NEC appoints new ANZ managing director

NEC has appointed Mitsuhiro Murooka as its new managing director for Australia and New Zealand.

Murooka replaces Mike Barber, who left earlier this month as part of a restructure that aligned NEC Australia closer to its Japanese counterpart. Murooka last served as vice president of NEC Japan.

“I am confident that [Murooka’s] open-minded leadership and decades of experience in various ICT fields will further enrich and strengthen the company’s forward direction,” NEC senior executive vice president Kiko Kumagai said.

“We welcome Mitsuhiro to his new role as Managing Director and a member of the ANZ team.”

Mike Barber left NEC after the company deemed “a change in leadership approach” was appropriate with its decision to align closer to NEC Japan, which was part of an effort to “become more attractive for its growing global customer base.”

Murooka is a long-time NEC veteran, first joining the company’s Tokyo offices in 1986. He later worked at NEC’s Hong Kong, Shanghai and Santa Clara, California offices in various global sales and marketing management roles before returning to Japan in 2016.