He brings nearly two decades of commercial foodservice experience to his new role, where he will be responsible for Middleby key accounts and leading the sales and marketing efforts for new products and markets in China.

“Leo brings deep industry knowledge, long-standing customer relationships and commercial kitchen expertise to Middleby. He has strong management skills and a long-standing reputation of working collaboratively with customers to bring them the latest solutions and innovation for their kitchens,” said George Koether, Group President of Middleby China. “While he is leading and working in the China and East Asia region, he will be an asset worldwide to all of the Middleby brands.”

Prior to joining Middleby, Mr. Ji was key account director for Rational China. Before that, he held leadership roles at Prince Castle China and Manitowoc Food service China (now Welbilt). He has been in strategic leadership roles in both general market sales management and national key account management.

Mr. Ji is a graduate of the Anhui University of Science and Technology in Anhui, China with a Bachelor’s Degree in marketing. He will be report to George Koether and based in Jinshan .