Shipping exec Ikuta to lead postal corporation

Inaugural president chosen for his private-sector track record The Asahi Shimbun Masaharu Ikuta, a 67-year-old shipping line executive, will be the first president of the new public corporation that takes over the nation’s postal services in April, the government said Monday

Ikuta is currently chairman of Mitsui OSK Lines Ltd. and vice chairman of the Japan Association of Corporate Executives (Keizai Doyukai)Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Minister of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications Toranosuke Katayama intentionally chose someone with a proven track record in the private sector

“I wanted to appoint him because, rather than having a bureaucratic background, he is a private sector executive,” Koizumi said of the appointment

Asked what his goals would be in his new job, Ikuta said: “As a businessman, I want to tackle the position from that perspective. The postal network is a major asset and, if it is skilfully brought together, it may well be that it could end up as an enormous business. I want to have it become a system in which information is made public and where it strives to become a good performance-based operation.” Ikuta joined Mitsui OSK after graduating from Keio University’s economics faculty in 1957. He became president of Mitsui OSK’s Osaka operations in June 1994, and was named chairman in June 2000. Ikuta earned rave reviews for his work in the restructuring of the maritime shipping industry, and is well known in business circles for his ability to clearly articulate a position

As president of the new corporation, he will oversee 290,000 employees and 25,000 post offices, and manage 360 trillion yen in postal savings and insurance funds

“The most important matter is to raise the quality of the service to the corporation’s customers, who are the citizens of Japan,” Ikuta said at a news conference Monday evening at the Prime Minister’s Official Residence.