Asics changes to senior leadership team

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Jan 24, 2018

Asics has announced the appointment of Yasuhito Hirota as its new president, taking over from Motoi Oyama, currently chairman, president and CEO of the Japanese footwear company.

Yasuhito Hirota joined the business in an advisory capacity on 20 January ahead of his formal appointment as president and chief operating officer of the brand on 29 March.

He joins Asics from Mitsubishi Corporation, where he spent almost 38 years and was most recently executive vice president and head of regional strategy for Japan.

Oyama will retain his role as chairman and chief executive officer of Asics. He said: Approaching my eleventh year in the role, the decision to appoint a new president was taken in order to ensure that the group can advance as one towards the next stage of our medium-term strategy, the ASICS Growth Plan (AGP) 2020.

“After becoming chairman of the board last year, I decided that this would be the correct time to hand over the role of President to Mr. Hirota, and let him oversee the practical management of the company.”

Founded in 1949 in Japan, Asics has become a global force with subsidiaries all over the world and directly-operated stores in countries including the UK, France, Germany, South Africa, Austria, Ireland, Portugal, Brazil, Australia, Korea, China and Spain.

Its shoes are famous for their functional features and enhanced performance.