President of Pokémon USA, Inc. to Step Down

December 12, 2007

Pokemon

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Pokémon USA, Inc. today announced Akira Chiba, president, will resign at the end of this year. After years of dedicated service, Mr. Chiba is proud to leave Pokémon USA upon completing his mission to re-establish Pokémon as a successful global brand. Mr. Chiba joined Pokémon USA in 2002 when the company’s New York office was established, the brand’s first corporate headquarters outside of Japan. Upon stepping down, Mr. Chiba has plans to pursue other opportunities.

Mr. Chiba will be replaced by Mr. Kenji Okubo, previously executive vice president and head of Pokémon USA’s Seattle office, effective January 1, 2008. Mr. Okubo will manage Pokémon’s operations in New York, Seattle and London, and will oversee all Pokémon initiatives outside of Japan including the Pokémon Trading Card Game, the long-running animated TV series, North American and European licensing and the recently launched, Pokémon Trading Figure Game. Prior to joining Pokémon USA in 2004, Mr. Okubo worked at The Pokémon Company headquarters in Tokyo, Japan as director of international business.

“During Mr. Chiba’s tenure, Pokémon USA has greatly expanded,” said Okubo. “The brand is topping industry charts across all categories — including video games, toys, and trading card games — plus the Pokémon animated TV series is hugely successful on Cartoon Network. We thank Mr. Chiba for his efforts on behalf of Pokémon and wish him success in the future.”

I do not expect that this will result in much of a change at Pokemon USA HQ. I would like to take a moment to thank Mr. Chiba for his time at the helm and welcome Mr. Kenji Okubo on his promotion!

Posted by HMTKSteve | Filed Under News  739 views

Comments

RSS feed | Trackback URI

5 Comments »

Comment by pablo
2007-12-12 16:21:16

who ho first to comment

Reply to this comment
 
Comment by dylan burton
2007-12-12 23:31:24

ah man that is going to change a lot about the future of pokemon

Reply to this comment
Comment by HMTKSteve
2007-12-13 06:16:50

What makes you say that?

Reply to this comment
 
 
Comment by BelnumCree
2007-12-14 13:45:30

Hopefully, Pokemon USA will continue to grow and thrive, as well as it did under the previous leadership.

Reply to this comment
 
Comment by nishat
2007-12-26 05:04:58

hey HMTKsteve do you still have a jirachi i will give u salamence lv100

Reply to this comment
 
Name (required)
E-mail (required - never shown publicly)
URI
Your Comment (smaller size | larger size)
You may use <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong> in your comment.