Shiseido is continuing its succession plan. The Japanese company has elected Ayako Hirofuji as its new chief executive officer and corporate representative, and Yasuhiro Nakajima as its new external director.
Both will take office from January 2025. The new executive director joined the Japanese company in 2005 as director of business development and has held various roles within the company. Her most recent position was head of diversity, equity and inclusion.
Yasuhiro Nakajima, unlike Hirofuji, does not come from Shiseido but, as the company says in a press release, has a wealth of experience and with his appointment is expected to ‘provide advice, opinions and oversight from a financial and accounting expert's perspective on the company's management and financial strategies’. The Japanese group thus stresses the importance of increasing the separation of execution, supervision and increasing the effectiveness of the board of directors.
This move is in line with the strategic succession plan that has been five years in the making, the first step of which was the election of Kentaro Fujiwara as the company's new CEO, which will also take effect from 1 January 2025.