In November, FUJIFILM announced a merger of its FUJIFILM U.S.A. and FUJIFILM Graphic Systems organizations to create FUJIFILM North America Corporation.  At that time, the company had not made a final determination about who would lead the new organization.  Today, Ryutaro Hosoda was named as President & CEO of FUJIFILM North America.  Mr. Hosoda’s career with FUJIFILM has largely been on the photo imaging side, which includes both commercial and consumer products, including film, film processing, digital cameras and digital photo processing equipment.

While it appears that Mr. Hosoda has had less exposure to the Graphic Communications side of the business, WhatTheyThink does not necessarily see this as a bad thing.  Perhaps it will result in fresh thinking about how to approach this troubled and dynamically changing market. WhatTheyThink hopes to be able to interview Mr Hosoda once he has settled into his new role and the organizational transition has been completed.  Meanwhile, his bio and photo, obtained yesterday from FUJIFILM, are included below.

Bio of Ryutaro Hosoda

President and CEO, FUJIFILM North America Corporation and President, FUJIFILM Holdings America Corporation

Mr. Hosoda is President and CEO of FUJIFILM North America Corporation, a marketing subsidiary of FUJIFILM Corporation that provides equipment, consumables and technical support to the graphic arts industry, digital photo processing equipment, technical support and fulfillment services for commercial and consumer customers, consumer digital cameras, consumer and professional film, and motion picture film.

In his capacity as President of FUJIFILM Holdings America, Mr. Hosoda is responsible for enhancing Fujifilm consolidated management across the Fujifilm companies that operate within the United States.

Mr. Hosoda joined Fujifilm in 1977 in Japan where he began his career in planning and administration for the company’s photo products division, shifting eventually to sales and exports.  During his career he has held various senior level marketing and operations positions in Japan, Europe and the U.S. Mr. Hosoda came to the U.S. in 1991 and held positions of increasing responsibility in the photo imaging division. He returned to Japan in 1998 to serve in the Office of the Secretary, and later as a senior manager in advertising and brand management.  In 2007 Mr. Hosoda was appointed Senior Vice President, FUJIFILM Europe GmbH in Düsseldorf, Germany.

Mr. Hosoda returned to the U.S. in 2008 as President of FUJIFILM Holdings America Corporation and President and CEO of FUJIFILM U.S.A., Inc., which has since been merged into FUJIFILM North America Corporation. In 2009 he was named a Corporate Vice President of FUJIFILM Corporation.