Strengthening “Group-Wide Optimization” and “Cross-Domain”—New Executive Officer Structure

The Panasonic Group has announced a new executive officer structure, effective April 1, 2026, revealing a commitment to strengthening the mechanisms for decision-making and execution to further enhance corporate value as a group. Having transitioned to an operating company model with Panasonic Holdings Corporation (hereinafter “Panasonic HD”) as the holding company, the Panasonic Group has steadfastly pursued autonomous responsible management within each operating company. As structural and fundamental challenges at the Group level came to light amid accelerating decision-making and strengthening competitiveness across business domains, the Group designated 2025 as a year to focus on “Group Management Reform” and tackled it with firm resolve.

For 2026, the Group has set its sights to “Achieve a Turnaround for Growth,” renewing its executive officer structure alongside the transition to a new group framework, aiming to restart as a resilient group. The keywords are “Group-Wide Optimization” and “Cross-Domain.” These are not merely slogans. The Group is determined to swiftly accomplish its objectives led by the new management team that includes newly established positions with new responsibilities: Business CEOs, SRO (Solution Revenue Officer), and Group CAIO (Group Chief AI Officer).

The new executive officer structure is built to take the Group to the next level. It will drive improvements across the entire organization while also supporting each operating company’s unique strengths—continuing the push for “specializing and sharpening^*1” that each company has been working toward in recent years.

*1. A phrase introduced at the time of transition to the operating company model, referring to the pursuit of thoroughly sharpening competitive edge within a focused domain.

The newly established positions are designed with four key goals in mind: making decisions from a Group-wide optimization perspective, driving cross-domain collaboration, moving AI from planning into implementation, and swiftly advancing an AI platform. Let us introduce the focus of the Group’s new management strategies reflected in these three new positions.

A key change in this executive appointment is that the president of each operating company will concurrently serve as a Business CEO and an Executive Officer of Panasonic HD. The title “Business CEO” clearly defines the president's responsibility for overseeing and executing operations within a specific business.

The increase in the number of executive officers will not impede decision-making speed. As a foundational principle, each operating company’s business matters will continue to be decided at the company level, ensuring that competitive strength and agile decision-making capabilities are maintained and further enhanced, through domain-specific specializing and sharpening. Building on this foundation, Panasonic HD and its operating companies will jointly define group strategies and policies and make bold business decisions from the perspective of overall Group-wide optimization. This will also enhance the Group’s decision-making speed, execution capabilities, profitability and growth, with the aim of improving its corporate value.

The SRO (Solution Revenue Officer) position was newly established to build a framework that enables the entire Panasonic Group—rather than individual operating companies—to collaborate in strengthening the Solutions Domain, which the Group has designated as a key focus area. The SRO leads Cross-Domain initiatives to improve the profit structure within the Solutions Domain and oversees the sales, marketing, and product development divisions. The SRO is responsible for expanding the Solutions Domain by establishing Go-to-Market mechanisms and formulating B2B marketing strategies. It should be noted, however, that the SRO does not bear overall business responsibility in the Solutions Domain for the entire Group. As before, the presidents of each operating company remain individually responsible for its respective business domains.

For this SRO position, the Group has recruited Hirofumi Suzuki, who brings extensive experience in leading solution businesses. He previously served as a top executive at companies specializing in ERP^*2 and Supply Chain Management (hereinafter SCM) solutions. He has a proven track record of delivering results grounded in the core principles of “pursuing overall optimization” and “maximizing customer benefits.” He has also demonstrated expertise in strengthening corporate sales capabilities for key accounts.

*2. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP): A concept involving the consolidation, management, and effective utilization of management resources such as human resources, information, capital, and facilities, as well as the systems for implementation.

In addition to his role as SRO, Suzuki will also serve as the Group’s executive in charge of Solution Partners and assume responsibility for planning and developing collaboration strategies with partner companies. With a focus on key account management, he will lead efforts to strengthen partnerships, create shared value, and deliver tailored solutions to customers. By combining this role with his SRO responsibilities, he will drive a seamless end-to-end process—from understanding market and customer needs to co-creating value with partners and turning insights into business strategy—ultimately delivering solutions to customers and strengthening the Group’s overall capabilities in the Solutions Domain.

What sets this role apart is that the SRO does not merely serve as a “cross-group figurehead.” While serving as an Executive Officer of Panasonic HD and SRO, as well as being in charge of Solution Partners, Suzuki concurrently holds the position of Executive Vice President and CIO overseeing SCM and logistics at Panasonic Electric Works Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “PEW”), an operating company focused primarily on B2B operations. However, this arrangement does not imply that the Solutions Domain will be driven primarily by PEW. Rather, the aim is to build upon the globally competitive businesses developed under the operating company system by connecting customer touchpoints across the organization and driving growth, leveraging synergies across the entire Group. By aligning IT strategies and SCM with broader business strategies, and by institutionalizing data integration and performance evaluation mechanisms, Suzuki’s experience, insights, and philosophy will be concretely embedded within the Group. This will accelerate business growth in the Solutions Domain, creating lasting corporate value.

Another key pillar for the Panasonic Group’s next phase of growth is AI (Artificial Intelligence). As part of this round of executive appointments, the position of Group CAIO (Chief AI Officer) was newly established to lead the Group-wide acceleration of AI utilization to address customer challenges and improve internal operations. Akira Sakakibara, who also serves as CTO of the Panasonic Connect Group, has been appointed to this role.

Sakakibara brings deep expertise in AI, agile software development, and related fields. At Panasonic Connect Co., Ltd., he served as CTO, where he led the modernization of R&D and delivered concrete outcomes—most notably spearheading technical synergies through collaboration with Blue Yonder, a group company that expands supply chain solution businesses on a global scale, as well as the expansion into SaaS businesses. Drawing on this experience and knowledge, he will be responsible for Group-wide AI implementation and strengthening competitiveness. In this role, he will lead AI-driven business transformation while further advancing the formulation of Group-wide AI strategy, AI technology development, and internal AI implementation across the Panasonic Group—with the goal of expanding its hardware, software, and solution businesses.

As the next phase of its AI transformation, the Panasonic Group will consolidate its ongoing investments in AI and will gradually transition from the innovation/incubation^*3 phase to the commercialization phase. Under this policy, the Group will optimize its AI strategy and development capabilities, which were previously dispersed across multiple regions and organizations. As part of this effort, the Panasonic Well concluded its role as part of the Group’s evolution effective March 31, 2026. The division had been responsible for laying the groundwork for the Group’s strategic shift toward AI in its core businesses and its evolution from a hardware company to an AI solutions provider. The AI Data Platform—the division’s flagship project—along with its resources, have been transferred and consolidated within the Group to build a more flexible and efficient structure. This move leverages the division’s accumulated technological assets to improve the speed and efficiency of AI infrastructure and application development across the Group, enhancing its overall value creation capabilities.

*3. Incubation: The process of evaluating and nurturing new technologies and business ideas, and advancing them toward commercialization.

The SRO will lead the growth of the Solutions Domain through Cross-Domain initiatives, while the Group CAIO will accelerate the Group’s use of AI for addressing customer challenges and for improving internal operations. IT infrastructure, including ERP, is critical to this structure. Therefore, we have appointed an Executive Officer dedicated to the role of Group CIO (Chief Information Officer) to accelerate the IT infrastructure renewal, including ERP. This structure also aims to further strengthen IT governance and digital strategy.

Hideyasu Chikata, who previously served as CIO at Panasonic Industry Co., Ltd. and has been leading SCM transformation and overall IT optimization, is appointed as Group CIO. In this role, Chikata will lead the planning and execution of a Group-wide IT strategy aligned with business strategy. He will also oversee the development, maintenance, and operation of IT infrastructure, and spearhead the modernization of IT infrastructure, including ERP systems centered on shared platform systems. In addition to standardizing business processes and enabling data integration, which are becoming increasingly critical across the entire Group, the Group CIO will be responsible for managing the organizations and the entire IT supply chain that support these initiatives to maximize the value of IT investments.

The management structure for China and Northeast Asia, a key strategic region for the Group, has also been renewed. Masaharu Nakayama, who previously served as Executive Vice President of Panasonic Corporation’s China and Northeast Asia Company, has been appointed to succeed Tetsuro Homma. Homma was responsible for government relations in the Chinese market and worked to build strong networks with central and local government agencies and industry as Group Representative for China and Northeast Asia. This succession ensures that the local connections and insights cultivated by the Group are being seamlessly passed along to a new generation of leadership—further deepening its regional strategy, enabling adaptation to a rapidly evolving business landscape, and driving sustainable growth across China and Northeast Asia.

The Panasonic Group’s new executive officer structure is designed to “maintain the foundation for enhancing speed and competitiveness in each business domain, while strengthening the execution of Group-wide optimization.” The appointment of Business CEOs will enhance the speed and quality of decision-making from a Group-wide optimization perspective, while the SRO will lead cross-domain efforts to improve the profit structure in the Solutions Domain where the Group is focusing its strategic efforts. Furthermore, the Group CAIO will guide AI from the implementation stage through to the phase of generating tangible business results and the Group CIO will underpin these initiatives through the IT infrastructure renewal. With this structure firmly in place, the Panasonic Group stands poised to accelerate its transition into a new era of sustained growth.