Print vendor Canon has named Kotaro Fukushima as its new managing director for its Oceania business.
Fukushima will commence his new role effective 1 April 2022, replacing incumbent Akira (Dave) Yoshida, who will return to Canon’s Japan headquarters to assume a new senior role within its Digital Printing Group.
Canon said the appointment comes as part of its plan to strengthen its innovation offering and broaden its service offerings across the region.
“Having witnessed the strength of the Canon Oceania team through my roles at Canon Inc. in Japan, I’m excited to join the team locally,” Fukushima said.
“Leading the Oceania group will be rewarding and challenging – and I look forward to working with the many talented people in this region to continue the excellent work set by Dave Yoshida to achieve our vision for the business.”
Fukushima also comes from a senior executive role with Canon, working across its corporate affairs, corporate communications and special events divisions.
Some of his roles were at the vendor’s Japan office, USA office and leading Canon’s partnerships with the Tokyo Olympics and Rugby World Cup.
Yoshida joined Canon Oceania in 2018 to replace Yusuke Mizoguchi, who oversaw the company’s acquisition of local channel companies Harbour IT and Converga. The two acquisitions have since been combined to form Canon Business Services (CBS) ANZ in 2019. The division has offices across Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines, and is led by Luke Clark.
In January, CBS acquired Microsoft partner Satalyst, a specialist of Azure, Office 365 and Dynamics 365. The company said at the time the acquisition would strengthen its application, security, data and AI capabilities.
Fukushima also joins Canon Australia senior director for business information solutions Masayuki ‘Mike’ Murase, who also came to Australia from Japan in 2020 to help grow the company's business products and services and lead engagement with Canon’s local channel partners.
