November 21, 2017
Kuraray Co., Ltd.
Announcement of Changes in Executive Personnel
Kuraray Co., Ltd. announces the following changes in executive personnel.
1. Changes in Director Positions(Scheduled effective date: General Meeting of Shareholders to be held in the end of March 2018)
New position―(Primary Executive Officer)(Scheduled to be appointed
President of Kuraray America,Inc.)

Name
Hitoshi Toyoura

Current position
Director and Senior
Executive Officer

Remarks
Resignation

2. Changes in Corporate Auditor Positions(Scheduled effective date: General Meeting of Shareholders to be held in the end of March 2018)
New position
Standing Corporate Auditor

Name
Yukinori Yamane

External Corporate Auditor

Mitsuhiro Nagahama―

Keiji Murakami―

Mikio Nakura

Current position
Executive Officer―
Standing CorporateAuditor
External CorporateAuditor

RemarksNew
appointment
Newappointment
Resignation
Resignation

3. Changes in Executive Officer Positions (Excluding Those Concurrently Posted as Directors)(Scheduled effective date: General Meeting of Shareholders to be held in the end of March 2018)
New position
Primary Executive Officer

Name
Hitoshi Toyoura

Senior Executive Officer

Matthias Gutweiler

Current position
Director and SeniorExecutive Officer
Executive Officer

Senior Executive Officer

Hitoshi Kawahara

Executive Officer

Senior Executive Officer

Keiji Taga

Executive Officer

Executive Officer

Takaharu Kawahara

Executive Officer

Fuyuo Ueyama

Executive Officer

Tomoyuki Watanabe

Associate Executive
Officer
Associate Executive
Officer
Associate Executive
Officer

1Remarks
Change ofposition
Change ofposition
Change ofposition
Change ofpositionNew
appointment
Newappointment
Newappointment

Executive Officer

Katsumasa Yamaguchi
George Avdey

Associate Executive
Officer
Executive OfficerNewappointment
Resignation―(Scheduled to be appointed
Executive Advisor of KurarayAmerica, Inc.)―(Scheduled to be appointed
President of Kuraray
Engineering Co., Ltd.)

Hirohide Hayashi

Executive Officer

Resignation

4. Directors, Corporate Auditors and Executive Officers after Changes◎ Indicates a new appointment※ Indicates a change in position
No mark indicates either a continuation in office or a reappointment to that office.
Representative Director and President

Masaaki Ito

Representative Director and Primary
Executive Officer
Director and Primary Executive Officer

Sadaaki Matsuyama

Director and Primary Executive Officer

Hiroaya Hayase

Director and Senior Executive Officer

Kazuhiro NakayamaDirector and Senior Executive Officer

Kenichi Abe

Director and Senior Executive Officer

Yoshimasa Sano

External Director

Tomokazu Hamaguchi

External Director

Jun HamanoStanding Corporate Auditor

Kunio Yukiyoshi◎ Standing Corporate Auditor

Yukinori Yamane

Kazuhiko Kugawa

External Corporate Auditor

Mie Fujimoto

External Corporate Auditor

Yoshimitsu Okamoto◎ External Corporate Auditor

Mitsuhiro Nagahama※ Primary Executive Officer

Hitoshi Toyoura

Senior Executive Officer

Tsugunori Kashimura※ Senior Executive Officer

Matthias Gutweiler※ Senior Executive Officer

Hitoshi Kawahara※ Senior Executive Officer

Keiji TagaExecutive Officer

Akira Omura

Executive Officer

P.Scott Bening

Executive Officer

Stephen Cox

Executive Officer

Toshinori Tsugaru

Executive Officer

Koichi Takano

Executive Officer

Nobuhiko Takai

Executive Officer

Toshihiro Omatsu
2

Executive Officer

Hajime Suzuki

Executive Officer

Ikuo Nakamura

Executive Officer

Ichiro Matsuzaki◎ Executive Officer

Takaharu Kawahara◎ Executive Officer

Fuyuo Ueyama◎ Executive Officer

Tomoyuki Watanabe◎ Executive Officer

Katsumasa Yamaguchi35. Career Summary of New Corporate Auditors(1) New Standing Corporate Auditor
Name: Yukinori Yamane
Date of birth:
September 9, 1955
Educational background: Graduated from the Kyoto University, Faculty of Law in March 1980
Career history:
April 1980

Joined Kuraray Co., Ltd.

April 2001

Manager, Corporate Planning Department, Office of Corporate
Planning

April 2006

Manager, Planning and Administration Department, Specialty
Resin and Film Company

April 2009

Deputy General Manager, Environmental Business Development andPromotion Division

April 2012

General Manager, Environmental Business Development andPromotion Division

April 2014

General Manager, Purchasing and Logistics Division (Current position)

June 2014

Executive Officer (Current position)4

(2) New External Corporate Auditor
Name: Mitsuhiro Nagahama
Date of birth:
October 24, 1953
Educational background: Graduated from The University of Tokyo, Faculty of Law in March
1976
LLM, University of Michigan, Law School in May 1982
Career history:
April 1976

Joined The Fuji Bank, Ltd. (Present: Mizuho Bank, Ltd.)

April 2002

General Manager,
Americas non-Japanese Corporate Banking Division No.2,
Mizuho Corporate Bank, Ltd. (Present: Mizuho Bank, Ltd.)March 2003

Executive Officer, General Manager,
Otemachi Corporate Banking Division No.6 & 7,
Mizuho Corporate Bank, Ltd.

April 2005

Managing Executive Officer, Mizuho Corporate Bank, Ltd.

March 2006

Managing Executive Officer, Heads of Americas,
Mizuho Corporate Bank, Ltd.

April 2010

Deputy President, Heads of Americas, Mizuho Corporate Bank, Ltd.

April 2013

Chairman, Member of the Board of Directors,Mizuho Securities Co., Ltd.
Chairman of the Board, Mizuho Securities USA Inc.

April 2015

Senior Advisor, Mizuho Securities Co., Ltd.
Chairman of the Board, Mizuho Securities USA Inc.

May 2015

Senior Advisor (Current position), Mizuho Securities Co., Ltd.

June 2015

Audit & Supervisory Board Member (Outside) (Corrent position),Azbil Corporation5