different corporate cultures, dynamics, and priorities. 

As a strategy and corporate development executive for Korean conglomerate, CJ Group, he led key strategic initiatives including new business launches, M&A, joint ventures, minority investments, and venture investing. He launched CJ Group’s Open Innovation efforts in North America, establishing the Group’s first US-based corporate venture capital program. He led a bottom-up effort, beginning with designing the program, garnering leadership support, coordinating with internal business units, and ultimately launching and leading the program.

Richard began his career as a corporate lawyer and has worked across professional services, technology, consumer products, and media and entertainment in the Americas as well as in Asia. 

Richard holds a Juris Doctorate from York University (Canada) and a bachelor’s from University of Toronto (Canada).