Lens manufacturer Tamron has a new president and CEO. The change came after the previous President and CEO, Shiro Ajisaka, offered his resignation.
What has Tamron said?
Tamron published a press release on August 22, 2023, which said that President and CEO Shiro Ajisaka had offered his resignation. The document also confirmed that the Board of Directors met and accepted Ajisaka’s resignation. In addition, the Tamron board has already named Shogo Sakuraba as the company’s new President and CEO. Sakuraba was previously the executive vice president.
Shogo Sakuraba
The new President and CEO, Shogo Sakuraba, joined Tamron in 1981. He went on to become an executive officer and general manager of optical development in 2005. Sakuraba was promoted to senior executive officer in 2008 and then took the role of executive vice president in 2016.
Why did Ajisaka resign?
Tamron has been very open about the reasons for Ajisaka’s resignation. A whistleblower reported Ajisaka had taken a “third-party woman” on a business trip during which company expenses had been used for Ajisaka’s private purposes. It’s not clear what is meant by a “third-party” woman, but presumably, she wasn’t a company employee. Following an investigation, Tamron also discovered that Ajisaka had done this several times a month for at least five years. In addition, it was confirmed that the woman “ate and drank at a specific restaurant” and “the company was made to bear the expenses.”
What happens next?
Tamron has stated that it takes the incident very seriously. As a result, the board of directors has agreed to set up a special investigative committee to conduct a thorough fact-finding investigation on this matter. Tamron has also confirmed that the results of the investigation will be published once they have been received from the committee.
What we think
Tamron’s change of CEO is unlikely to impact the direction or policies of the company. This means that the product range shouldn’t be affected. Although a public scandal involving the president and CEO is embarrassing, it also hasn’t affected the company’s share price to any great extent. At the time of writing, the value has fallen around six percent over the past five days. Whether this is due to Ajisaka’s resignation is unknown. However, the share price for Tamron is still over 48 percent higher than it was a year ago. It’s clear that Shogo Sakuraba has taken over at the helm of a company that’s doing very well.
