Asics CEO takes on chairman role

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Mar 30, 2017

Motoi Oyama, the long-serving CEO of Asics, is taking on the additional role of chairman in an effort to respond to the business’ ongoing growth worldwide, announced the Japanese sportswear brand on Thursday.

Oyama joined the company in 1982 and became CEO in 2011 after being named president and representative director in 2008. He currently holds all three positions.

“I am honored and excited to accept these added responsibilities as Asics continues along the path of global expansion laid out in our medium-term strategy, the Asics Growth Plan (AGP) 2020,” said Oyama. “Organizational reform is a vital step as we move as one to ensure we can respond swiftly to sudden changes in the global market.”

The performance footwear brand is targeting sales of 750 billion yen (US$6.57bn) by 2020, with Running driving the growth as a key category. To achieve this, the company has been expanding into new customer segments and adopting a more direct-to-consumer approach.

In addition to Oyama’s appointment, Asics has announced that Tsuyoshi Nishiwaki, executive officer and senior GM of the Asics Institute of Sport Science will join the board as director.

He has been at Asics since 1987 and has extensive experience in the field of footwear and sportswear R&D.