MOL appoints Ashida group president

MOL appoints Ashida group president    Mitsui O.S.K. Lines said it will appoint Akimitsu Ashida as its new group president following the annual general meeting of shareholders June 24.
   Ashida, deputy president, will succeed Kunio Suzuki, who will become chairman of the board.
   A career Mitsui O.S.K. Lines executive, Ashida, 60, will reach the most senior executive position of the group after 37 years with the company. He began his career at Mitsui O.S.K. Lines upon graduation from Kyoto University in 1967. He worked at the company’s San Francisco representative office from 1975 to 1979. He became staff officer of the planning division in 1987, deputy general manager of the planning division in 1988 and general manager of the Europe and Oceania division in 1993.
   Appointed director of the group in 1996, Ashida was promoted to managing director in 1998, senior managing director in 2000 and deputy president in 2003.