World Tea Expo 2017

James Hoagland
Chief Operating Officer
Ito En (North America) Inc.


A leading-edge executive with more than 25 years of experience in the natural, organic and functional food industry, James Hoagland is the chief operating officer at ITO EN (North America) INC., Japan’s #1 green tea brand and the world’s leading purveyor of award-winning, sustainably-grown, premium green tea. Hoagland spearheads business development, brand evolution, retail strategy, innovation road mapping, international and domestic sales, and more for ITO EN’s natural beverage portfolio brands: matcha LOVE®, TEAS’ TEA® and Oi Ocha. Prior to joining ITO EN in 2003, Hoagland served as the founder and CEO of Nuevo Latino Natural Foods and vice president of marketing at Monarch Beverage Company. His passion for cultivating disruptive brands in the wellness industry has shaped his leadership experience, which also includes past positions with OmegaTech, Inc., Perdue Farms Rocco, Inc. and Thomas J. Lipton. In addition to his tenacious business acumen, Hoagland has demonstrated a strong commitment to furthering ITO EN’s corporate social responsibility practices through fair trade, the revitalization of tea growing regions across Japan, proprietary tea leaf recycling and eco-friendly packaging. His driving force and oversight of ITO EN’s sustainable and environmental objectives has helped secure the company’s position on the 2016 list of Fortune Magazine’s “50 Companies That Are Changing the World.”

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