TEPCO has decided to hire former Keizai Doyukai representative secretary Yoshimitsu Kobayashi as the vacant chairman amid a series of misconduct at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Station and the challenge of rebuilding the organization. did.

The aim is to invite Mr. Kobayashi, who is also familiar with energy policy, to the top management and hurry up drastic management reforms.

TEPCO has been reforming its management by a chairman invited from outside the company after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident in 2011, but seats have been vacant since June last year when his predecessor Takashi Kawamura retired. ..



Under these circumstances, TEPCO held a board of directors meeting on the 28th, and announced the appointment of Mr. Kobayashi, the former chairman of the Keizai Doyukai and the chairman of Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings, as the new chairman.



Mr. Kobayashi is 74 years old from Yamanashi prefecture.


In addition to leading the business world as the representative secretary of the Keizai Doyukai until two years ago, he also served as a private member of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy of the government, and is currently supporting compensation for the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident and formulating a business plan for TEPCO. I am a steering committee member of the "Nuclear Damage Compensation and Decommissioning Support Organization".



By inviting Mr. Kobayashi, who is well-versed in energy policy and a major figure in the business world, to the top management, TEPCO aims to urgently reform the organization, which is suffering from a series of scandals such as inadequate measures against terrorism at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant.



Mr. Kobayashi will also serve as chairman of the board of directors, and Mr. Matsue Yarita, the current chairman and former chairman of Mitsui & Co., will retire.



This personnel case will be officially decided after the general meeting of shareholders in June.

Yoshimitsu Kobayashi joined Mitsubishi Kasei Corp. in 1974, and after working as the head of the research and development department, became president of Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings in 2007.



In 2015, he became chairman of the company, working to improve profitability by withdrawing from unprofitable businesses and integrating group companies.



In addition to leading the business world as the representative secretary of the Keizai Doyukai for four years until the end of the year, he also served as a private member of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy of the government, an expert member of the Industrial Competitiveness Council, and chairman of the Regulatory Reform Promotion Council. We have been proactive in making policy recommendations.



In addition, he was involved in management restructuring as an outside director of Toshiba, a major electronics manufacturer, based on his abundant management experience.



In relation to TEPCO, after serving as an outside director for about two years until March 2015, he became a member of the "TEPCO Reform 1F Issues Committee" that discusses corporate management reforms, and is now in Tokyo. I am a steering committee member of the "Nuclear Damage Compensation and Decommissioning Support Organization" that supports electric power compensation and formulates business plans.

At a press conference, Mr. Kobayashi said, "TEPCO should be a company that fulfills its responsibilities to Fukushima such as compensation and decommissioning, and leads the energy business for society, such as realizing a carbon-neutral society and strengthening electricity resilience. On the other hand, it is regrettable that there have been cases in Fukushima and Niigata prefectures where the trust of not only the local people but also the general public has been greatly lost. "



On top of that, "We would like to work on the release of treated water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant to the ocean, based on the government's policy, while ensuring maximum transparency and objectivity, and gaining the understanding of the local people. I decided to take a heavy responsibility for the direction of the electric power management strategy, the supervision and guidance of the management team, and the support. "