Japanese classification society ClassNK has announced the appointment of Hiroaki Sakashita, current senior executive vice president of ClassNK, as president and CEO as well as a representative director of the group.
Sakashita has taken over the post from Koichi Fujiwara, who has been appointed as chairman of the board. Sakashita used to serve as director-general of the Maritime Bureau of Japan and deputy minister for technical affairs before joining ClassNK as an executive consultant in 2018. He was appointed as senior executive vice president in 2019 to oversee ClassNK’s expansion of its business portfolio and digital transformation.
Current senior executive vice presidents Tetsuya Kinoshita, Junichiro Iida, and Toshiyuki Shigemi will continue in their present roles on the team, joined by Hirofumi Takano and Taira Narisawa as executive vice presidents.
“The maritime industry is changing its shape to adapt to environmental responsibilities and the digital era. For the swift mitigation of the industry to the new stage, there will be an increasing need for the role of independent third-party organizations to assure the safety, environmental performance, and quality of new technologies or concepts. ClassNK, with its new executive team, will actively participate in new innovative initiatives to enhance its capability, and pave the way for the development of new technologies and propagation of their benefits throughout the industry,” Sakashita said.
