Business News
Epson Announces Changes of Representative Directors and Executive Personnel
Wednesday 30. April 2008 - Seiko Epson Corp. (Epson) today proposed the following executive changes at a meeting of its board of directors. The changes are subject to approval at the company's annual general meeting, board meeting and board of statutory auditors meeting to be held on June 25, 2008.
1. Changes of Representative Directors
Name New position Current position
Seiji Hanaoka Chairman President
Minoru Usui President Managing director
Details of new president
Name
Minoru Usui (date of birth: April 22, 1955, 53 years old)
Place of birth: Nagano prefecture, Japan
Education
March 1979: Graduated from the Faculty of Engineering, the University of Tokyo
Career history
November 1979: Joined company
June 2002: Appointed as director
October 2007: Appointed as managing director (current position)
2. Background to the appointment
Based on its Creativity and Challenge 1000 mid-range business plan, Epson has rolled out a series of measures aimed at redefining and reinforcing its product portfolio and reorganizing its electronic device businesses. Business results have accordingly shown signs of recovery. As a result of these measures, the Company has firmly established the direction of its management going forward. In the imaging products business, Epson has built a foothold to leverage its core Micro Piezo technology to expand into the business and industrial domains, while the direction of the electronic devices business has also been set.
As it begins the final year of Creativity and Challenge 1000, Epson in fiscal 2008 aims to further drive reforms that will bolster its corporate stamina, and to establish a new mid- to long-range corporate vision that will lay the foundations for future business growth by developing new business domains and creating new products. Prompted by the need for a fresh perspective, the appointment of the new president has been made as Epson seeks to achieve these aims under new leadership.
Going forward, the new president and other executives will work closely together to drive further growth and strengthen Epson’s various businesses.
The current president, Seiji Hanaoka, will continue to hold representative rights in his new position as chairman. In conjunction with the new president, he will play a central role in the new executive team.
The current chairman, Saburo Kusama, will retire from his position at the expiration of his term, and has been nominated for the position of advisor.
The current executive vice-president, Norio Niwa, will retire from his position on the board of directors at the expiration of his term.
3. Executive personnel changes
(1) Retirement of directors
Chairman
Saburo Kusama
Executive vice-president
Norio Niwa
Managing director
Yasumasa Otsuki
(2) Retirement of auditors
Standing statutory auditor
Toshihiko Kishiro
Outside statutory auditor
Tomiichi Akiyama
(3) Nominations for director
Managing director Seiichi Hirano
Hirano will hold this position concurrently with his current role as president of Epson Sales Japan Corp
Managing director Toru Oguchi
Director Akihiko Sakai
(4) Nominations for auditor
Standing statutory auditor Kenji Uchida
Outside statutory auditor
Kenji Miyahara
Miyahara has been nominated as an outside statutory auditor as determined by Article 2, Clause 16 of the Japanese Company Law.
4. Planned date of appointments
June 25, 2008
Note: Planned board of directors after company’s annual general meeting, board meeting and board of statutory auditors meeting to be held on June 25, 2008
Name
Position
Seiji Hanaoka Chairman (representative director) (new appointment)
Yasuo Hattori Vice-chairman
Minoru Usui President (representative director) (promoted)
Masayuki Morozumi Senior managing director
Kenji Kubota Managing director
Hiroshi Komatsu Managing director
Seiichi Hirano Managing director (new appointment)
Toru Oguchi Managing director (new appointment)
Akihiko Sakai Director (new appointment)
Masayoshi Shindo Standing statutory auditor
Kenji Uchida Standing statutory auditor (new appointment)
Yoshiro Yamamoto Outside statutory auditor
Tatsuhiro Ishikawa Outside statutory auditor
Kenji Miyahara Outside statutory auditor (new appointment)