Hitachi Europe appoints new MD

6512 Hitachi Europe has appointed Kiyoshi Yamamoto as managing director. He is currently serving as executive vice president in Hitachi America and succeeds Akira Shimizu, who has been appointed general manager of International Strategy Division, Hitachi. The appointment will be effective from 1 October, 2012.

Mr Yamamoto graduated from the Faculty of Engineering, Tokyo University and joined Hitachi in 1983. Since then, he has served in various supervisory and senior management positions where he gained extensive experience in several areas.

Mr Shimizu has served as managing director, Hitachi Europe since April 2010, and has “driven Hitachi Europe forward in three new directions: becoming an efficient consolidated management organisation that operates as a shared support service provider for all Hitachi Group companies in Europe; being a ‘real insider of Europe’ with country managers providing support for group companies developing their businesses in each region, and being a starting point for the fusion of businesses in order to leverage the maximum potential of the Hitachi Group’s combined capabilities in Europe.”