Increased focus on sales and marketing as new managing director Terry Kawashima leads EMEA organisation through next growth phase
Egham, 19 September 2013 – OKI Europe Limited has announced the appointment of Terry Kawashima as managing director, effective from 1 October 2013. He will take over from Harry Takahashi, who will return to OKI Data Corporation, to lead a global sales reformation programme.
Kawashima has been with OKI for over 20 years, the majority of which was spent within the OKI Europe group in a number of senior positions, most recently as regional vice president of Central Region as well as managing director of OKI Systems Deutschland (OSD), a role he will retain. As MD OKI Europe Ltd, Kawashima will have overall responsibility for group management, product and channel marketing, as well as sales operations in the company’s major markets including Germany, UK, France and Italy.
In another move, Phil Scrase has been appointed deputy managing director OKI Europe Ltd, with direct responsibility for consumables sales and distribution support, fulfilment and customer service, together with sales operations for Northern Europe, Central and Eastern Europe and a newly formed B-A-C-H region (Belgium, Austria, Switzerland and Holland). Since Scrase joined the company in 1991 he has transitioned between OKI Europe and OKI Systems UK, most recently as managing director UK and regional vice president Western Region.
Taka Nakano, general manager of overseas marketing for OKI Data Corporation, also joins the OKI Europe management team and will ensure that the European business strategies continue to align with the parent company’s broader development objectives.
“This is a very exciting time for OKI Europe,” confirms Kawashima. “With a number of key strategic commercial initiatives now in place supporting our comprehensive product and document solutions portfolio, we are ideally-placed to really drive the OKI brand forward within the EMEA region.”
Sales organisation changes
Other sales organisation changes include:
• Central Region - To ensure a strong management focus on the remaining Central European countries (Belgium, Austria, Switzerland and Holland) Walter Briccos, MD of OKI Switzerland, has been appointed vice president of the newly created B-A-C-H region
• Eastern Region - Reflecting OKI’s growing presence in Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa, the current Eastern Region will be split into two regions: the reformed CEE region (Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary and the rest of Central and Eastern Europe) and Eastern Region (Russia, Ukraine, other CIS countries, Turkey, Middle East and Africa)
• UK and Ireland - Takaaki Hagiwara, previously MD, OKI Australia, will take over from Scrase as MD OKI Systems UK, with responsibility for operations in Ireland
• France and Italy - Shoko Takita will take over the role of MD, OKI Systems France from Gérard Bouhanna, who moves to a new role in OKI Europe as VP Consumables Sales and Distribution Support. Gianni Grappiolo will retire as MD of OKI Systems Italia and will be replaced by Shigeaki Tadokoro.
A stronger focus on Sales and Marketing
To support the focus on sales and marketing, a new channel marketing group will be formed, bringing together the combined expertise across the EMEA region. Kawashima will work closely with both the product marketing and channel marketing teams to strengthen OKI’s market penetration and brand presence and to drive stronger channel partner relationships through more integrated marketing initiatives across the region.
Kawashima says: “I have full confidence that, with the new senior management team in place together with the reorganised sales teams across EMEA, we have the right springboard for growth as we look to continue our expansion across Europe.”
