Katsuhiro Utada
Profile
Performance in office
Tenure
Tenure
Background
He was born in Yamanashi Prefecture in 1925 and joined Ajinomoto in 1947. He came up through branches and sales, as deputy manager of the Tokyo branch from March 1965, Osaka branch manager from March 1969 and general manager of head office operations from May 1970. It was 24 years from joining until he became a director in November 1971. He advanced to Managing Director in November 1973, Senior Managing Director in May 1975 and Executive Vice President in March 1979.
Selection
In June 1981 he succeeded Bunzo Watanabe as president. The 1980 company directory listed two representative executive vice presidents: Masatoshi Saito, in the post since May 1975, and Katsuhiro Utada, since March 1979. Saito, who joined in 1945, was a manufacturing man who had served as deputy manager of the Kawasaki plant. Utada was a sales man who had worked at the Tokyo and Osaka branches and head office operations. Saito had become executive vice president first, but it was Utada who rose to president. The appointment appears to have favored the side that came up through sales.
Initiatives
In the FY ended March 1985, his fourth year in office, non-consolidated sales were composed of foods at 37%, seasonings at 22%, oils and fats at 21%, amino acids at 12% and others at 8%. Ten years earlier, in the FY ended March 1975, the mix had been oils and fats at 28%, seasonings at 24% and foods at 21%, so foods rose from 21% to 37% and swapped places with oils and fats. Amino acids also doubled from 6% to 12%. The share of seasonings fell to 22%, a little over a third of the 59.0% of the FY ended March 1961.
Career
Career
Ajinomoto
| Date | Position |
|---|---|
| Oct 1947 | Joined |
| 1971 | Director |
| 1973 | Managing Director |
| 1975 | Senior Managing Director |
| 1979 | Executive Vice President |
| Jun 1981 | President |
| Jun 1989 | Stepped down as President |