IR News｜News

 Benesse Corporation announced today that the Board of Directors made its recommendation for Representative Directors appointments. The recommended appointments will go before the company's general shareholders' meeting to be held on June 25 for official confirmation.

Announcement

1. Reasons for the change

Benesse Corporation will introduce on April 1, Corporate Executive Officers in order to separate supervision and operation, and thus accelerate decision-making process, and improve its transparency. We appoint Masayoshi Morimoto as Corporate Executive Vice
President, valid from April 1, 2003, while Soichiro Fukutake, Representative Director and President, will become Representative Director, Chairman, President and CEO (Chief Executive Officer).
Subsequently, after the general shareholders' meetings and the Board of Directors to be held on June 25, Masayoshi Morimoto will become Representative Director, President and COO, while Soichiro Fukutake will be Representative Director, Chairman and CEO, and Makoto Sato, currently Representative Director and Vice President, will be Representative Director and Vice Chairman.

2. Name and career of the new Representative Directors to be appointed on April 1, 2003.


New title
Representative Director, Chairman, President, and CEO

Name
Soichiro Fukutake

Birthplace
Okayama

Education
Graduated Waseda University, Major in Science & Engineering.

Birthdate
Dec. 14, 1945

Career
April 1973 Joined Benesse Corporation
May 1974 Director, General Manager of Tokyo Branch
May 1976 Managing Director General Manager of Tokyo Branch
May 1980 Senior Managing Director General Manager of Tokyo Branch
May 1985 Director, Vice President
April 1986 Representative Director, Vice President
May 1986 Representative Director, President Currently in office


3. Names and career of the new Representative Directors to be appointed on June 25, 2003.

New title
Representative Director, Chairman and CEO

Name
Soichiro Fukutake


New title
Representative Director and Vice Chairman

Name
Makoto Sato

Birthplace
Okayama

Education
Graduated Waseda University, Major in Literature

Birthdate
Aug. 11, 1947

Career
April 1975 Joined Benesse Corporation
June 1990 Director, General Manager of the Correspondence Course Division and Corporate Strategic Planning Office
June 2000 Representative Director, Vice President
Currently in office


New title
Representative Director, President and COO

Name
Masayoshi Morimoto

Birthplace
Osaka

Education
Graduated University of Tokyo, Major in Law

Birthdate
March 31, 1939

Career
April 1962 Joined Sony Corporation
Sept. 1983 President, Sony Manufacturing Company of America
May 1987 President, Sony Comercio e Industria Ltda.
June 1995 Member of the Board of Directors, Sony Corporation
June 1997 Retired as Member of the Board of Directors
Corporate Executive Vice President of Sony Corporation
June 1999 Corporate Senior Executive Vice President of Sony Corporation
Jan. 2001 President and Operating Officer of Aiwa Co., Ltd.
Group Executive Officer of Sony Corporation
June 2001 President and Representative Director of Aiwa Co., Ltd.
Nov. 2002 Corporate Advisor of Sony Corporation
(as Aiwa was merged into Sony)
Dec. 2002 Executive Advisor to President of Benesse Corporation
Currently in office