Hakuhodo announces new leadership in planned transition

Japanese ad giant Hakuhodo has announced leadership changes in line with its mid-term business plan, effective April 1, 2025. In short, the transition sees experienced leaders moving into advisory roles, making way for a new crop of male executives to steer the company forward.

As previously reported by Campaign Asia-Pacific, Hirokazu Toda, the long-serving chairman who played a key role in the agency's global expansion, will retire from his position as director and chair of both Hakuhodo Inc and Hakuhodo DY Holdings at the end of March. He will transition to a senior advisor role. Shuntaro Ito, director and senior corporate officer, will also retire and become an advisor.

Kenji Nagura will assume the role of representative director and president of Hakuhodo Inc on April 1. Masayuki Mizushima, currently representative director and president of Hakuhodo DY Holdings, will become representative director and chair of Hakuhodo Inc.

To strengthen its executive team, Hakuhodo has created the position of representative director and vice chair, to be filled by Hirotake Yajima. Further appointments at Hakuhodo Inc include Miki Isomura as director and senior executive corporate officer, Takeshi Tokugawa as director, senior corporate officer and chief financial officer, and Bruce James as director and corporate officer.

At the parent level, Yasuo Nishiyama will take on the key role of representative director, president and chief operating officer in June and be tasked with driving the agency's international strategy and fostering innovation in global markets.

While the agency has a change of guard, it brings forth a persistent challenge for Hakuhodo and many Japanese corporations: a lack of gender diversity in leadership positions. As of 2024, women hold just 6.3% of senior management positions within Hakuhodo in Japan, compared to 25.1% outside Japan. The disparity is even more pronounced in management roles (division head or above), with women holding 9.7% of these positions in Japan versus 49.7% globally.