Panasonic Europe has announced the appointment of its new CEO.
Laurent Abadie will retire on March 31st and his successor, Junichi Suzuki will take his place on 1st April 2019.
Suzuki will become Chairman and CEO of Panasonic Europe while also inheriting from Laurent Abadie the responsibility as COO, Panasonic Holding (Netherlands) B.V. and as regional head for Europe & CIS as well as becoming managing director of Panasonic Marketing Europe GmbH.
“We see two important trends emerging: the need for a carbon-free society and an ever-increasing aging society,” said Suzuki.
56 year old Suzuki has worked in Europe and the CIS region for nearly three decades, where his first role in 1990 was within the Belgium sales company.
Since then, he has gained experience in many sales and marketing companies spanning both B2C and B2B markets, including being the Director of Planning at Panasonic Europe.
“My personal mission is to ensure that Panasonic is the leading technology and solutions provider in Europe in these areas, with a particular focus on our heating and cooling solutions, Automotive, and on “Future Lifestyles in the home”.
“Our efforts in the coming years will therefore focus on further developing local R&D activities and strengthening the organisation to continuously understand and predict the future.”
Abadie joined Panasonic in 2004 as deputy managing director of Panasonic France, and became Executive Officer of Panasonic Corporation in April 2008.
Over the past decade as the Regional Head for Europe he has been shaping the strategic direction of Panasonic in Europe while delivering an innovative approach to Europe’s commercial challenges.