T&T Supermarket CEO joins group promoting female entrepreneurs

Tina Lee among 10 women that include heads of GE, General Motors, Accenture

Tina Lee grew up watching her mother turn one Asian supermarket in a Richmond mall into a mini-empire of over 20 locations across B.C., Alberta and Ontario, which she would eventually sell to Loblaw Cos. Ltd.

Company lore had it that her mother used to drag her children on shopping trips in Vancouver from one old-style, Asian shop to another — they were always wet, dank and lacking in washrooms — until it dawned on her to recreate the experience into something more modern. She struck gold just as waves of immigration from Hong Kong, Taiwan and, eventually, mainland China paved the way for T&T Supermarket Inc. to be- come Canada’s largest Asian food retailer

This week, Lee, the younger, who took over as CEO of the company when her mother retired in 2014, was named to the Canada-U.S. Council for the Advancement of Women Entrepreneurs and Business Leaders.

She joins a list of 10 women, five from each country, including senior corporate executives at GE, General Motors and consulting firm Accenture, who are being asked to find ways of promoting female leaders in business in both countries. The Trudeau government is said to have pitched the idea of the task force as a way of courting the new U.S. president’s closest adviser and daughter, businesswoman Ivanka Trump, on its first visit to the new administration in Washington this week.

“I was honoured to join Canadian and American women business leaders at the request of the Prime Minister,” said Lee, in an emailed statement.

“T& T Supermarkets grew from the hard work of my mother, a first-generation Canadian, who immigrated from Taiwan and built a business that serves many diverse Canadian communities. As the second generation of leadership, my executive team remains majority female, of immigrant descent, and proudly Canadian. I look forward to bringing these perspectives to the ongoing work of the council.”

Lee is based in Toronto even though the company’s headquarters remain in Richmond.

She holds an MBA from the Anderson School of Business at the University of California Los Angeles.

She started her time at the family company around 2009 as director of strategy and operations and was a key player in negotiating the $225-million sale to Loblaw, which was looking to increase its presence in the Asian grocery market.