Shizuo Asada
Profile
Performance in office
Tenure
Tenure
Background
He graduated from the Faculty of Law of the University of Tokyo in 1936. He became Director-General of the Maritime Bureau of the Ministry of Transport in December 1958 and Vice-Minister of Transport in July 1961, retiring from government in April 1963. The following month he joined Japan Airlines as Senior Managing Director. In the same May 1963, Kogoro Uemura, vice chairman of the Federation of Economic Organizations, joined as Chairman and Teruo Godo, from Nippon Kokan, as Senior Managing Director, making it a year of bringing in executives from outside. He rose to Executive Vice President in February 1969.
Selection
In May 1971, when Shizuma Matsuo, President since 1961, stepped back to Chairman, he succeeded him as President, eight years after joining as Senior Managing Director. Yoshimoto Takagi, who became Executive Vice President in that same May 1971, was a career employee who had joined the former Japan Airlines in August 1951 and took ten years to reach the board. As of March 1975 the largest shareholder was the Minister of Finance with 44.80%, and the appointment appears to have placed a figure from the heart of transport administration at the top of a government-funded company.
Initiatives
Non-consolidated revenue was ¥163.4 billion in the fiscal year ended March 1971, when he took office, and ¥654.4 billion in the FY ended March 1981, before he stepped down, a fourfold increase in ten years. Along the way the company posted an ordinary loss of ¥9.805 billion in the FY ended March 1976, recovering to ordinary profit of ¥6.131 billion the next year. The executives at the time of his appointment included Shizuo Tanaka, a former Vice-Minister of Posts and Telecommunications, Hiroshi Arai, a former Commissioner General of the National Police Agency, and Shigeru Inamasu, a former Director-General of the Finance Bureau of the Ministry of Finance, serving as senior managing and managing directors, so former officials were heavily represented in management.
Career
Career
Ministry of Transport
| Date | Position |
|---|---|
| 1936 | Joined Ministry of Communications |
| 1961 | Vice-Minister of Transport |
Japan Airlines
| Date | Position |
|---|---|
| 1963 | Senior Managing Director |
| 1969 | Executive Vice President |
| 1971 | President |
| Jun 1981 | Stepped down as President |