Kazue Kitagawa
Profile
Performance in office
Tenure
Tenure
Background
A career employee, he joined Sumitomo Electric Wire & Cable Works in 1927 and spent 29 years at the company before becoming President. He came up through engineering and became President in November 1956. As of March 1961, a little over four years after he took office, the largest shareholder was International Standard Electric of the United States at 11.9%, followed by Sumitomo Trust and Banking at 9.7%, Sumitomo Life at 5.3% and NEC at 4.3%. No individual shareholder was in the top ten.
Selection
In November 1956 he succeeded Kaname Kishi as President, with Kishi moving to Chairman that same month. His predecessor had already completed the listing and the entry into overhead transmission line construction and wiring harnesses, and as the company moved from recovery toward product development, the change appears to have put in a career man from the engineering side.
Initiatives
The company began producing electron-beam-irradiated Irrax tubes in 1962 and electron-beam-irradiated wire in 1964, launching products using electron-beam irradiation during his tenure. The sequence of commercialization that continued with traffic control systems in 1968, FPCs in 1969, compound semiconductors in 1970 and optical fiber cable in 1974 began with these two products. In 1962 the head office moved from Konohana-ku, Osaka to its current location in Chuo-ku.
Career
Career
Sumitomo Electric Industries
| Date | Position |
|---|---|
| 1927 | Joined |
| Nov 1956 | President |
| Nov 1966 | Chairman |
| Nov 1966 | Stepped down as President |