ClassNK announces reorganization of BoD
Leading classification society ClassNK announced the reorganization of its Board of Directors at a press conference held at its Head Office in Tokyo on 11 March 2014, the ClassNK's press release said.
In order to streamline its decision making process and speed up administrative procedures, ClassNK has consolidated its Board of Directors from eight to five members, effective 10 March 2014. Following the consolidation, Noboru Ueda will continue to serve as Chairman and President as well as a Representative Director of the Society. Current Executive Vice President Yasushi Nakamura will continue in his present role, but has additionally been named a Representative Director of the Society. They will be joined by Koichi Fujiwara, who will continue in his current role as Executive Vice President, as well as Tetsushi Agata and Tetsuya Kinoshita, who have both been promoted from Managing Director to Executive Vice President. Previous Executive Vice Presidents Toshitomo Matsui, Shosuke Kakubari and Dr. Takuya Yoneya have been appointed as Advisors to the organisation.
Coinciding with the changes in Board of Directors, ClassNK has also appointed two new Operating Officers. They are Toshio Kurashiki, newly appointed Regional Manager of South Asia and Oceania, and Dr. M. Abdul Rahim, Regional Manager of Europe and Africa. Dr. Rahim is the first non-Japanese member of the Society to be appointed an Operating Officer. These appointments will be effective 1 April 2014.
During the press conference, ClassNK also announced the expansion of its Survey Department into a new Survey Operations Headquarters effective 1 April 2014. As part of this expansion, ClassNK will place two new General Manager positions in Europe and North America respectively to oversee survey operations in those regions.
These new positions will be given final decision making authority related to survey operations throughout Europe and North America, marking the first time ClassNK has placed such authority outside of its Head Office in Japan. Current Deputy General Manager of the Survey Department resident in Hamburg, Akizumi Miura, will take up the position of General Manager of the Survey Operations Headquarters (Europe) and will remain resident in Hamburg. Seiichi Gyobu, current General Manager of the ClassNK Hull Rules Development Department, will take up the new role of General Manager of the Survey Operations Headquarters (North America), resident in New York.
Speaking on the occasion, Chairman and President Noboru Ueda said: “The changes we announced today reflect the continued growth and success of our activities around the world, and represent the next step in ClassNK’s evolution to becoming a more global organization. In particular, the creation of these new positions in Europe and North America will allow us to better respond to the needs of our rapidly growing number of clients in both regions.”
In addition, ClassNK will also establish a new Certification Operations Headquarters at its Head Office in Tokyo in order to coordinate its certification activities and promote the development of new certification systems to meet the changing needs of industry.
