Tokyo, Japan – April 1, 2022 – Cognite today announced the appointment of software industry executive Ryoichi Egawa to the position of President of Cognite Japan. Nori Tokusue, the former president of Cognite Japan, will take on the role of Chairman of the Board of Cognite Japan. In addition, Cognite Japan has also announced the creation of an executive advisory board.
“We are seeing positive momentum in Japan, and we aim to keep Cognite well-positioned for strong future growth,” said Dr. John Markus Lervik, co-founder and CEO of Cognite. “Ryoichi Egawa’s extensive leadership experience from the IT industry will be key to leading Cognite into its next growth phase in this market. At the same time, we will retain Nori Tokusue’s strong guidance and competence as our new chair.”
Egawa brings more than 20 years of experience, and has held leadership positions within some of the world’s largest corporations, including Oracle and Microsoft. Most recently, he served as president of Piano Japan, where he helped drive increased sales across the Japanese market.
The new executive advisory board of Cognite Japan will consist of three well-known industry executives: Mr. Bunro Shiozawa, Mr. Hirosumi Tsusue and Dr. Kiyohiko Nishimura. Their roles as part of this board will, in part, be to strengthen relationships with potential customers’ and partners´ senior management.
“As part of our growth strategy in Japan, we see a need for deep market insight and industry knowledge,” Lervik said. “This is at the foundation of the formation of our new executive advisory board in Japan. Each of the selected members has deep strategic knowledge and extensive experience across several industries, all of which will be valuable to Cognite as we work to bring Japan’s asset-heavy industries into the data-driven future.”
Mr. Bunro Shiozawa is a former senior director at Sumitomo Chemical Company. Currently he serves as a strategic coordinator in Japan’s Cabinet Office’s “Cross-ministerial Strategic Innovation Promotion” subcommittee, called the ”Energy Management System in Internet of Energy” project. Since 2014, Shiozawa has played a key role in building the case for ammonia as a carrier of hydrogen.
Mr. Hirosumi Tsusue is the former chair of Taiju Life Insurance (formerly Mitsui Life Insurance), and he currently serves as a founder and CEO of Good Insurance Services,Inc., a new kind of insurance company. He previously worked for Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation as executive vice president and has held various roles managing the bank’s major enterprise clients.
Dr. Kiyohiko Nishimura is the former deputy governor of the Bank of Japan, where he worked from 2008-13. He previously served as an advisor to the Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, and has worked as a professor and dean of the Faculty of Economics at the Tokyo University Graduate School of Economics.
Press contact - Cognite
Michelle Holford
Global PR Lead - Cognite