Kiyofumi Nakajima was appointed as the new CEO on Tuesday, replacing Koji Hoshino, who himself took over from co-founder and producer Toshio Suzuki in February 2008. Hoshino was in charge at the time of Hayao Miyazaki's retirement announcement. Now, Miyazaki is back and it's time for another change.
Hoshino, a former head of Walt Disney Japan, will become chairperson, with a mandate to expand overseas expansion, merchandising, licensing and developing new business. Nakajima is a former banker who was appointed to run Ghibli when it was a subsidiary of the bank he joined from college. In 2005, he was appointed director of the Ghibli Museum in the western suburbs of Tokyo, near the animation studio.
Studio Ghibli has now appointed Kiyofumi Nakajima its new CEO in time for work on what's being called Hayao Miyazaki's final film. Hoshino, Nakajima and Suzuki will all be directors on the Ghibli board.