Osaka, Japan — In the latest in a string of management changes, Sanyo Electric president Toshimasa Iue will step down next month and be replaced by Seiichiro Sano, VP/general manager of general affairs/human resources.
Iue will remain and take over as chairman, a position vacated last week when chairman Tomoyo Nonka resigned. The changes will be effective April 2.
Sano takes over a company that has recorded three straight years of fiscal losses. Sanyo is also currently being investigated by Japan’s securities commission over alleged accounting issues.
Sano has been with the company for 30 years, starting in 1977 in an administrative post in the human resources department and steadily rising through the ranks until becoming VP in April 2005.
“I have no experience of directly heading business operations. But I have been watching the ups and downs of Sanyo businesses from the company headquarters, and working with them on (mergers and acquisitions) and restructuring,” Sano told reporters at a news conference. “I believe this experience will serve me well when I become president.”
Iue, the grandson of Sanyo founder Toshio Iue, became president in 2005 and his tenure was marked by consecutive total corporate fiscal year losses totaling more than $3.2 billion. Sanyo’s most recent results showed a $59 million loss in the third quarter.
