Asia’s Power Businesswomen 2024
Two Japanese executives are honored in Forbes Asia’s Power Businesswomen 2024 listing: Japan Airlines CEO Mitsuko Tottori and Mori Trust President and CEO Miwako Date.
“Forbes Asia’s Power Businesswomen list this year spotlights 20 executives, entrepreneurs and family business members who are steering their companies through industry challenges and economic uncertainties,” said Rana Wehbe Watson, list editor. “From leading property developers and financial institutions to innovating in EVs and manufacturing, they are instilling bold strategies and a renewed sense of optimism in industries across the region.”
Here are the two Japanese winners’ official nominations:
“Mitsuko Tottori is the first woman to run Japan Airlines (JAL), having started as a flight attendant for Japan’s flag carrier. When she took over as president in April, she was the first CEO that hadn’t been a pilot, maintenance engineer, finance officer or government bureaucrat—and one of the few who hadn’t graduated from the elite Tokyo University.
JAL has seen traffic rebound to near pre-pandemic levels, and net profit rose 178% in the year ended March to ¥95.5 billion ($624 million). But it recently experienced a series of safety issues that led to a May regulatory reprimand. In June, JAL submitted a report to the transport ministry describing steps it would take to improve safety. “Though really worried about taking on such a heavy responsibility, I trusted my experience and decided to accept the job,” Tottori said when JAL named her as CEO. “My career has been in the two most fundamental aspects of an airline: safety and customer service.” Immediately after graduating in 1985 from Nagasaki’s Kwassui Women’s Junior College with a major in English, Tottori started flying for a small airline acquired by JAL in 2004. She was promoted to senior director of cabin attendants in 2015, then vice president for cabin safety in 2019, senior vice president for customer experience in 2023 and representative board member and chief customer officer later that year.”
Reports on October 31 said that JAL’s net profit for the six months until September fell 19.1 percent year-on-year to 49.9 billion yen, due mainly to a typhoon and a bad investment.
“Miwako Date is looking to future-proof Tokyo-based Mori Trust Holdings by expanding its portfolio of luxury hotels. Her strategy is to build this business until it’s on equal footing with the company’s two mainstays of office leasing and property sales. In doing so, she envisions that this third pillar will give the company more sustainable revenue and profit, and be a counterbalance to the cyclical nature of the existing pillars.
At the same time, she is not neglecting the core and adding 379,000 square feet of new office space and 800 high-end condos, scheduled to be finished by 2030. Date, 53, joined the property developer founded by her father in 1998. After her two older brothers left the company, she became president and CEO in 2016—a rare move in a country which has few women as top corporate leaders. Date is also featured on the cover of the November issue of Forbes Asia.”
In 2023, Suntory Beverage & Food CEO Makiko Ono was the only Japanese woman in Forbes’ top 20 after becoming the first female to head a Japanese company with a market cap of more than ¥1 trillion yen ($7 billion).
Rest of the 2024 list (by country in alphabetical order)
- Australia: Telstra CEO and Managing Director Vicki Brady
- Australia: Transurban CEO Michelle Jablko
- China: BYD Executive Vice President Stella Li
- Hong Kong: Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing CEO Bonnie Chan
- Hong Kong Investment Corp. CEO Clara Chan
- Hong Kong: Shui On Land Vice Chairman Stephanie Lo
- India: Godrej Enterprises Group Executive Director Nyrika Holkarn
- India: Berger Paints India Chairman Rishma Kaur
- India: Aditya Birla Capital CEO Vishakha Mulye
- Indonesia: MD Entertainment President Commissioner Shania Manoj Punjabi
- Indonesia: Sumber Alfaria Trijaya President Commissioner Feny Djoko Susanto
- New Zealand: Auckland Airport Executive Director Carrie Hurihanganui
- New Zealand: Guardians of New Zealand Superannuation CEO Jo Townsend
- Philippines: Megaworld President Lourdes Gutierrez-Alfonso
- Singapore: DBS Group Deputy CEO and CEO-Designate Tan Su Shan
- Singapore: CapitaLand Ascott Trust COO Serena Teo Joo Ling
- South Korea: Kakao CEO Shina Chung
- Taiwan: Chenbro Micom Co Founder and Chairman Maggi Chen