Harold Meij

Harold Meij
Born Dec. 4, 1963
Nationality Dutch
Occupation President of New Japan Pro-Wrestling

Harold Meij is a Dutch businessman who is the President of New Japan Pro-Wrestling.

He came to Japan as a young child due to his father's work not speaking any English or Japanese, but eventually learned both.

Born 1963 in The Netherlands, Meij came to Japan in his childhood, and has lived in Japan, Indonesia and the US in his youth.

He graduated from Bucknell University and later attended New York University. In 1987 he joined Heineken Japan, then moved to Unilever Japan, Sunstar, and in 2006 was Senior Vice President of Coca-Cola Japan until joining Takara Tomy in 2014, where he became the Chief Operating Officer,[1] and in 2015 he became the President and CEO, thereby becoming one of the first foreign nationals to lead a first-section listed Japanese company.[2] Meij successfully turned the loss making company around, and its latest financial results is showing greatly improved profitability (year ending March 2017),[3] and their stock has more than tripled.[4] He introduced innovative new ideas such as placing “Gacha” toy capsule machines at airports,[5] initiated numerous collaboration and licensing projects with other companies, introduced numerous toy lines based on original animation, comic and film content, and worked on improving brand strength.[6] Known for his marketing and promotional savviness, Meij has used his marketing and management base built over time working at multinational companies such as Heineken, Unilever and Coca-Cola with success to a Japanese company. Known to be fluent in Japanese, the Nikkei even went so far as to say he had the “Steve Jobs Effect”[7] implementing over "100 innovations",[8] and is known to be very approachable even dressing up at Halloween events.[9][10] He is a Japanese history buff and loves Professional wrestling.[11]

In 2014 he was a key speaker at the Yomiuri International Forum to discuss "the world economy and Japan's ability to earn"　[12]

References

  1. ↑ Love of toys comes full circle for Tomy's new COO April 22, 2014 The Nikkei
  2. ↑ Harold Meij: 1st Foreign President Back to Toy Firm That Helped Him 2015 Questia
  3. ↑ Tomy Company Ltd. Fiscal Year 2016 Results(April 1, 2016–March 31, 2017
  4. ↑ Takara Tomy Stock Chart
  5. ↑ Use all your leftover yen coins at Narita Airport’s huge capsule toy area
  6. ↑ Tomy's Dutch COO pushes sweeping reform to revive struggling toy maker
  7. ↑ "外国人トップの下で働けますか　武田の経営陣一変". 日本経済新聞 電子版 (in Japanese).
  8. ↑ "タカラトミー、外国人ＣＯＯに託す100の改革". 日本経済新聞 電子版 (in Japanese).
  9. ↑ ハロウィンパレードのコスプレが物凄いタカラトミー　社長は首無し男に
  10. ↑ 社内はカオス状態
  11. ↑ No future for places that fail to attract talent
  12. ↑ 日本の稼ぐ力とグローバル経済の展望
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