Keiichi Iwata
Profile
Performance in office
Tenure
Tenure
Background
He joined Sumitomo Chemical in April 1982 and became an Executive Officer 28 years later, in April 2010. He became Managing Executive Officer in April 2013, Senior Managing Executive Officer in April 2018, Representative Director and Senior Managing Executive Officer in June of that year, and President in April 2019. Only one year passed between his promotion to Senior Managing Executive Officer and his appointment as President, shorter than the two years and ten months his predecessor Masakazu Tokura spent as Representative Director and Managing Executive Officer.
Selection
In April 2019 he became President, succeeding Masakazu Tokura. The change came one year after he became Senior Managing Executive Officer in April 2018. In the fiscal year ended March 2019, the year before he took office, consolidated revenue was ¥2,318.5 billion and operating income ¥183.0 billion, down from ¥250.9 billion the previous year. The appointment appears to have placed a President with relatively short executive experience at the helm right after a run of profit growth.
Initiatives
Revenue kept growing in the first half of his six years, reaching consolidated revenue of ¥2,765.3 billion and operating income of ¥215.0 billion in the fiscal year ended March 2022. But the company posted an operating loss of ¥31.0 billion in FY ended March 2023, and in FY ended March 2024 an operating loss of ¥488.8 billion and a net loss of ¥311.8 billion. In response it launched structural reforms that shrank assets and narrowed its businesses, and in FY ended March 2025 it returned to operating income of ¥193.0 billion and net income of ¥38.5 billion. Employees fell from 34,743 in FY ended March 2021 to 29,279.
Career
Career
Sumitomo Chemical
| Date | Position |
|---|---|
| Apr 1982 | Joined |
| Apr 2010 | Executive Officer |
| Apr 2013 | Managing Executive Officer |
| Apr 2018 | Senior Managing Executive Officer |
| Jun 2018 | Representative Director, Senior Managing Executive Officer |
| Apr 2019 | Representative Director, President |
| Apr 2025 | Representative Director, Chairman |
| Jun 2025 | Stepped down as President |
References 1
References (Japanese primary sources)
- 住友化学 有価証券報告書【役員の状況】