Chiaki Tsuji Outside Director
Messages from Outside Directors
Since my appointment as an outside corporate auditor of Moriroku in 2022, I have primarily been engaged in audit activities. While continuing to work as a lawyer (in Japan and Germany, with approximately 40 years of experience), I also worked as a professor at the department of law of a graduate school for approximately 15 years, and since 2017, I have served as an outside director at several listed companies. Two of these companies were auto parts manufacturers, where I have deepened my knowledge of the automobile industry, and as an independent outside director, I have made decisions that contribute to the sustainable growth of those companies and the improvement of shareholder value by responding to so-called activist shareholders and serving as a member of a special committee for takeover bids.
Our Audit and Supervisory Committee receives accurate and prompt information sharing and support from the full-time committee member and other people within the Company, and constructive discussions are held with members from both inside and outside the Company, which enables us to carry out audit work appropriately.
FY2024 was a year in which we undertook structural reforms across the entire organization, including transition to a company with an Audit & Supervisory committee, integration into a single entity, and new investments and business transfers in overseas businesses. These issues were not related only to short-term management; they also required a review of our governance structure and global strategy, and I have once again become aware of the importance of my role as a member of the Board of Directors. Furthermore, when I visited plants in Kanto, Suzuka, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Thailand, and elsewhere, I saw employees not only striving for strength and functionality of parts, but also for their beauty in terms of decorative technology, which further deepened my desire to contribute to them.
The 14th Mid-Term Management Plan, which began in FY2025, focuses on the achievement of flexible and rapid decision-making, the strengthening of inter-departmental collaboration, and the deepening of corporate governance under the key phrase of “Agile Management”. I will also leverage my legal and international experience to ensure thorough compliance with laws and regulations and to fulfill my supervisory responsibilities as a director, so that I can help the Company to add new value to its tradition of over 360 years and open the way to the future.