Takashi Yamanouchi to Retire After 47 Years at Mazda
Takashi Yamanouchi will retire from Mazda after 47 years of service
Current Mazda chairman Takashi Yamanouchi, who began his tenure with the company more than 47 years ago, will retire from his position after the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 24.
Yamanouchi, born in 1945 near Hiroshima, graduated from Keio University in Tokyo in 1967 with a degree in commerce. He almost immediately joined Mazda (then known as Toyo Kogyo Co., Ltd.), and spent the next 30 years rising through the ranks before eventually reaching the board of directors in 1996.
In 2002, Yamanouchi was appointeds senior managing executive officer in charge of Secretariat, Personnel and Human Development, Internal Auditing and Mazda Hospital.
In 2008, Takashi Yamanouchi was named Mazda president and CEO. Yamanouchi held the position until 2013, when he took the position of Chairman of the Board. Since taking a leadership position at Mazda, Yamanouchi has been integral to growing Mazda’s global profile, opening the company’s plant in Mexico, and paving the way for both the automaker’s popular Kodo-Soul of Motion design language and its innovative SKYACTIV technology.
His responsibilities over the years have also included Corporate Affairs, Risk Management and Corporate Social Responsibility.
Auto Blog reports that current vice chair Seita Kanai will take Yamanouchi’s place as chairman soon after the June 24 shareholders’ meeting, which will likely be in some aspects a gold-watch party for a man who has meant and done so much for Mazda in nearly 50 years of service.
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