Accenture appoints co-CEOs for Asia Pacific division

Global professional services powerhouse Accenture has rejigged its geographical divisions, appointing Atsushi Egawa and Ryoji Sekido as co-CEOs of a new Asia Pacific market.

Both based out of Tokyo, Atsushi Egawa is Accenture’s Japan country lead, while Ryoji Sekido heads technology for the firm’s Growth Markets division, under which the Asia Pacific including Australia was previously categorised.

Coming into effect later this year, the appointments are part of a wider global restructure and leadership overhaul, which the firm said would drive its long-term growth in the unfolding era of AI-led digital transformation.

Instrumental in the launch of Accenture’s Tokyo innovation hub and intelligent operations centre in Fukuoka, Egawa has led Accenture’s Japanese business for the best part of a decade, before which he headed the local products industry group with a focus on strategy and transformation in the manufacturing, retail, high-tech, materials and energy sectors among others. He first joined Accenture in 1989.

As the firm’s new Asia Pacific co-CEO, he is joined by Sekido, who is currently technology lead for Growth Markets and has headed Accenture’s $32 billion ‘Cloud First’ practice for the Asia Pacific, Africa, Middle East and Japan. Likewise joining in 1989, Sekido has previously led Accenture’s financial services client and technology consulting business for APAC among other senior industry roles.

While not shy of an acquisition, Accenture has been spending big in Japan and the wider Asia Pacific market under Egawa and Sekido’s leadership over the past few years, including last year’s addition of Solnet in New Zealand and Melbourne’s Bourne Digital. The firm picked up Maebashi-based technology services provider CLIMB in April, adding a further 200 cloud engineers.

Regional reshuffle

Accenture’s other fresh regional appointments include Milan-based Mauro Macchi as the new CEO of the firm’s EMEA region, and current North America chief Manish Sharma to oversee a broadened Americas division now including Latin America. Angie Park has meanwhile been appointed global CFO, with Karthik Narain and Bhaskar Ghosh to respectively take on the CTO and Chief Strategy & Innovation roles.

“I am excited to announce the appointment of these exceptional leaders, each of whom brings deep experience at Accenture and has been at the center of our strategy to lead reinvention with our clients,” stated Accenture CEO Julie Sweet, who gave thanks to their predecessors, including KC McClure, Jean-Marc Ollagnier, and Ellyn Shook, the latter who hands over chief HR duties to Angela Beatty.