TEPCO names new president

Tokyo Electric Power Co incoming President Naomi Hirose speaks during a news conference in Tokyo May 8, 2012. Tokyo Electric Power and the government-backed Nuclear Damage Liability Facilitation Fund plan to replace the utility's President Toshio Nishizawa with managing director Naomi Hirose, the Nikkei business daily said. [Photo/Agencies]

TOKYO - Tokyo Electric Power Co(TEPCO) on Tuesday named its managing director Naomi Hirose as the new president of the group, which is expected to be nationalized after the quake-triggered tsunami crippled Fukushima No 1 nuclear power plant last year.

The 59-year-old Hirose has worked at the forefront in dealing with compensation issues related to the nuclear disaster and understands the importance of running business through the eyes of disaster victims and customers, local media quoted industry minister Yukio Edano as saying.

Edano said he will decide whether to approve the restructuring plan immediately now that the implementation framework has been set.

Current President Toshio Nishizawa, 61, and Chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata, 72, will step down at the company's annual shareholder meeting in June, and will be replaced by Hirose and incoming Chairman Kazuhiko Shimokobe, a 64-year-old lawyer, respectively.

Hirose used to work at TEPCO's corporate planning department, which is seen as an elite track, and the marketing department before becoming a managing director in June 2010. He got a Master of Business Administration degree at Yale University in the United States.