For the first time since Nintendo President Satoru Iwata’s passing, Nintendo has announced a restructuring in their leadership, including naming Tatsumi Kimishima as current President and Representative Director of the company.
Kimishima started his career with Nintendo at Pokemon USA Inc., becoming its president in 2000. He was promoted to President of Nintendo of America in 2002 until 2006 when current President Reggie Fils-Aimé took the role and he was promoted to CEO and Chairman of the Board of Nintendo of America. In 2013, he assumed his current position of Managing Director. Kimishima currently holds several management positions including General Manager, Corporate Analysis & Administration, and head of Human Resources.
Fellow: An individual selected from among the Representative Directors who has advanced knowledge and extensive experience, and holds the role of providing advice and guidance regarding organizational operations in a specialized area.
Nintendo announced several other role changes in a personnel change notice issued today, including Wii developer Genyo Takeda as Technology Fellow and Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto as Creative Fellow. “Fellow” is a newly-created title for the company and is usually used exclusively in an academic setting. In their notice, Nintendo defines it as a specialized supervision role, likely created to break up management responsibilities and give Miyamoto more freedom to work on specific projects and consult teams.
Kimishima currently holds six different titles within the company. Neither Nintendo nor Kimishima has made any announcements on whether he plans to step down from any of these positions in the future.
