BONNIE LEE
President and CEO
Hanmi Bank
Bonnie Lee became curious about a career in banking when she accompanied her parents to apply for a loan to purchase a wholesale fruit/vegetable business. Not long after, Lee read about a manager trainee position, applied and was then chosen out of 60 candidates. Today Lee is the first female CEO in the Hanmi Bank’s 40-year history and is one of only ten female CEOs in the U.S. banking industry. She joined Hanmi in 2013, was promoted to president in 2018, and became CEO in 2019.
Lee has led the bank through a significant multi-year business transformation positioning Hanmi for strong growth. During her tenure, Hanmi has strengthened and grown its balance sheet, diversified its loan portfolio, invested in back-end technology to improve operations and data analytics, increased loan production, enhanced digital banking capabilities, improved the customer experience, and invested significantly in training the next generation of bankers.
